Route Complex Continued

After our first day we moved to a different part of the line on the "Chance Fire". Then we hiked in more hose down the steep cat line.

My guys humped hose for several days. Back and forth. They must have hiked several miles each day. They did this without complaint. They left the hose for the hand crews, and then the hand crews laid out the hose line. My guys were shot. I tried to rest them but every time I did our task force leader would call and say "can you send your guys with more supplies"? So they went. At one point I went myself to give one of my guys a break. For the most part I wasn't able to go because I had to run the pump at the engine.

Inversion

Watch out situation!

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Neighbor fire.

We were surrounded by fires. Every direction there was fires. We had the mildest fire in the area. I believe it was because we were close enough to the coast that the humidity kept things in check. Every night we drove across the top of the ridge our way back to camp and we could see the coast inversion. We really weren't far from it. But the fires near by blew up just about every day.

Fire Cloud

These neighbor fires blew up nearly every day. Maybe they did blow every day, I don't know. Some days we had an inversion and it was like ground fog. The difference is it was smoke. The cloud you see is formed by intense heat that forms a cloud. On extreme occasions they even produce rain. 

The scientific explanation is that as the smoke raises, aka the heat, it cools as it rises and as it does so it cools and condenses and when it reaches its saturation point and reaches above 100% humidity then a cloud forms. It is called a plume dominated fire. These are extremely dangerous. Why? Because once they reach saturation point it collapses. As it collapses it comes straight down. These downdrafts send fire in all directions. An indicator that this is happening is light rain. If you haven't already left it's time to get out!

Check back for he continuation of this fire. Lots more to show you....