BajaNomad

Fire in the sierra san pedro martir

astrobaja - 9-20-2010 at 08:00 PM

Theres a sizable fire burning right now in the venado blanco part of the park near the observatory! My Wife saw it coming back from Ensenada today. I saw a chopper arrive around 4 to combat the blaze. Hopefully the winds will calm, the area has already burned before so the fuel load should not be too extreme. Wonder how it started, must be fault of a person no lightning today!

DianaT - 9-20-2010 at 11:23 PM

Hope that the fire did not get really out of control---!

And I hope it is not anywhere near where you are????

Taco de Baja - 9-21-2010 at 07:40 AM

Man that sucks. Pretty hard to fight fires up there. Even if they had fire fighting equipment and man power, there is simply very little access to the Venado Blanco area. Might be why I like it :) The cabin that used to be at the end of the road was gone this year. Not sure if it burned down, or if the Park took it down to discourage camping.

Since there is no overnight camping allowed up there, I wonder if it was someone not following the rules, a lightning fire, or if there is a pot farm out there.

Please keep us posted on the status.
.

astrobaja - 9-21-2010 at 07:56 PM

Hi Diana, and Taco,

Nope nowhere near us its between wenado blanco and the observatorio, and apparently its still going strong! Talked to the condor station via radio and they saw no helicopters trying to fight it, observatory crew might be getting a bit nervous....
You can see it of you use the modis fire plug in via google earth.

Taco de Baja - 9-22-2010 at 07:24 AM

Here's a picture of the location from yesterday from the Modis site. San Felipe is almost due east, Daiblo is just to the southeast.

http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/#NorthAmerica

Some of the Modis pictures are poor resolution, so you sometime have to search a bit. But you get almost daily satellite photos of lots of areas, so I’m not really complaining….

[Edited on 9-22-2010 by Taco de Baja]

spm fire 9-21-2010.JPG - 44kB

mtgoat666 - 9-22-2010 at 08:47 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by astrobaja
Hi Diana, and Taco,

Nope nowhere near us its between wenado blanco and the observatorio, and apparently its still going strong! Talked to the condor station via radio and they saw no helicopters trying to fight it, observatory crew might be getting a bit nervous....
You can see it of you use the modis fire plug in via google earth.


SPM is unique in that it is one of the few forests in so cal/baja where fires burn naturally typically w/o fire fighting. That is the reason you have such healthy forests w/o much understory. The understory burns out, leaving most trees alive. Also, that is reason the fires are typically smaller and burn out faster on their own.
The problem in so cal is the fires are controlled, and natural processes don't often remove understory fuels. So fires in US are larger because of excess fuels.

Taco de Baja - 9-23-2010 at 07:02 AM

Here's yesterday's sat image. Nice smoke plume.

[Edited on 9-23-2010 by Taco de Baja]

SPM fire 9-22-2010.JPG - 41kB

Tbone - 9-23-2010 at 07:15 AM

Great photos

k-rico - 9-25-2010 at 09:13 AM

astrobaja, keep us informed about what's happening. And yes I know there is another thread about this, that's why I used this one.

I'm now subscribed to both threads

Ken Cooke - 9-25-2010 at 11:48 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by k-rico
astrobaja, keep us informed about what's happening. And yes I know there is another thread about this, that's why I used this one.


Ditto

bacquito - 9-25-2010 at 12:15 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by k-rico
astrobaja, keep us informed about what's happening. And yes I know there is another thread about this, that's why I used this one.


Good information and good photos, I hope all goes well for the area.
Smart in using this thread, the other thread is more involved in misspells.

astrobaja - 9-26-2010 at 10:56 AM

good news the fire is almost out thakfully because we have a mild santa anna now! We heard indirectly from one of the chopper pilots how dangerous it was (and is) to fly the 1000 litre water drops to the fire areas. Lots of strong up and downdrafts causeing the load to pendulum wildly! Thses pilots really put their lives on the line!!! Will post some pics of the fire later when we get them from the Condor station.

bacquito - 9-26-2010 at 11:09 AM

GOOD NEWS:bounce:

BajaRat - 9-26-2010 at 02:35 PM

astrobaja,
Glad to hear the fire backed down on its self. Love that area, hope to visit again soon. The location your at looks fantastic. We are fortunate to enjoy dark skies at our ranchito as well. Do you access your location from the N.P. road out of Colonet?