Southern Motherlode is on fire!

[spillercanyon]

The Detwiler fire is burning the southern Motherlode. Mariposa and Coulterville have been evacuated. It is over 70,000 acres with 3,100 fire fighters on the lines and a number of houses have already been burned. The Rim Fire was in the same general area but further east, this one is on both sides of highway 49 near Lake McClure. It jumped the Merced river in the Bagby area and is now burning the Merced River valley up and down stream. One of my claims has burned and another is probable. This is right where Proline and AMRA are situated. There is an interesting read on AMRAs home page about hiking out equipment and throwing metal items like sluices in the river to come back for after the fire. Caught that area off guard because they were all hopeful that it would not jump the Merced. This is all very steep chaparral area and will be very difficult to get a handle on. The whole area is inundated with smoke, including Tuolumne and Calaveras Counties, Yosemite is completely smoked out.

Say a prayer for those in the area.

 

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[Rail Dawg]

This is going to get bad.

Dangit that is some pretty country.

Lots of good people.

 

[Mackaydon]

One good thing:
More rock outcroppings will be exposed.
Don......

 

[Bodfish Mike]

Link to fire info
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[Bodfish Mike]

Link to fire info
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Don't know why this posted twice

 

[Tpmetal]

One good thing:
More rock outcroppings will be exposed.
Don......

I was thinking the same thing

 

[Mackaydon]

Tpmetal,
Great minds........
Don.......

 

[arizau]

Other than property, resource and scenic damage it could end up being bad news for you California miners. The Forest Service has a habit of closing some burn areas for months after fires for safety purposes and/or so that the areas can heal themselves.

 

[Garrote Gold]

only good thing that will come out of this is morel mushrooms haha

 

[bedrock bubba]

Fortunately, that terrain is chapparal and not valuable tall timber!

 

[Bodfish Mike]

Link to listen to fire info via Broadcastfy.
Madera, Mariposa,and Merced Counties Fire

 

[mytimetoshine]

auburn/foresthill went up today with evacuation luckily they got in top of it and its out now

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[63bkpkr]

Forestfire Aftermath

IF, Forest Management allowed small burns to take place then the heavy Fuel situations that we have now would not exist.

Once a forest has burned there are many partially fallen trees to contend with, these could let go at any time to fall on Anything that might be in the way, including folks trying to prospect hence, closed forests. Then, hiking through a burned forest is No Picnic with all the logs one must negotiate. There is a mixture of trees that have fallen completely to the ground and at various other heights, think a large game of Pick-up-Sticks, making it miserable to get yourself and a simple pack to any prospecting spot. Now try to haul some bulky mining equipment And your pack, lots of hard work as well as full of ash and carbon Dust!

IF the forest burns to the tree tops then the forest floor sees full sunlight allowing Huge weed and ground cover to grow unchecked. This heavy growth covers trails nearly completely, grows to extreme heights, drops more seeds for next years bumper crop and provides enough quick burning fuel to make some really HOT fires quickly. Un-controlled fires are not our friend! IMHO.................63bkpkr

 

[Hoser John]

After watching the Army Corp bulldoze Bagby, push the contents into piles and burm them to the ground nothing surprises me. Bet you the 3 steps from our back porch are still there. Have friends evacuated and praying for their homes. The best Museum in the entire Motherlode is there and the State also. Summer from hell as 105, then 110+ here for days with OVER 100++ for at least yet another week . 5 fires put out yesterday alone. Work on your defenseable perimeter NOW- God bless Mariposa the gem of the motherlode.John

 

[Goldwasher]

I know a guy hunkered down right in the path of the northern line approaching Coulterville. He is off of Dogtown rd. Maxwell creek. line is 2.2 miles from him.

this is a good site too shows hot spots as they pop up. has layers you can turn off and on.
http://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=df8bcc10430f48878b01c96e907a1fc3#!

 

[spillercanyon]

IF, Forest Management allowed small burns to take place then the heavy Fuel situations that we have now would not exist.

I agree 100%, just have to time it right and right now is NOT the time. As Hoser pointed out, it has been over 100 in the area for weeks now and after a record year of rain, the hills around here are ripe for fire. They thought they would let the Rim Fire burn out some of the brush and it ended up growing something like 37,000 acres overnight and burned over 250,000 acres overall. Late Fall is the time to let this stuff burn, after a rain or two and there is some moisture in the air.

 

[tamrock]

This is sad. I spent as much time as I could up a long the 49 highway when I lived in Fair Oaks, Cail. I can't imagine the devastation to such beautiful country.

 

[Tpmetal]

Tpmetal,
Great minds........
Don.......

haha I dunno about having a great mind but certainly an advantageous one.

 

[Au dave]

Stay safe all in the fire areas.. keep in mind the safest option in a wildfire situation is to leave early ... well before the fire. Been so many over here die in their cars trying to leave at the last minute, some within 200 feet of their own driveway. Fire can be a nasty beast and has a tendency to throw the rules of physics and presumption out the window, creating its own weather with erratic winds and occasional thunderstorms makes for more un-predictabilty and if you're uphill of it the fire will double its rate of spread every 10 deg of slope. Been dancing with this beast for 15 years in Aust. so I'm not blowing hot air, the last two fires in my area over 3 years have surpassed 1000 000 hectares ( 2500 000 acres) and we having the driest winter I have known since being here. Again - get out early and look after your loved ones and those near to you ..... property can be replaced .

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