Photo (July 11 - afternoon): Looking at OHV Area from
Lodoga/Stonyford Rd.
Here is HQ’s July 12 am report based on intel from a 1900
briefing last night. Fran Peace from Congressman Wally Herger’s
Office was in attendance.
With luck they will
keep the fire below Miner ridge, saving the Goat Mt. area. Also, Little Stony is spared for now. That's
the good news. The bad news is that the
fire will double in size. They will
start firing out along Stonyford/Lodoga Road today at 1100 (HQ will have its
reporter on scene for that), bringing the fire on around the new cat-line to
the Goat Mt. Road. This will burn out
all the front country fuels that are a threat to East Park Estates, Century
Ranch and homes along the main road.
It appears their plan for the canyon is to use fire (probably
a helitorch) to light off as much as
will burn along the rim of the main canyon, which would include all trails and
side canyons up to Big Sullivan or Pine Ridge.
They cannot burn out from the road because of serpentine and spotty
fuels, but want to remove as much vegetation as possible on the north side of
L. Stony Road to prevent rekindling in the event of a wind or weather change
which could send the fire possibly to the south side of Little Stony canyon (a
bad thing) and on to Lovelady, Goat Mt. and Lake County.
Everything up to Mill Valley, south to Crackerbox and on the
north along the M10 corridor is slicked off. The fire is currently 16,800
acres, but it is estimated to be closer to 30K when finally contained if the
plan is executed flawlessly.
HQ believes the media has not covered what the fire's impact
will have on special events such as motorcycle enduros and casual OHV use this fall
and winter. As many of you know, the
Fouts Springs OHV Camping area often becomes the largest “city” in Colusa
County during the Christmas/New Year Holiday Season with up to 2-4 thousand
people camping and riding there. The
fire may have a serious impact on that activity this year.
HQ thanks local Stonyford resident and former FS OHV program
manager, Jeff Applegate, on the Grindstone RD for his excellent feedback on the progress of
the fire.
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