Dinely
Fire
stopped at 200 acres
Kite sparks wildfire
On the afternoon of Saturday, July
5, near where Three Rivers meets Sequoia National Park, a wildfire
erupted on private land that contains a complex of residences,
immediately burning three outbuildings and threatening several
homes. |
 Huge
flames ravage a mature stand of manzanita, northeast of the SCE
flume on the Jeffs ranch. |
In the News - Friday, July 11, 2003
Dinely Fire
Preventing wildfires
New visitor center
Pastor is heading south
Dinely Fire stopped at
200 acres
Kite sparks wildfire
by John Elliott
On the afternoon of Saturday, July 5, near where Three
Rivers meets Sequoia National Park, a wildfire erupted on private land that
contains a complex of residences, immediately burning three outbuildings
and threatening several homes.
A
Woodlake crew from the California Department of Fire and Forestry
Protection (CDF) douses hot spots near outbuildings east of the Riverway
Ranch. |
“Is there something wrong with that hose?” yelled
one extremely distraught tenant at two CDF firefighters wrestling to get
a hose primed so they could start pouring water on the rapidly spreading
flames. “You need to be spraying those flames before they get into
these homes!”
The blaze was sparked when Ramona Walker’s niece,
Sonia Saldana, 35, who was visiting from San Diego, flew a kite into power
lines. Flames quickly devoured a barn, a stable, and a shed before they
spread through tinder-dry grass in several directions. The Riverway’s
dozen homes and ranch buildings were threatened initially as the fire
raced out of control.
The same foothills northeast of the ranch property were
charred by the last major blaze, the Kaweah Fire of 1996. The difference
was that this fire, the Dinely Fire, started earlier in the day, the temperature
was about 15 degrees cooler and, unlike seven years ago, the flames were
not fanned by high winds back toward town in a westerly direction once
the sun went down.
After Saturday’s fire burned the steep, hilly terrain
above the Riverway Ranch, it posed a serious threat to 50 more homes at
Sequoia National Park’s Buckeye employee housing complex. Quick work
by four water-dropping helicopters and six air tankers limited the spread
of the fire to 200 acres. The blaze was stopped as it entered the west
boundary of Sequoia National Park.
By midnight Saturday, 11 hours after the fire had started,
29 engines, two bulldozers, and five hand crews had worked on the fire
in support of the aircraft. Several engines and crews remained on the
fire lines Sunday to mop up and patrol for hot spots.
“We credit the saved structures to the fire clearance
done in this area,” said Mike Davidson, CDF battalion chief. “In
this case, we had clean roofs and good firebreaks.”
Chief Davidson said when a wildfire strikes, CDF firefighters
usually have the opportunity to pick the winners and the losers. That’s
because there are limited resources when it comes to saving structures.
“When there is brush or tree limbs right up to a chimney,
there is really very little we can do,” said Davidson. “We’ll
choose to defend the properties with the best clearance.”
Preventing wildfires is up to you!
Already this year, large fires have consumed millions of
acres. For weeks, firefighters have been battling blazes in several western
states. Thousands of people have been evacuated, and many families have
lost their homes to these wildfires.
Last weekend, Three Rivers got a sneak preview on what
could be another long, hot, and volatile fire season. Now is the time
to further prepare in anticipation of a large, catastrophic wildfire.
Local, federal, and state agencies are asking everyone
to be cautious with outdoor fires and anything that can cause a fire.
Visitors and residents are asked to be vigilant in their efforts to prevent
wildfires because, after all, it’s not a question of “if”
a fire will occur, it’s when.
Since camping most often involves campfires, campers are
reminded to follow all fire restrictions in effect on public lands. According
to the regulations, campfires are only permitted in developed sites in
campgrounds or picnic areas.
Campfires are never allowed at the Bureau of Land Management
recreation areas on upper North Fork Drive. Campers that do build a campfire
in a designated area are urged to keep it small and never leave it unattended.
If leaving the campsite, extinguish the fire completely.
Pour ample amounts of water on the coals, stir them with a shovel, and
don’t leave until they are cold to the touch. Charcoal should also
be soaked with water after use.
Smokers on public lands may smoke only in a vehicle, designated
building, or a developed campsite or picnic area. Cigarettes should never
be discarded out of a vehicle window.
Now that the Fourth of July has come and gone, those who
have kept a few fireworks stashed away should be aware of the zero-tolerance
policy in Three Rivers and surrounding public lands.
Residents should use lawnmowers, weedeaters, or chainsaws
early in the day when moisture levels are higher. All motorized equipment
must have a spark arrester, and anyone working with these tools should
keep a fire extinguisher or garden hose and a shovel nearby.
Cars are also a culprit of wildfires as Three Rivers so
painfully learned during the 1996 Kaweah Fire. Drivers should never leave
a roadway to idle or park in dry grass or other vegetation. A hot muffler
or catalytic converter can cause a brush fire within mere seconds.
The most effective way homeowners can increase the fire-survivability
of their homes is to ensure that they have created “defensible space.”
This is the result of clearing flammable vegetation away from the home
and all outbuildings, which should be at least 30 feet, but up to 150
feet if the structure is on a steep slope.
When creating defensible space, remove all dead vegetation,
then reduce the amount of green vegetation by limbing and thinning. Finally,
replace flammable vegetation with more fire-resistant types of plants.
Many homes destroyed by wildfire could have been saved
if these preventative measures had been taken. The time to accomplish
this work is now… before a wildfire strikes.
New visitor center open at Lake Kaweah
Carol
Mahelona, SNHA staff person, works at the new Kaweah Heritage Visitor
Center. She will provide visitors with information about Lake Kaweah
and Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. |
On Thursday, July 3, the Kaweah Heritage Visitor Center
opened at Lake Kaweah. The bookstore and interpretive center, located
on the upper parking lot at the Lemon Hill area, is a joint project of
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Sequoia Natural History Association.
“We’re very excited about the opening of the
new visitor center,” said Denise Robertson, Lake Kaweah interpretive
ranger. “In a couple of months when we are fully operational, we’ll
celebrate our grand opening.”
The new visitor center will serve as a point of contact
for the growing number of visitors to Lake Kaweah. Many of these visitors
continue on to Sequoia National Park so they can also ask park-related
questions and buy books on natural and cultural history, Native Americans,
and hiking, and also nature toys, games, posters, videos, and other souvenirs.
That’s where SNHA comes in. The nonprofit membership
group, founded in 1940, operates the bookstores in all the visitor centers
in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Now, SNHA is operating a bookstore
at the Lake Kaweah facility.
In addition, displays will inform visitors about the Lake
Kaweah area — its history and future. The lake was created in 1962
to provide downstream flood control and water-supply storage, as well
as hydropower and recreational opportunities.
Information about the current construction project to raise
Terminus Dam and enlarge the pool level of Lake Kaweah will also be available.
The Kaweah Heritage Visitor Center is open daily: Monday
through Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
For more information, call 597-2005.
Presbyterian pastor is heading south
Keith
Edwards |
On Sunday, July 6, during morning worship service, Pastor
Keith Edwards announced he would be leaving his ministry at Three Rivers
Community Presbyterian Church.
Pending ratification by the local congregation on July
20, Edwards will assume his new duties as pastor of the First Presbyterian
Church of Altadena on September 1.
In a letter dated July 5, his birthday, addressed to the
Three Rivers congregation, Pastor Edwards wrote:
“I cannot even begin to tell you how very difficult
it will be to leave you… and Three Rivers. Altadena presents many
utterly unique, once-in-a-lifetime challenges that I can find nowhere
else. It is a dream call and a dream team (staff) with which to work.”
Edwards has been the pastor of Community Presbyterian Church
in Three Rivers for the past eight years.
|
