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Forest Closed - September 28, 2004 |
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Forest Closed - September 28, 2004 |
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September 28, 2004A Press Release from the Forest Supervisor announced that the 90% of the Angeles National Forest's 680,000 acres would be closed due to the severe fire danger and low fuel moisture levels. Last year, wildfires burned over 750,000 acres, destroyed 3,710 homes and killed 24 people. The Angeles was closed for 11 days during that time. It reopened on November 7, following significant rainfall. This past July, three fires burned 34,000 acres over a two- week period on the Angeles National Forest in the Santa Clarita area and the danger was too much to risk. We also got word that the Fire Lookout Towers would be closed too. This didn't make sense to us so the Forest Supervisor Jody Norin took some time to meet with our organization. |
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We had a very good meeting with Jody, and the key Fire Leadership of
the Forest. It was decided that our Fire Lookouts would remain on duty
but in a different capacity. Instead of being in our towers, we would
use our vehicles and patrol selected parts of the Forest.
It was also decided that a Fire Retardent blanket be wrapped around Vetter Mountain Lookout to protect its historic value during this emergency. I was placed in charge of the new "Fire Watch Program" while Bob took charge of the "Vetter Wrap". After our meeting, NBC News Channel 4 reporter Beverly White was waiting for us outside for our reaction to the closure. Pam (or president) simply stated that we understood the reasons for the decision to shut down the forest and as partners, we will do our best to help the forest with our Fire Watch program. |
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In the following days I met with the Fire Leadership at the Don Biedebach
Training Center and we hammered out a plan for the Fire Watch program. We
set up a date to train those members of our organization that would volunteer
for this duty.
We worked out getting magnetic signs for our vehicles, and a new radio protocol that would be needed. |
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Part of the plan was to set up our patrol routes in the Forest. The
circles were stationary positions and the lines were the two roads we would
patrol.
After all the plans were set, we waited until the training date to begin the program. |
