92 replies to this topic

[Peter]

I was wondering that myself, I have seen nothing about it in the mainstream media. Maybe because there are no dramatic videos of houses burning?

[Limelight]

We're going to start removing what we can from the house tomorrow, and take it over to a friends house in Elkhorn. I've got a ladder up on the side of the house, and when needed (hopefully never!) we can start watering down the roof. Very happy to hear of the efforts up on Baldy. The sound of those snow guns is comforting.

[Peter]

Good luck, It looks like the wind may die down tomorrow night.

[Peter]

11:47 Update

http://www.sunvalleyonline.com/news/articl...ID_Article=3942

[defence2]

Heres the new map for today.

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[andyh1962]

defence2, on Aug 27 2007, 10:00 AM, said:

Heres the new map for today.

for up to date info on the Castle Rock Wildland fire (Sun Valley and Bald Mountain)

http://www.inciweb.org/incident/952/

[SkiBachelor]

It would be cool if someone had a CB radio and was able to create a radio stream of it online.

Thanks for the link, I've been looking for a site like this for a while.

[Limelight]

I added some detail to the current map to give those not familier with the area some added direction.....

The blue area is the general boundry of the Bald Mt Ski area. I also added black arrows to show the direction of the fire over the past 12 days.

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[Limelight]

Fire is making a run at the top of Baldy at this time (1357 Mountain time on 8/28). They've turned the summit webcam around so its facing the fire. The cam updates every 5 minutes. Sun Valley Web Cams

They have also started some of the lifts to "help protect them". Is this to prevent hot spots from forming on the hual rope?

[defence2]

From what I heard you are correct, the running of the lifts is to prevent hot spots on portions of the ropes. They still seem to be confident that none of the lifts are in real danger though, so we can hope.

[Peter]

Flames have reached top of Bald Mountain


Fire in Bassett Gulch ran a half mile to the summit of Baldy

By :JASON KAUFFMAN


Runaway flames on the Castle Rock Fire have apparently reached the top of 9,151-foot Bald Mountain by way of the summit's west-facing backside, fire information officer Jim Whittington reported at 1:15 p.m. today, Tuesday, Aug. 28.

Whittington said the flames have burned uphill from the Bassett Gulch area, which fire managers determined was too steep and fire prone to safely place fire crews in today. The fire specifically made a run up the largest drainage off of Bald Mountain that drops directly west down into the lower reaches of Bassett Gulch, he said.

"The fire is making a run," he said. "It should be there (on the summit) right now. If not, it should be there in a few minutes."

Whittington said fire managers' greatest worry right now is the significant potential for spotting ahead of the large column of smoke that can now be seen directly behind Bald Mountain from Ketchum. Depending on how the winds act, the plume could send embers raining down on the east-facing side of Bald Mountain, he said.

"It's going to throw embers all over the place," Whittington said.

He said for now, firefighters will be playing a waiting game to see where the embers land.

"We can't do anything right now. We'll have to be chasing spots with helicopters and crews," Whittington said.

He said if winds during the next few hours are erratic, the large smoke column could throw embers in all directions. If the wind is calm, the smoke column could direct embers in just one direction, which would help firefighters trying to locate the spots, he said.

"With luck they'll stay small and they'll be able to pick them up," Whittington said.

He said the run wasn't totally unexpected, but is unfortunate.

The fire cresting the west-facing backside of Bald Mountain and burning downhill on the east side is not firefighters' biggest worry, Whittington said. He said one aspect helping firefighters is the fact that the top of Bald Mountain isn't heavily timbered, but rather is mostly grass-covered, which is easier to defend.

"It will run into ridges. Fires don't like ridges. They have to go up and over," Whittington said.

He said between seven and eight engines with fire crews are staged on the top of the mountain right now. The firefighters are staging there more for spot chasing, he said.

Structure protection is much less of a worry, Whittington said.

Whittington said ski lifts in the vicinity of the flames have been started up and are moving as a precaution against them beginning to burn.

"They're moving," he said. We're really not too worried about those."

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[Compuboks]

All of Warm Springs has just been issued mandatory evacuation orders due to embers that could start spot fires in the area - We already have a spot fire near Roundhouse due to roaming sparks. We've also evacuated the River Run Shop of all non-essential personnel.

Suiting up right now - Looks like an all-nighter for everybody

This post has been edited by Compuboks: 28 August 2007 - 02:18 PM

[Limelight]

Good luck and stay safe! We have to be out of the house in 2 hours. Hope its here when we get back.

Getting really tired of this crap!

This post has been edited by Limelight: 28 August 2007 - 02:32 PM

[defence2]

Things seem to have escalated really quickly. Good luck to all, espiecally all the firefighters who so far have done a miraculous job. Its amazing to me that this story is not all over the news quite like the incident involving the great governor of California breaking his leg in Sun Valley in January.

[Snoqualmie guy]

I could only wonder how much this could cost for Sun Valley if the fire got to it.

[SkiBachelor]

Everything is insured, however the real danager is the impact of future profits.

Ex. Will the ski area be so damaged (trails for example) that will people still want to come here and ski!

[JustJeepIt]

How many lifts and what types are there at Bald? There is no lift info or photos on the skilifts.org website

This post has been edited by JustJeepIt: 28 August 2007 - 08:13 PM

[SkiBachelor]

I think you skipped over it:

http://skilifts.org/id-sunvalley.htm

[liftmech]

Good luck Compuboks and Limelight- stay safe.

[JustJeepIt]

I know Sun Valley is there, but there was an area for Baldie whcih did not have any photos or info attached. skilifts.org is down again, not able to access it.