Wildfires of Summer 2006
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12 July 2006
I'm over here at Blue Sky Meadow Science Institute to help with Summer
Camp at 8100 feet in the San Bernardino Mtns. The Sawmill Complex, as
well as the Millard Complex, fires are approaching our general
direction. Some estimates put the advance at about 100 feet per hour.
The terrain is extremely rocky and steep--quite inapproachable. Here's
some photos: |
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| From our school: |
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13 July 2006
I awoke to this sight this morning: |
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| This is the Millard Complex fire: |
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The smoke is beginning to come down into our basin. We evacuated the
kids yesterday, and we'll go once the Sherriff calls. We'll have to shut
off all propane tanks, shut the generator off (we have no incoming
power--we run totally on a large propane generator), collect file boxes
and computers, etc.
Our sky just turned orange and brown, and we have ash-fall (enough to
count as a light dusting) from the Millard Complex Fire, which is
burning in our direction.
14 July 2006
This morning: |
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| This afternoon: |
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| 15 July 2006 |
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| The sheriff forced us (along with all other camps south of Onyx
Summit) to evacuate our user groups, but residents can stay. The Millard
Complex fire is about four miles south of us, burning north. The USFS
might use our camp as a base... |
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I'm running around making sure folks get food and showers, keeping
our 100,000 gallon water tank topped off (in case they need it and to
offset the shower usage), and waiting for word. We'll probably cancel
summer camp for this coming week.
And here's a good example of the smoke-to-cloud phenomenon--the Millard
Complex fire as of this
morning: |
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17 July 2006
The fires are winding down—they might burn until the snow flies. Our
road is open, the evacuations
have been lifted, and life goes on... |
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