Eighteen years ago I gave birth to my daughter. The night before, I felt no inkling of physical symptoms that her beginning – her life with us – was about to begin. And yet, the next day, there she was. So comes life often times. And so comes death. Unexpected. An interruption of all we had planned and dreamed.

You know that what you do is dangerous. So did the fallen ones. Did they go to bed the night before they died with an inkling that their next day would be different?

Like them, we don’t know what tomorrow will bring or have the foresight to see the outcome. We don’t know to do things differently. Neither did they.

So how do we make sense of their deaths? How do we turn tragedy into sober advantage for the next firefighter?

I found a website called Wildfire Lessons Learned. There I read many tragic stories, but on that website and elsewhere I’m sure, those tragedies are turned into wisdom and hope for your sakes and ours.

A firefighter named Paul Chamberlin coined the term fire safety portal in 2006. He noted that firefighters can pass through a safety awareness portal where new perspectives are achieved and reality is meaningfully altered. Transiting the portal, he said, is often related to traumatic events likened unto a wakeup call. After these events,  well-conceived fire safety initiatives are developed to assist others who face a similar portal so that they do not experience the same personal trauma.

In other words, what happened to them – your fallen comrades -  in that portal has changed your realities. Your agencies made safety changes. Your crews now act differently. Their deaths, in a strange and uncomfortable sense,  benefitted you and future firefighters.

We lost Eva Schicke in 2004 and James Eakin in 1982. Lori Quinones lost her husband Arnie in the Station Fire in August. Their deaths and those of many others over the years – in cities, counties, and on wildlands– have yielded important information, changed perspectives, and altered your reality. For that we thank and honor them. Because of their deaths, others will live.

We want you to live. Let me tell you as a local government official, that no home, no town, no forest is worth your lives. Be safe. Come back.

Before you every day – on every fire – is life or death. When you go to bed tonight, tomorrow may look just like any other day when it could in fact be different.

Arnie and Lori Quinones’ first and last daughter Sophia was born two weeks ago. Had Arnie known it was his last day on the Station Fire, he might still have lost his life in his personal safety portal. But somehow, at the very least, I believe he would be thankful for a positive outcome – an altered reality – from his experience. I think he would have wanted those lessons to be learned and others’ lives saved.

Life does go on. Arnie has a daughter, though Lori lost her husband. Eva is no longer with us. But the firefighter standing next to you is. Someone may live because of Eva Schicke, James Eakin, John Greeno, and way too many others like them.

With each passing day, we get further away from the last time we saw them and further away from our past. But today we pause and once again draw near to remember and thank them for lessons learned.

Firefighters on the Knight Fire compare notes.

THANK YOU to the many brave firefighters who fought the Knight Fire (and thanks to all our new friends who joined us on this blog for updates).

Words don’t adequately express our appreciation – you’re the best!

With this post, we hope to turn out the lights on the Knight Fire and talk about something else for a change! Right after, that is, we tell you to check out the dollar cost of fighting this fire (below).

Once again, imagine if the $10.6 million it cost to put it out (as of this morning only) had been spent in Tuolumne County or anywhere else in California! Incredible!

That said, if we get anything more on the fire that we think you would like to see, we’ll pass it along. Here is the final USFS update from the Hess Meadow Incident Command Post.

Significant events: The Knight Fire has now backed down to the Middle Fork of the Stanislaus River and is holding within all containment lines. Firefighters remain on the line to continue mopping up and rehabilitating dozer and hand lines that were constructed to contain the blaze. Interior islands of fuel will continue to burn over the next several days, so smoke will still be visible from local areas. Many firefighters and pieces of equipment are being demobilized and sent to other fires across the state.

Several roads and recreation areas, including Crandall Peak Staging Area, Sand Bar Flat Campground, Forest Road 4N14 west off of Beardsley Rd., 4N01 at Fraser Flats, and the southwest end of 4N16 (Italian Bar Rd.) remain closed to the public. Additionally, 4N16 from 2N63 to 4N01 and 4N17 between 2N63 and 4N16 are now closed. Only authorized personnel will be allowed to pass through Spring Gap. These areas are clearly marked with signs.

Major issues: Steep, rocky inaccessible terrain, extreme fire behavior, active burning throughout night.

Significant events: The Incident Command Team on the Knight Fire continue to use the most appropriate tools to suppress this fire as the men and women on the fire line fight to contain the blaze.

Burn-out operations were slowed somewhat yesterday as favorable winds did not materialize, but night shift firefighters were able to complete their mission of burning-out the west flank of the fire, reaching the river around 1:00am. Burn-out operations, including the use of a helicopter to apply fire to areas inaccessible to ground crews, will continue today on large islands of unburned fuel in the interior of the fire to avoid the potential for spot fires outside of containment lines. A Cobra helicopter with infrared technology will be flying the Middle Fork of the Stanislaus River canyon today looking for any potential heat on the north side. At the end of the day shift yesterday, all hand and dozer lines around the perimeter of the fire had been constructed. Hand crews continue to mop up along the fire line, ensuring that there are no hot spots within 150 feet of the perimeter of the fire. Rehabilitation of constructed fire line on the north and east sides of the fire has started.

Several roads and recreation areas, including Crandall Peak Staging Area, Sand Bar Flat Campground, Forest Road 4N14 west off of Beardsley Rd., 4N01 at Fraser Flats, and the southwest end of 4N16 (Italian Bar Rd.) remain closed to the public due to the high number of fire personnel and the operations they are carrying out in those areas. Additionally, 4N16 from 2N63 to 4N01 and 4N17 between 2N63 and 4N16 are now closed. Only authorized personnel will be allowed to pass through Spring Gap. These areas are clearly marked with signs.

The incident is being managed under a Unified Command between the United States Forest Service and CAL FIRE. Other agencies represented include Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Kern County, Tuolumne County Emergency Personnel, Tuolumne County Fire, and Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Department, Office of Emergency Services.

Significant events: The battle remains heated on the fire front of the Knight Incident, 10 miles north of Twain Harte. Burn-out operations on the west end of the fire are progressing as planned and fire personnel remain on the lines day and night. Contingency line construction is complete and crews are mopping up in the previously burned areas along the fire line. Consistent drops in temperature and rising humidity aid the firefighters as the war wages on to extinguish the blaze.

Several roads and recreation areas, including Crandall Peak Staging Area, Sand Bar Flat Campground, Forest Road 4N14 west off of Beardsley Rd., 4N01 at Fraser Flats, and the southwest end of 4N16 (Italian Bar Rd.) are closed to the public due to the high number of fire personnel and the operations they are carrying out in those areas. Only authorized personnel will be allowed to pass through Spring Gap. These areas are clearly marked with cautionary signs.

Heavy smoke will continue to impact many outlying areas, including those as far away as the Sonora Pass and Angels Camp.

The incident is being managed under a Unified Command between the United States Forest Service and CAL FIRE. Other agencies represented include Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Kern County, Tuolumne County Emergency Personnel, Tuolumne County Fire, and Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Department, Office of Emergency Services.

Thank you,  firefighters!

We thought you might be interested in knowing the estimated price tag so far (see below). Just imagine if we had been able to put that money into fuels management…

Significant events: Fire crews continue to be heavily engaged in suppression efforts on the Knight Fire, located approximately 10 miles north of Twain Harte.

Firefighters are conducting burn-out operations along containment lines to solidify them and hold the fire at bay. Cooler temperatures and higher humidity levels have allowed firefighters to make good progress with their efforts. Acreage will continue to increase as the burn-out operations continue moving the fire to the west along the Middle Fork of the Stanislaus River. Mop-up and rehabilitation of control lines continue at the east end of the fire. Contingency line construction is nearing completion for the entire fire.

Several roads and recreation areas, including Crandall Peak Staging Area, Sand Bar Flat Campground, Forest Road 4N14 west off of Beardsley Rd., 4N01 at Fraser Flats, and the southwest end of 4N16 (Italian Bar Rd.) will be closed to the public due to the high number of fire personnel and the operations they are carrying out in those areas. Only authorized personnel will be allowed to pass through Spring Gap. These areas are clearly marked with cautionary signs.

Heavy smoke will continue to impact many outlying areas, including those as far away as the Sonora Pass and Angels Camp.

Just received this very clever release from the USFS -someone’s getting punchy!

Fire crews are engaged in burn-out operations in an effort to keep this fire at bay. Firefighters are working day and night around the clock to knock this Knight off its horse!

Acreage will increase daily as suppression efforts continue moving the fire both east and west along the river. Smoke can be seen from many outlying areas. Over one thousand firefighting personnel have traveled from near and far to assist the Stanislaus National Forest in the fire fight.

A new fire retardant base is being located near Murphys as large helicopters will aid firefighters from the air. Six air tankers and 15 helicopters are assisting in operations.

Forecasted fire weather conditions remain hot and dry with a continued high pressure over the region. Today, thunderstorms are forecasted to stay well east and are not expected to have any significant impacts over the fire area.

Agencies represented on the fire include United States Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Kern County, CAL FIRE, Tuolumne County Emergency Personnel, Tuolumne County Fire, and Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Department, Office of Emergency Services.

Here’s the link to the Knight Fire photos taken earlier today. Check it out!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2031468&id=1382982521&l=1fec598e00

So for you folks who live out there, of course it’s Mt. Knight. Suffice to say that after several emails from offended residents, I doubt I’ll ever make that typo again.

At least Mt. Knight isn’t in District 3 – I’d never live that down – although I readily admit I don’t know the name of every peak and valley in my own district! Regardless, thanks! I like to be accurate.

By the way, I got a tour of the Knight Fire today and we drove by the private homes still standing there. Our firefighters did an excellent job of protecting homes. If you’d like to see the photos of the Knight Fire and the Mt. Knight area, please visit my Facebook page (log in and search for “Teri Murrison”) where you will find them.

There are lots of firefighters out there and although the fire is not out by a long way, there is some optimism that things may be looking up – as long as we don’t get some strong winds that push the fire over onto the north side of the river.

Thanks to the Stanislaus National Forest and Bobby Shindelar for a thorough tour. I have a whole new appreciation for what you guys do for us!

Crane helicopters at the ready at Columbia Airport, photo: Jim Thomas, 2009.

Every summer, District 3 and Tuolumne County residents worry about the prospect of a major fire. We’ve been extremely fortunate for a number of years, but the Mt. Knight Fire now burning north of Twain Harte is a vivid reminder that big fires can and do happen here.

To keep it from escalating further, suppression activity is ferocious: crews from around the state have joined local firefighters and the aerial assault being mounted is nothing short of amazing. Fortunately, there are no major fires competing for resources and the crews are relatively fresh. We’ve got a good chance of arresting this one before it becomes a major problem.

Below are two interesting reports. The first is an update I received from Pat Kaunert, USFS Public Information Officer, on the fire’s status as of this morning. The second, a report on fire-related traffic at the Columbia Airport. I visited the airport yesterday and as the photo illustrates particularly well, the crane helicopters are gi-normous!

I’ve been sitting in on daily briefings with our Emergency Services staff, CalFire/County Fire, the Sheriff’s Office, the USFS, Animal Control, Public Works, the Red Cross, and others and if there’s one thing that stands out, it’s the professionalism and preparedness of that team.

Only one summer residence community, the subdivision of Mt, Knight is threatened and firefighters are protecting it. Animal Control has been out to make sure pets and livestock are not at risk, the Sheriff’s Office is doing a great job restricting access to the area. On that subject, it is critically important that everyone avoids the area. The forest roads out there are narrow and there is a lot of fire equipment being moved in and out. Extra traffic on the roads is dangerous for our public safety folks and anyone who doesn’t have to be out there.

Pat tells me that we can expect the fire to continue on uncontained for several days because it is burning within the steep river canyon where it would be extremely dangerous to put firefighters. The incident command has decided to run two lines perpendicular to the river canyon and so far, is keeping it contained within the canyon.

I’ll be going out on the fire line tomorrow and will have more info and some photos which I’ll post. For now, the fire is behaving pretty much as the USFS incident command expects it to. Here’s Pat’s report.

Today firefighters continue to battle the Knight Fire burning on the Stanislaus National Forest in the Middle Fork Stanislaus River Canyon. The Knight Fire is now under the Incident Command of Allen Johnson and the South Central Sierra Interagency Incident Management Team. Incident Base is located in Hess Meadow and firefighters are working hard to gain control.

The Knight fire is burning in inaccessible terrain and currently there is no estimated time of containment. Steep and rocky terrain is impacting the accessibility of the area as firefighters continue to battle extreme fire behavior and rough working conditions.

Forecasted fire weather conditions remain hot and dry over the next few days possibly creating extreme fire behavior, multiple spot fires, and torching, with no relief during the evenings as the fire continues to burn actively throughout the night.

Yesterday, good progress was made on the top end of the Knight fire as dozers continue to construct dozer lines and working on secondary lines. Secondary line construction continues north of the fire on the ridge above the Middle Fork of the Stanislaus River.

Agencies represented on the fire include United States Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Kern County, CAL FIRE, Tuolumne County Emergency personnel, Tuolumne County Fire, and Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Department, Office of Emergency Services.

Here’s another report from Jim Thomas, Columbia Airport’s manager (on 7/28). The airport is quite a sight!

Things are a bit busy at Columbia Airport right now as I’m sure you can imagine. At the moment we have numerous helicopters operating out of the airport. I have closed the grass runway and we are parking the Type 1 helicopters (BIG ones, see attached picture) adjacent to the grass runway. A command center has been set up by the Forest Service and they are thinking about contacting SBC to get a hard wire telephone connection to it.

Right now there are four contract helicopter firms flying out of Columbia, each with a full crew of tenders, mechanics, fuel trucks, etc. All the groups are very cooperative. My guess is that there are between 100 and 150 people associated with the fire here.

I’m told the smoke is so bad in the canyon it has made it difficult to use fixed wing aircraft (the Cal Fire air tankers). Even the helicopters have been grounded from time to time because of the smoke. The Forest Service brought in a Cobra helicopter which is equipped with infrared sensors that allows it to fly through the smoke but it has not flown any missions yet.

We have only received one complaint so far and that came from a resident of Columbia Sky Mobile Home Park. The person said the helicopter flying over shook the entire house. I can understand this since the gross weight of the Air Cranes is around 40,000# and Columbia Sky is located in a direct line between the airport and the fire!