Fire @ Yosemite Sugar Pine RR

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Greg_Lewis
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Fire @ Yosemite Sugar Pine RR

Post by Greg_Lewis »

According to reports by the Sierra News Online, the Railroad Fire around Sugar Pine and Fish Camp at the south entrance to Yosemite has burned some equipment at the Yosemite Sugar Pine Railroad. A Westside Lumber dump car, flatcar and log car were destroyed. The two WSL Shay locomotives and buildings are OK.

The fire started across the road from the railroad, burned through the area and took five nearby homes, then blew back and took the equipment.

The fire started Tuesday afternoon. As of Wednesday night at least 1200 acres have burned and fire fighting equipment has been brought in from as far away as Bakersfield.

Here's a link to the story and photos:
http://sierranewsonline.com/historic-eq ... -railroad/

Screen Shot 2017-08-30 at 11.56.04 AM_1504119408384_65286196_ver1.0_640_480.png
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Harlock
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Re: Fire @ Yosemite Sugar Pine RR

Post by Harlock »

The plow has been destroyed. Dave Fontes built a nice model of this plow in 2 1/2" scale, so it is at least preserved as a model now.
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Greg_Lewis
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Re: Fire @ Yosemite Sugar Pine RR

Post by Greg_Lewis »

Update as of 8 a.m. this morning (Thursday): There has been no further damage to the railroad. Crews staged there overnight. Acreage is now 1900 plus. They are expecting triple-digit heat, 16-21 percent humidity and evening gusts along ridgetops to reach 20 mph. Air tankers have been requested.

A personal comment: I live down in the valley and hike this area regularly and it's (was) beautiful. To the east a mile or two is the Nelder Grove of giant Sequoia trees, a less-visited area than those in Yosemite or Sequoia. The giants are fire resistant and fire is part of their reproductive cycle. But there is lots of undergrowth along with dead trees due to the bark beetle and the drought. The terrain is rugged and there are lots of snags that are a hazard to crews. This will be a tough one to control.
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
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Harlock
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Re: Fire @ Yosemite Sugar Pine RR

Post by Harlock »

Greg_Lewis wrote:A personal comment: I live down in the valley and hike this area regularly and it's (was) beautiful. To the east a mile or two is the Nelder Grove of giant Sequoia trees, a less-visited area than those in Yosemite or Sequoia. The giants are fire resistant and fire is part of their reproductive cycle. But there is lots of undergrowth along with dead trees due to the bark beetle and the drought. The terrain is rugged and there are lots of snags that are a hazard to crews. This will be a tough one to control.
If you're familiar with the Sierras and the natural fire pattern, then you'll probably agree that the rapidly outmodded type of forest management where no fires are allowed to burn until the brush builds up and a huge, unstoppable one comes along is a big mistake. They're just starting to figure this out.

Anyway, to keep back on topic, a pic of the plow this morning. Looks like the fire wasn't hot enough to destroy or significantly warp the steel, so it is a good rebuild project.
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Greg_Lewis
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Re: Fire @ Yosemite Sugar Pine RR

Post by Greg_Lewis »

Yup. There are several different tracts of land up there and you can see the difference between well-managed ones and those that weren't handled properly. A hundred years ago the thought was that any fire should be put out and that notion lasted well through the mid-20th century. A friend of mine was a USFS forestry expert who worked in that area and he has said that they have known for years what they need to do but they can't get the money to do it.

Anyhow, perhaps the model Dave made will be used in reverse! Whether they have the money to do it is another question.
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
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NP317
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Re: Fire @ Yosemite Sugar Pine RR

Post by NP317 »

Scary. I grew up hiking that area, and am sad to see the destruction.
Our Forestry management plans need to change.
~RN
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Greg_Lewis
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Re: Fire @ Yosemite Sugar Pine RR

Post by Greg_Lewis »

Here's the follow-up story. If you click through the photos, the last is a short video.

http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/art ... 72587.html
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
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