Two weeks after the Airport Fire raced down the Owens River scorching 4,136 acres, Bishop Fire Department Chief Joe Dell gave his report to the Bishop City Council.
While Big Pine residents, east of Hwy. 395, were told to evacuate to the Bishop Senior Center, few did. This call to evacuate was the fourth in the past 12 years.
The Big Pine and Lone Pine fire departments were deployed at Hwy. 168 successfully stopping
the fire before it got to Big Pine.
Sierra Wave checked with the Inyo County Water Department to find out how the fire impacted
Inyo’s efforts to restore vegetation along the Owens. The department’s Meredith Jabis
responded: “Generally fire impacts are entirely dependent on the severity/intensity of the fire,
and the particular vegetation community involved. Some of the burned area was riparian and
some upland shrub vegetation. I dont know much about severity (although it looked pretty hot
from photos and smoke plumes) or vegetation involved yet, since I have not been out to the
perimeter, as I have been waiting until access is easier. If the fire was lower-heat intensity then
it is possible some of the tree crowns survived and will re-sprout, but if not then we might have
a shift to a different community type post-fire, like more coyote willow and less riparian trees.
This will take some time to determine, and much of the response will depend on the water-year
and wetting of the root zone. It will take some time to determine.”
Here is the breakdown of equipment and firefighters deployed:
680 personnel
51 engines
8 water tenders
3 helicopters
It needed to burn. Although I prefer my beef rare, and never well done. Poor cows.
Did they stop the fire at 168 or did the wind stop?
Thee entire topic about riparian and brush recovery was terrible. Thanks for nothing.
They stopped it.
I know some locals who were fishing that morning and saw 3 “van lifers” quickly exiting the area as the flames started.
I’ve heard a rumor that many calves and mama cows were lost. Can we get a report on that?
Probably true. I found one adult cow slightly north of Warm Springs Road.
When will the Fourth Estate do its job? What about the source? Who was the person camping in the very area and told to move (3x)? Will they be held accountable? Will it at least be investigated? And will WE THE PEOPLE be informed?
yeah, I wonder why they do don’t any reporting anymore?
What caused the fire? Do the authorities know? Will the public be told?
What matters is letting everyone know that few people obeyed the order to flee. People who have been pushed around for years by government fiat resisting being pushed around is gravely frowned upon. Do not resist authority, that’s all you need to know.
Vaguely My thinking on this,with all the warnings and evacuation orders being issued with so much nowdays ,and in most cases not really needed,people don’t take it seriously,maybe unless the fire is at their door-step. And watching last year’s SouCal fires,many people that did evacuate the fires they had down… Read more »
Your thinking is WRONG! Please tell me what you saw on the east side of big pine during the evacuation? You didn’t see anything because you were not there. You only “heard” crazy accounts. Well, I *heard* Bigfoot lives in the river and has Nessie as a roommate. There are… Read more »
There’s no such thing as a mandatory evacuation order. I was told to evacuate a few years ago. When i said I wasn’t leaving the officer pulled out a clipboard and told me to sign a piece of paper so they could notify my next of kin. I politely told… Read more »
I think that most people would like to know what the cause of the fire was, not how many fire engines were used to contain it.
I ditto the first two comments. We want to know the cause, not the stats of fire engines, etc. Not that that’s a bad thing, just give us an article with ALL the information. Thank you.