Many of you asked for details of the fire in postings and PMs. Now that it is over, it doesn't seem like much. But at the time, beating out flames in blinding smoke on an area of sheer cliffs with yelling and chain saws running... well, it was pretty crazy.michaelzr2 wrote:Good to hear that the fire was put out in time. Approximately what time did it start on Saturday? I was a Great Wall with some friends almost all day and we didn't have any idea that there was a fire.
As most of you know, last Saturday, a forest fire was started unintentionally by a neighbor who owns a couple acres within the 400 acres of Muir Valley. A full outdoor burning ban was in effect at the time, because the whole area was tinder dry due to a long drought with a heavy bed of leaf fall. The fire was built in a fire ring that the neighbor built, without permission and against well-published Muir Valley Rules, in a spot about 50 feet onto Muir Valley land next to her property in the early afternoon, and then was left unattended. When the neighbor discovered the fire, it had burned through logs around the pit and ignited the leaves on the forest floor.
Although there were about 150 climbers in Muir Valley at the time (including Liz and me, who were just around the corner and upwind in the next hollow), the neighbor did not notify any of us as the fire continued to spread rapidly for over an hour. By the time a climber discovered the blaze and reported it to Liz and me, it was out of control and advancing on several fronts up and down the valley. The extremely steep sides of the Valley provided a chimney effect which allowed the fire to race upward.
We loaded the Element with trail building tools and cases of bottled water and drove down through the Valley (along the the road that was recently built for such emergencies) blowing the horn while Liz continued to yell " Help!! Fire!!". Well actually, being a nerdish ham radio guy, I was sending in Morse code "SOS FIRE" on the horn. Problem was that no one was present who could interpret the code, and the echos were creating a cacaphony of jibberish while Liz continued to yell "Fire!!". Enough climbers realized that if some idiot was making that much noise, there might be a problem, and came down off the cliffs to see what was going on.
Within about 15 minutes, there were maybe 40 volunteers (and more joining every minute) who started up the steep hillsides with McCloeds, rakes, chain saws, and shovels to build fire breaks. Teams formed spontaneously, and within an hour and a half, most of the fire was contained to less than 15 acres. It was dark by then and extremely dangerous on the smoke-choked hillside working around outcroppings and cliffs with 10 to 50 foot sheer drops. We almost had to drag volunteers, who were still putting down hot burning snags, off the cliffs . Despite the danger, many just wouldn't quit. Mark Ryan was swinging a chain saw like that guy in the horror movies, and Jared Hancock had his own personal war going on with this fire. We finally got everyone down safe and sound. A lot of ember burns and scratches, but nothing serious. The climber volunteers headed home and a few of us got something to eat so we could return and monitor the hot spots.
We all suspected the fire might flare up again. Unfortunately, it didn't disappoint. When we returned, the slopes had blazed up and jumped the fire breaks, and the fire had jumped the cliff and was burning out of control on top. So once again, a few of us who remained grabbed McCloeds and went back into the fire. This was about 11 PM. About an hour later, the Wolfe County Forestry fire-fighting crew of six showed up, dead tired from fighting other fires in the area. Nevertheless, they did put in a couple fire breaks that helped.
There was an eerie orange glow at the top, and even though we knew it was fire, we needed to find out how bad it was. The pros would not, however, climb to the top of the cliff as this involves class 4 climbing, which they deemed too dangerous in the dark and smoke. So about 1 AM Sunday, Mike Travel and I found a way to the top near where Liz and I, the day before, were developing two new routes for Fred Beckey to FA during his visit next week.
(Flashback to earlier on Saturday: Jared and Karla had been working across the hollow on a couple more Beckey possibilities. Liz and I had set up an anchor with webbing and a cordelette above our possible lines. We had both rapped off and checked out the rock along a crack in a dihedral and a slab-to-overhung sport route to the right. Looked like a couple nice moderate lines -- one trad (or mixed), and one sport. We bailed off Saturday afternoon and left all our gear at the cliff base and the rope up to return the next day to clean and bolt these routes. )
Mike Travel and I scrambled to the top in this area (Coal Bank Hollow) and found the fire had jumped up there and was furiously burning a lot of downed logs and brush from previous logging. The fire at that moment was turning my rope and anchor system, that Liz and I set earlier in the day, into crispy critters. In minutes, we realized we had climbed up into some serious shit and it was past time to cut and run, so we threw our McCloeds over the edge and slid down a steep coulier. We got to the base where our rope was hanging and where climbing and bolting gear, including a new Bosche Annihilator Drill, were sitting, to find that embers dropping from the top had started a nasty fire there! The fire was literally 4 feet away from our stuff and advancing. We grabbed it and got the hell out of there. Too quickly, as I left my climbing shoes in a tree. Jenny Johnson saw that I had missed them and retrieved them before they were roasted.
By the way, the routes that Liz and I were working are some of the few that can be topped out in the Valley. Early Saturday afternoon, you could top out onto a large rock shelf above a sea of beautiful mountain laurel in partridge berry ground cover. Today, you top out onto a moonscape of burnt rubble.
There's more...
Crack of dawn Sunday and needing fresh volunteers, Liz rousted a bunch of climbers from Red River Outdoors, Miguels, and True North. (Miguel, Matt, and Jeff -- you're heros) Meanwhile, Tim Yates and I bushwhacked up Coal Bank Hollow to see how far the fire had advanced. We found another way to the top from the back of the hollow and there met up with a worried neighbor, Robert Creech, who owned the land above our hollow that was continuing to burn. He also discovered that the local firefighters were not able to respond. So, four of us hopped in Robert's truck and drove in another way to get closer to the fire burning out on a point above the hollow. We started to cut a break for this large fire, but it seemed pretty futile.
Then, came a sight I'll never forget. Out of the thick smoke from the direction of the cliff, ghosts started appearing. Led by Jeff Kennedy, Stephanie Ross, Josh Thurston, and many others, these volunteers had found a way up out of the Valley near the fire on top.
Mr. Creech was truly stunned. As the volunteers continued to come out of the smoke and attack the fire, he just stared and asked, "who ARE these people?"
In a few minutes these new fighters had beat the advancing flames into submission. At this point it was clear that our victories would be short-lived and the hot spots were going to continue to drop embers all over the hollow starting new fires. Our only hope was rain. And it started raining!!!
Even after a couple good showers, large log piles and stumps continued to burn through Tuesday morning.
The good news? No one was seriously injured, and a whole lot of beautiful landscape was saved by a bunch of grubby rock climbers, who Liz and I are convinced, could outperform any professional fire crew on the planet. We love you all!
Rick and Liz
