Two Bulls Fire

Bobbe enjoying a Saturday at Snowshoe Inn

 

This was our first view of smoke, or clouds?

View from Triangle Peak

Time to return home and pack

We did not have to leave Snowshoe Inn for this adventure.  Saturday afternoon Bobbe came out and asked me about a cloud or was that smoke in the sky.  I was in the process of servicing my equipment and my equipment trailer was attached to my truck.  We used Bobbe's Subaru to drive to Triangle peak a few miles north of Snowshoe Inn off  U.S.F.S.  Rd 4601.  Before we got there we knew that it was not a re-burn on the controlled burn along Skyliner Road a few weeks back.  It was two fires a few miles north of Snowshoe inn.  We returned home, I packed up my trailer with out finishing servicing my equipment, Bobbe packed a go bag and most of our irreplaceable items in the Subaru.  As we drove out River Rd a neighbor informed us that the Sheriff's office was about to call for an evacuation of the neighborhood.  With that information we returned home to pack more belongings.  They can not force you to leave but once you leave they can keep you from returning to your home. 

The Sheriff's office informed us that the middle school had been chosen as the evacuation center, and from previous presentations form the SO we knew that evacutees must check in even if they have an other place to stay.  Bobbe evacuated with the animals and some of our belonging to my mom's house in town.  Paul & Daria also went with Bobbe to my mom's house.  It was better for all of them to be together for support.  I stayed and got sprinklers going on the perimeter of the landscaped area to add to my fire safe peremeter.   Snowshoe inn was designed and landscaped to withstand being over run by a wild fire.  In 1979 the Bridge Creek Fire came with in a few hundred feet of the cabin on the property.   In 1990 about the time we bought the property the Aubry-Hall Fire burned 10 miles east of our property.  I forgot to say that I have a 50 gal/ minute gas pump and 20 gallons of class A foam on the property.  Only two of us in the neighborhood stayed me and Ken Strode.

View east Sunday morning  :( 

View to west Sunday morning :)

I began posting information as I could find it and photos I had taken on our first trip up the hill on my facebook page.  The neighborhood also has a e-mail list that we use to communicate items of common interest. I also sent e-mails out to the list to keep people in the loop.  Initially the two fires  were about 7 & 9 miles north and east of Snowshoe inn.  Winds were from the northwest which means the fire was going toward Skyliner Road 5 to 6 miles to the east of us. That was good, not heading directly toward us.  On Saturday it ran about 6 miles.  We were lucky that the winds died down Saturday night.

View from Subdivision Monday morning

On Sunday morning it was perfectly clean and no smell of smoke in the air.  That was unsettling but the normal night time down hill flow of air kept the smoke away, but Bend got it.  Sorry!  As the day progressed no information was posted to the federal fire page on the internet InciWeb site  http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/  In fact the second  posting after the fire was first posted was 28 hours later.  That is the slowest posting in all of the years I have been following wild fires on the site.  Later on they did start a facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TwoBullsFire   This site had some dated information but it turns out that the best information was local TV and Radio stations.  I continued to post to my facebook page and our e-mail list as the day progressed, The fire was so far away and being in a canyon I could not see much of what was happening.  Sunday afternoon the winds changed and smoke begin to come up the canyon. The fires blew up on the west side but it did not last long the the fire was stopped.

On Monday the weather continued to be calm and the fire settled down.  This was the only fire in the region and the State moved lots of resources on the fire.  The combination of lots of resources and calm weather kept the fire from spreading much.  It was stopped and the job of trailing the fire continued.   I felt my home was not longer at risk of being over run.  I needed to work so Monday afternoon I left and drove into my mom's place to join Bobbe, Paul & Daria. 

From Awbry Butte next week

More fire damage from Awbry Butte

 Tuesday  night the evacuation order was lifted but it was too late at night to return home.  We went home after work on Wednesday and tried to put life back together again.   Today is June 22, a vast area around the fire is still closed to the public,  Bear wallow road behind Snowshoe Inn is still closed.  I do enjoy the quiet but would love to get out and explore more.  I believe the closure order will be lifted sometime next week nearly 3 weeks after the fire started. 

Life moves on .  I think some are rethinking what they can do to firesafe there homes for the next fire.  It could be the the one that over runs the neighborhood.  We have our annual fire meeting in a few weeks.  Maybe the Two Bulls fire got some peoples attention to the reality of living in the forest environment.