Re: [Texascavers] Carta Valley brushfire
Thanks, Jacqui, We noticed and discussed several things we could be more proactive about as far as preparation for fire. Your suggestions are very helpful. We certainly also will not do burns without lots of prep and the proper notifications and permissions. This fire started because a neighbor was having welding done on his fence, and it started a fire and got out of control before he knew it had happened. He did not have a spotter with him, from what I was told. We look forward to hearing from you about today, and thanks again for your comments and help. Linda "J. LaRue Thomas" wrote: There does need to be a better way to get help than email--I was out working in the field and I could have been down there with my firefighting gear. I've worked with both Val Verde and Edwards County departments on grassfires as we have mutual aid agreements with all neighboring counties. I guess they thought it was under control as they did not call in Sonora. The 'dozer probably is one of the TX Forest Service ones and those folks are more than happy to help people to become more fire resistant. Good you all thought to ask. May I suggest TCMA somebodies talk to local fire people about what fire prevention measures they would like to see us effect at our place. Since people rarely ask and even more rarely do what's suggested, we'd make local fire people really happy. This is one of the worst fire seasons in years (our department was on fire lines for over 50 hours in five days last week) and no rain in sight, so let's get something going soon. There is a burn association for Edwards--same one as ours, I think. It sets up prescribed burns. I can contact them for TCMA if no one else has. Please do not burn anything preemptively without going through them. Anyone know how this one started? Jacqui - Original Message - From:Jim Kennedy To: texascavers@texascavers.com Sent: Saturday, February 09, 2008 5:32 PM Subject: [Texascavers] Carta Valleybrushfire Allan Cobb just called me from theTCMA fieldhouse and all is now under control. He took lots of photos ofthe helicopter dumping water, the fire, and so on. He'll show them atthe next UT Grotto meeting. It got to within 100 yards of thecabin. The 'dozer brought in by the local fire departments made a bigdifference. While it was there, Allan and Linda talked them into clearing more brush from around the cabin and widening the road from the cabinto the caves. They knocked back a lot of brush and now we have a betterfirebreak. The road acted like a pretty good firebreak as it was, but ifthe fire was more serious it could have easily jumped the road. We alsohave a better parking area in front of the cabin, courtesy of the 'dozer. As Allan said, we dodged the bullet on thatone. Perhaps we should give some serious thought to brush control,additional water supplies, and other ways to help fireproof the cabin. Maybe even some pre-emptive prescribed burns to reduce the fuelload. -- Crash
Re: [Texascavers] Carta Valley brushfire
Hi all, Here is yet another update from the Carta Valley fire. The fire came close to the cabin. It reached the road just northwest of the cabin. Standing on the front porch, you would have been able to see the fire reach the road. Either Friday night or early Saturday morning, the firefighters lit a back fire along the road and it kept the fire from spreading across the road. If the fire had crossed the road, our cabin would have likely burned. The fire was apparently started by a welder working on a gate. He was working alone and didn't realize the fire started until it was too late. At least 1300 acres burned and it still had a number of hot spots when we left last night. The Texas Forest Service cut a fire line along the road just north of the cabin to help contain the fire. The dozer then went out onto the land north of ours to work on some hot spots. It was then that the dozer slipped off a ledge and ended up on its side. The dozer is a D6 so we had nothing to available to right it. The TFS is bringing out two more dozers today to right it. Edwards County brought in another dozer to cut fire lines. It was on the other side of the county so that took several hours to get it out there. They cut more fire line along the road on our property and then moved onto the property with a high game fence to the northeast of our property. They worked with that dozer until it got too steep. Late yesterday afternoon, TexDOT brought in two more big dozers to cut fire line in the steep areas. They worked until dark. Early in the day things were more tense as they had no firefighters on the scene other than the TFS dozer and a person from TPWD. There were still burning areas the northwest, north, and northeast of the cabin. Linda Palit, Geary Schindel, Joe Ranzau, Calvin Alexander, and I worked on weedeating the grass around the cabin and raking back what we cut around the cabin. We also trimmed up the trees close to the cabin and cut out all brush around the cabin. This made a good fire break around the cabin. When the Edwards County dozer arrived, we had them clear some cedar away from the cabin and we now have a larger parking area. About the time that the Edwards County and Val Verde County Volunteer Firefighters arrived, a helitanker arrived and dumped water on many of the hot spots. This helped in some of the hard to reach areas. The firefighters were then able to get in and mostly contain the fire. By this time, the most of the fire was to the northeast of the cabin and the winds were from the northeast so the fire was moving away from our cabin. TexDOT and the firefighters are returning out there this morning to continue cutting fire lines and then plan to start a back fire. This should burn out the fire and finally stop it. We were very lucky that winds were light on Friday night, Saturday, and today. Special thanks go out to Bill Stivers for alerting us about the fire. He was heading out to go caving at Punkin and Deep with a group from Wichita Falls. He was stopped on the road between the third and fourth gates by the fire. He spent the night on the side of the road in Carta Valley and stayed out with us until late Saturday. On Saturday morning, Bill kept a firewatch sitting on the front porch of the cabin playing the guitar. Special thanks go out to Don Arburn for bring food, cold water, and cold drinks. We were able to feed ourselves and give the firefighters sandwiches and cold drinks. They really seemed to like that. Special thanks also go out to Zara Environmental for sending out a truck load of water. We ended up not needing the water so we refilled the water tank at the cabin since it hasn't rained in a while. Based on this experience, we need to make sure the trees are trimmed up around cabin. We need to make sure that brush close to the cabin stays cleared out and we need to make sure we keep the grass trimmed around the cabin. It is also a good idea to make sure we don't keep wood, lumber, and other combustibles around the base of or under the cabin. In short, we got really lucky this time. Later today, I will be posting a link to photos from the fire. Thanks to everyone for your support. Allan - Original Message - From: J. LaRue Thomas To: Jim Kennedy ; texascavers@texascavers.com Sent: Saturday, February 09, 2008 6:58 PM Subject: Re: [Texascavers] Carta Valley brushfire There does need to be a better way to get help than email--I was out working in the field and I could have been down there with my firefighting gear. I've worked with both Val Verde and Edwards County departments on grassfires as we have mutual aid agreements with all neighboring counties. I guess they thought it was under control as they did not call in Sonora. The 'dozer probably is one of the TX Forest Service ones and those folks are more than happy to help p
Re: [Texascavers] Carta Valley brushfire
Geary Schindel just asked us to let everyone know that they are about to leave Deep & Punkin and head home. The fire situation is now fully under control, so no additional help is needed. -Joe - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
Re: [Texascavers] Carta Valley brushfire
There does need to be a better way to get help than email--I was out working in the field and I could have been down there with my firefighting gear. I've worked with both Val Verde and Edwards County departments on grassfires as we have mutual aid agreements with all neighboring counties. I guess they thought it was under control as they did not call in Sonora. The 'dozer probably is one of the TX Forest Service ones and those folks are more than happy to help people to become more fire resistant. Good you all thought to ask. May I suggest TCMA somebodies talk to local fire people about what fire prevention measures they would like to see us effect at our place. Since people rarely ask and even more rarely do what's suggested, we'd make local fire people really happy. This is one of the worst fire seasons in years (our department was on fire lines for over 50 hours in five days last week) and no rain in sight, so let's get something going soon. There is a burn association for Edwards--same one as ours, I think. It sets up prescribed burns. I can contact them for TCMA if no one else has. Please do not burn anything preemptively without going through them. Anyone know how this one started? Jacqui - Original Message - From: Jim Kennedy To: texascavers@texascavers.com Sent: Saturday, February 09, 2008 5:32 PM Subject: [Texascavers] Carta Valley brushfire Allan Cobb just called me from the TCMA fieldhouse and all is now under control. He took lots of photos of the helicopter dumping water, the fire, and so on. He'll show them at the next UT Grotto meeting. It got to within 100 yards of the cabin. The 'dozer brought in by the local fire departments made a big difference. While it was there, Allan and Linda talked them into clearing more brush from around the cabin and widening the road from the cabin to the caves. They knocked back a lot of brush and now we have a better firebreak. The road acted like a pretty good firebreak as it was, but if the fire was more serious it could have easily jumped the road. We also have a better parking area in front of the cabin, courtesy of the 'dozer. As Allan said, we dodged the bullet on that one. Perhaps we should give some serious thought to brush control, additional water supplies, and other ways to help fireproof the cabin. Maybe even some pre-emptive prescribed burns to reduce the fuel load. -- Crash
[Texascavers] Carta Valley brushfire
Allan Cobb just called me from the TCMA fieldhouse and all is now under control. He took lots of photos of the helicopter dumping water, the fire, and so on. He'll show them at the next UT Grotto meeting. It got to within 100 yards of the cabin. The 'dozer brought in by the local fire departments made a big difference. While it was there, Allan and Linda talked them into clearing more brush from around the cabin and widening the road from the cabin to the caves. They knocked back a lot of brush and now we have a better firebreak. The road acted like a pretty good firebreak as it was, but if the fire was more serious it could have easily jumped the road. We also have a better parking area in front of the cabin, courtesy of the 'dozer. As Allan said, we dodged the bullet on that one. Perhaps we should give some serious thought to brush control, additional water supplies, and other ways to help fireproof the cabin. Maybe even some pre-emptive prescribed burns to reduce the fuel load. -- Crash