Lower North Fork Fire & Prescribed Fire Review

Becky wrote: Well....count me in on the 2nd wave of help when interest wanes.

Thanks Becky, I will let them know.

If you want a poignant gut wrenching look at one's person ordeal with the Lower North Fork Fire check out this blog. And his wife's. I don't know this family but I have already learned a lot about them from their blog and from others. Not everyone up there has a huge home. It is so good to know that they have a wonderful support system of loving family and friends.

http://northforkashes.blogspot.com/

When went up to our house to do a few things yesterday and we left (still at least a weeks out for power), we passed over 10 cars going up to take a look. While I was outside my garage, I had people sitting above my house watching... it really can be unnerving. I just wish people would at least try to put themselves in our shoes and give it some time and give us some space.
Easter Sunday, and the ghouls were out.

Sorry to hear that netdude. I know with the Hi Meadow fire, Snaking and Black Mtn fires there were people all over the place. I hope for some it makes them understand how it can happen and maybe that is why they are there.

Becky wrote: Well....count me in on the 2nd wave of help when interest wanes.

Count me in trekker. I can handle a chainsaw and drop trees. It is such a black, yukky job. Are you going to use the logs to hold the soil and lessen erosion? Done lots of those. Prefer though to not work around a lot of people. It is always hard to guage the stability of the standing trees.

akilina wrote:

Becky wrote: Well....count me in on the 2nd wave of help when interest wanes.

Count me in trekker. I can handle a chainsaw and drop trees. It is such a black, yukky job. Are you going to use the logs to hold the soil and lessen erosion? Done lots of those. Prefer though to not work around a lot of people. It is always hard to guage the stability of the standing trees.

Thanks akilina. I will check with the owner. I think concern at the moment is liability if anyone gets hurt.

I thought I was going to either work on my aunt's deck or do some mitigation for her today but it turned out to be nice enough, without wind, to drop some of the burned trees. And you are right it is better not to have others around, other than a spotter to make sure we are safe. We dropped a bunch, trying not to overlap any on the ground so that we can get in and trim limbs. Right now it looks like a worse war zone but once we get the limbs out of there, it will look better and we can get to some more trees and then place them to help with erosion. Some spots are still too hot to work. Early on it became hard to recognize anyone with all the soot. Everything was black including our face masks. Got a compliment from a couple of guys that I can handle a chainsaw - for a girl. So I gave them the compliment right back. lol

Yesterday was a good day on the mountain. Trying to beat the rains. It helped that we brought more of our older chainsaws, considering they will be toast by the time we get done, and our own team. Sis and I rotated dropping trees and spotting. Two nephews rotated cutting limbs and cleaning or changing air filters. We tried to use the tip of the chainsaw but they would still gum up so nephews had a full time job keeping them running. We were working a lower section by ourselves, which we prefer. We can move faster.

The homeowner had his own work team, people from work got the day off to come help him. They are rotating in groups for the next few days I am told. Impressive huh? They worked the upper section removing limbs, placing the logs and staking them to help with erosion. Another bunch reseeded by hand and raked the soil.

It looks so different already. More to do today before the wind and rains.

Any suggestions on methods to clean air filters on the chainsaws as replacing them so frequently gets expensive? Thanks.

We take out the air filter and use a compressor to blow off the dirt. Often times that isn't recommended because it can damage the filter. But if you pull back far enough, it cleans faster and better than a brush. That might be harder to do where you are w/o a generator. We also use the compressor to blow dirt off the chainsaw, being careful not to blow any of it back into the saw.

When we finish for the day we remove the chain and bar, use the compressor to give a thorough cleaning, wipe down the bar and chain and reoil and flush with clean grease. We also soak the air filter in detergent and give it a good rinsing. Get a lot more use out of it that way. And no doubt you add grease while using. Probably stuff you already do.

Thanks akilina. And thanks for being our 4th this afternoon since nephew had to go to work.

Somewhere along the way I saw a segment on television that was showing homes that survived a fire. Don't know if it was from the LNN fire or not. Didn't get to watch it as I was out the door. Anyone see it or remember what station it was. It looks like homes might not survive a fast, crowning fire no matter how much mitigation but apparently some did. I would be interested in learning what they did.

Netdude not trying to put you on the spot or have you share what you don't care to share, but could you share some of the mitigation you or other homeowners who survived the fire did? Thanks.

I keep all vegetation down close to house and have 20' of sod closer to house. The sod is what helped the most. another thing is to remove enough tress to give more distance between them, at least 10', 15' is better and remove all branches lower than around 8'-10'. Remove fuel from on the ground.