Contacting TUC Radio

October 12, 2008
Today my neighbors and I worked on the fire-breaks that CalFire cut with bulldozers to prevent the flames from reaching our homes. There are several acres of bare earth on our common land and we had a huge party to begin re-seeding the fire breaks with native grasses and cover the earth with straw to prevent the soil from running down into the creek with the winter rains that should begin any day now.

July 31, 2008

One of the fires close to me burned through Montgomery Woods, one of the few old growth redwood groves left in Northern California. I was so moved and felt so informed by this report that I want to pass it on to you. The author is Julie Rogers, the Executive Director of the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council. She came to our ranch many times during the fire and helped us.
Maria

There are 5 engines up here mopping up, but no sign of smoke in this end of

Montgomery Woods, no fires we can see, no news.

There are a bunch of new pictures up on the website here:

www.glenmaple.com/fire/photos.html

The pictures are in chronological order now, so the newest pictures are

last.

Best to all,

Rod

July 9, 2008
Two flare-ups in the Jack Smith fire area cause helicopters to run water drops. Overall things are becoming more quiet here and we are beginning to talk about how to keep up the watch of this fire that will be with us for the summer - we are told - and prepare ourselves for the next one. The winds have almost completely subsided and temperatures of between 105 and 110 degrees have broken records for this area.

I wrote to my neighbors about helicopter pick-ups on July 9:
Hi All,
Having watched water pick-ups by National Guard helicopters in the past days at Dusty and Denise's pond have left me and others with three kinds of feelings.

Gratitude how fast they came to our rescue and how effective they were in bringing down the flare ups on and behind Radical Ridge.

Admiration for their flying skills. The buckets the army choppers carry are on short cables and they need to fly into the pond at very low altitudes to submerge them for re-fill. They either fly an airplane landing style of approach the length of the pond and drag the bucket under water; or they bank into the pond, have the prop wash kick the bucket out sideways and submerge it that way. After filling - in very few moments - they need to gain enough altitude to clear the dam, fence and rock outcropping.

However when one of the choppers did not gain enough altitude and hit the crest of the dam with the bucket we wondered what we would do if there was an accident. In this particular instance, two days ago, on July 7, we saw the Buffalo Bird fire engine for the first time. They had pulled over and were keeping watch from half way up Find Yer Way. It was good to see them there.
Maria

July 8, 2008
BUFFALO BIRD ARRIVES FROM INDIAN COUNTRY,
I'm filing a report for the local radio station:

"Greenfield Ranch has received help all the way from Montana. It's a type six fire engine with a 425 gallon tank for water or for foam, and it has all the equipment on board to fight a fire, independent from a water tender. The engine is named Buffalo Bird #2 and we have seen it drive the dirt roads of our 5000-plus acre community since yesterday.

They came by my straw bale house today and I ran down to greet them. I asked them if I may let you know who they are and they agreed: The engine chief is Marian Salway from the Blackfeet Reservation in Ronan, MT. He has been fighting fires for 15 years.

With him are two firefighters. Moses Yellowrobe is Crow and Northern Cheyenne and is part of the Crow Nation. Moses Yellowrobe is a metal sculptor. Vincent Joseph Curley is Salish, Kootenai and Coeur de Laine from the Flathead Indian reservation – 3 hours south of Glacier Park. He studies environmental science.

They have been in the area for 9 days and their new assignment is to drive through Greenfield Ranch and look for spotting, that's any fiery debris from the Jack Smith fire that might enter the ranch and start a new fire. They keep radio contact with CalFire and are ready to deal with such emergencies on the spot – and we thank them for their help.

This is Maria Gilardin reporting for KZYX and Z"

July 7, 2008
I returned to Greenfield two days ago.
Today the temperature shot up to 105 degrees. At 2 pm a smoke column rose from the Jack Smith fire area on our border. The smoke was dark gray, an indication of a hot and fast burning fire.

Two army helicopters dropped water for 45 minutes and got the flare-up under control. I watched the pick-up at my friend's pond - feeling sorry for the ducks and Canada geese whose home it is. The propeller wash from the helicopters flattens the reeds and creates a figure eight series of strong ripples on the surface of the water. The pilots hover at only 6 to 10 feet above the water, dragging an orange round canvas "basket" across the surface until it sinks and fills. The engines strain as the water gets lifted and the helicopter rises to clear the dam, fence and rock outcropping on the edge. of the pond.

June 30, 2008
Yesterday was a good day. We had three helicopters making drops almost all day. Finally, after 8 days! It made a huge difference and we were so happy. Today the helicopters were pulled out and sent to the Orr Springs fire just west from us because that flared up. So our fires flared up again as well and are putting out a lot of smoke. Look at the amazing links below.

These, unlike the Santa Ana fanned flames in SoCal, are slow moving fires. The winds are not that strong in this region at this time of year (10 to 15 mph) , and there is still some moisture at the bottom of the ridges. Traditionally these fires would have been beneficial but the sheer number and size is dangerous for all creatures and of course most of us humans right here are living in places where no structures should be. That includes me.

We drove towards the Jack Smith fire at the north end of Greenfield and looked across the valley at the burned areas and it is really interesting. This fire next to us has now covered over 1500 acres. On our side it has to go downhill which slows it down and it mostly proceeded through grass and under storey. Whenever it came to a clump of dead firs - and we have quite a few of those - it flared up and created a rust colored patch on the mountain side. Then it proceeded on the ground. Unfortunately it is persistent and continues to spawn new extensions. The fire had come up to two structures and stopped, just 100 feet away. CalFire made a commitment to protect homes and also made several fire breaks deep inside Greenfield by running dozers up and down hillsides according to topography in a wonderful disdain of property lines and fences.

The dozer operator who made the fire break at Redwood Creek and around the old ranch house right below me avoided patches of native grasses and Pacific Salamander habitat that he was shown. In all this sped up emergency and midnight work under headlights there is still room for such care.

This really is a state wide emergency and - again - the overall response from the federal level down has been appalling. There are firefighters on the ground here who risk their lives but all they have is a fire engine, some hand tools and a few bull dozers. The air drops from helicopters would have been so helpful early on but no - and definitely not enough - aircraft was allocated until it was too late to fly due to the smoke. The local town airport had become mostly unusable too because the Ukiah valley became blanketed with a thick inversion layer.

A friend and I began making inquiries into renting our own helicopter and putting it under the command of CalFire. It would have been very expensive but we thought of creating a coalition with large landowners and a famous vineyard next to us. We asked the local CalFire commander and - amazingly - they would have made use of it! But on that day a promise had been made by the overall command to allocate aircraft to us. The helicopters that came were somewhat what we might have rented ourselves from the yellow pages in this brave new world of privatization: no military or national guard of any kind! What came, in addition to one small CalFire chopper, a logging helicopter in the shape of a wasp, carrying water where there is space for large redwood logs, a larger one that we called the flying school bus with Nevada markings and rows of windows, and a chopper with a built in tank that hovered way low over the pond and sucked the water up with a 6 inch hose.

These pilots were all amazing. From water pick-up to drop and return only 3 minutes or less passed, they showed impressive skill at dipping bucket on long cables into various small private ponds on the ranch, avoiding clusters of trees, twirling around while gaining altitude and reeling in the cables to the water bucket, rushing toward the smoke plumes and very diligently hovering to put the chopper into just the right position above the flames and releasing a gorgeous waterfall. I was happy too that they were only able to use water and not chemical fire retardant which would not have reached the bottom of the forest through the canopy.

I took time writing this because finally, the constant smoke has gotten to me and I'm indoors using a poor person's air cleaner: a regular square fan with a furnace filter taped to the back that sucks the dusty air that got in to the house into the formerly white filter. I can run it for a couple of hours without overtaxing the solar system.

Now a neighbor's truck has gone off the road and I need to check on it.
Maria

These are amazing images
http://www.firefighterblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/california-fires-map-satellite-image_28.html
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=18071

June 27, 2008
Update: The fire has come closer. CalFire built a fire break east of me - which means I am inside the "box". However the part of the fire on the Singley Ranch west of me is getting a lot of attention. I just went to the top of the hill for a night view and looked across the valley into the pulsing glow of the three parts of the fire that have come up to the ridge. In the valley below two huge bulldozers made their approach to Singley Ranch. Their headlights illuminating the swirling dust and smoke at every turn on the dirt roads of Greenfield Ranch. They are planning to bulldoze a new fire break and back burn the area between the breached line and the new one in an attempt to "starve" the fire. I can hear them at work now, at midnight.
Maria

Also on June 27
- a letter to my neighbors in the artist co-op in S.F. where TUC Radio has been produced for the past 15 years.

Dear Maude and All,
Thank you for your notes! It is scary at times - BUT we all can do much good here because so much is what they call "hand work". Also they want us to get each of our homesteads fire safe. The fire so far has been slow moving. Coming closer but not that fast. I just inspected the new fire break that was cut today by CalFire and two convict crews - can you imagine that: "con-crews". They re working really hard and one of them told a friend that they earn $1 a day and then get 57 cents deducted for meals. The fire break is right below and slightly to the east of my house which is disappointing, was hoping they would take a stand closer to the fire and further away from our houses. We ended up just outside the border where they are hoping to take yet another stand if the fire breaches the fire break again.

Also, amazingly, we had "resources" here for the first time today. It was just like in San Francisco during rush hour on Hwy. 101 - three helicopters passing over us at the rate of one every two minutes, dipping their buckets into private ponds around us and dropping it on the fire. We can see the helicopter flying toward the ridge getting into position, hovering and then those beautiful small waterfalls come crashing down from the bucket. Tomorrow they are hoping to set a series of back fires in Redwood Canyon to cut off the approach of the Jack Smith fire from that direction.

As far as your question is concerned, yes. With the help of a neighbor and his mowing truck I actually created a helicopter landing place very close to Jeff's and my place. We have one of the few flat spots without trees right outside our houses and just needed to cut the knee deep grass. We will be able to call in the medical evacuation helicopter to pick up injured people. The mowed area is large enough to be a fire safe zone and if things all of a sudden change, the wind kicks up or lightning strikes again, as predicted for tomorrow, we can take shelter there and the fire will burn around us.

Hoping to come back soon to do badly needed work for TUC Radio. Am just afraid that the CHP won't let me back in if things take a turn for the worse - as they did yesterday for an afternoon.
Maria

June 26, 2008
The sherriffs pulled up while we were having dinner with three neigbots under the oak tree in front of my straw bale house. They walked across our neatly mowed fire break and informed us that the mandatory evacuation order had just been given. The sherriff was friendly and told us that we would not be removed by force but that they had to write down all our names in case we came up missing. After they drove awya we refilled lur wine glasses and had a mandaoprry evacutation toast. (After calling CalFire we found out that the mandatory order was for all our neighbors to the west - not - yet anyway - for us.)

June 25, 2008
Dear All,
Here is why I have been out of touch. I'm currently in Mendocino County in the middle of four of the most serious wild land fires in our region. The Orr Springs fire has almost reached the Orr Hot Springs immediately west of here, the Running Springs fire across the road has reached the first dwellings, the Jack Smith and Singley fires have just combined and entered our 5,000 acre association on the Northern border. I see that fire out of the window of my hand made straw bale house.

We are in a world of drifting smoke, sun and moon have been orange for five days. My neighbors and I are in an amazing effort to prevent the fire from coming down the box canyon above us and crossing Redwood Creek and fully entering our land. I have worked on the fire line and on property of my neighbors nearer the fire than I am until Cal Fire sent us away because the fire had breached - again - one of the fire breaks they had bulldozed. They ordered us to go home for our own safety and clear around our houses.

Living so close to a fire is an extraordinary event. The local battalion chief for the Ukiah region compared it to a sleeping dragon on the hill. Each fire has its own character. This one is moving slowly, sometimes turning back onto itself, sometimes consuming 60 foot fir trees in 3 seconds and then falling quiet again. Wind, moisture and sun affect it's movement and direction. We can hear it groan or bristle or crack like a whip or explode things.

For two days now my land partner Jeff and I have been limbing trees, clearing roofs and gutters. Yesterday - out of the blue - a crew of eight young men showed with their own equipment and after three hours our place is unrecognizable. One neighbor even brought a large bulldozer and cut a fire break around our houses. Then they all left and went on to another neighbor's house.

Everybody here is packed up to leave on short notice. This morning the local battalion chief came to meet with us at our community center, the old ranch house. He told us that we would be receiving an evacuation warning that may be followed by an enforceable order. He confirmed that, given the 130 fires in Mendocino County alone, there were no resources to actually fight the fire. The only thing they can do at this time is try and direct the fires with fire breaks and "box" it in between those lines, and to protect dwellings. He also told us if the line that is currently held below our house is breached that they would regroup three miles behind us. In that case my house would end up inside the "box" with the dragon.
Love,
Maria

June 24, 2008
I started mowing part of the large meadow below our house with a small push mower. This is the only flat and tree-less area in our neighborhood. A neighbor came with his truck and mowing attachment and in just two hours created a so-called fire safe space. It is about 150 yards wide and 200 yards long and encompasses an area suited for helicopter landings in case of emergencies. We tried to get the GPS coordinates but were unable to get a reading since the smoke is so thick.

This space, just below my house gives me immense comfort. Some of my immediate neighbors and I had decided to stay and help defend our houses and needed to make clear to the fire department that our lives would not be threatened if the fire overtook us. We are now under an evacuatuion warning.

June 23, 2008
The breach of the fire line and the expansion of the fire into Redwood Canyon, which opens onto Greenfield Ranch right below my home made all of us directly affected return to our homes and create fire breaks around them. My land partner and I almost despaired at the amount of work: leaves and limbs in the yard, branches of trees touching our houses, my building material piled up next to my house. Suddenly - out of the blue - eight of our neighbors and their friends appeared with chain saws, huge hoes called McLeods, shovels, rakes etc. Later in the afternoon another neighbor came with his bulldozer and pushed the branches that had been cut, the tree that had been felled away from the house, leaving a lot of raw earth with no fuel for the free.

There was no food in the house to offer our helpers since we had not been able to go to town for days. There was not even water to drink since the bulldozer had cut a hidden line. As additional blessing to us a truck pulled in with a box of sandwiches for everybody and fresh water to drink.

June 22, 2008
We went to the north western edge of Greenfield Ranch with a water truck and found CalFire was working on a fire break. We drove onto the fire line on the neighboring Singley Ranch and were welcomed by folks we had never met. The fire break was the width of one large bulldozer carved into the ridge above Redwood Creek canyon. Up this high the break ahead of us had uncovered the beach sands of a millennia old sea bed. Downhill from the fire break the forest floor was blackened with many trees left standing. Smoke still rose in several spots and we doused them or threw some of the beach sand on them. This is called "mopping up." Visibility was minimal due to the smoke - which was a little disorienting. Suddenly the word came down the line to retreat because the fire had breached the line further up. We were told to now work on directly defending the home of our neighbors. Two bulldozers were already cutting a circle around their home and garden.

June 21, 2008
Early morning. We see columns of smoke rising from Jack Smith Canyon and at the north end of the ranch and call the nearest homes and CalFire. We find out that a lightning storm like this has not occurred since written records were kept.

The night from June 20 to 21, 2008
Lightning woke us up some time in the middle of the night and a friend and I took his water truck to a lookout on Greenfield Ranch. Dry lightnings are very unusual for this time of year and even this region. We were hoping to see a strike and extinguish the fire. We did see several strikes, none within reach, one on the Singley Ranch above us.