Re: Fire season already?!

Great thread guys. I got a chance to see the blaze yesterday. Most of the fire you could see from the track was moving either north or south fairly slow. It looked like a nice controlled burn just meandering through the underbrush. That is until we came around the corner and saw the hillside above MP 480.5. She was burning with a vengeance there! The fire seems to be confined to a couple of narrow canyons as of 4:00pm when we went by yesterday. The same Hotshot crew from Wyoming who worked the Cascade fire last year was on site. Hopefully this fire just clears the underbrush and a few of the trees. Nobody wants to see a barren hillside(Like Mitchell Lakes '95).
In response to Mr. Hall's post. I think the info about the "old heads" being able to "hook up" the engines to not throw cinders is a joke. The fact is that some engines seem to throw a lot more hot cinders than others(i.e. 478, 486). You can run the things damn near center and you're running boards will still be covered by cinders every 5 miles that she's working hard. I'm surprised we don't see MOW cut more "fire breaks" up the right-of-way. They did a great job of cutting "fire breaks" on Hermosa hill(MP462-MP468.7) this spring. Maybe they can't since a large portion of where we run is now part of the Weimenuche Wilderness.
My $.02,
Rob