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
