{"id":62,"date":"2017-09-22T00:02:05","date_gmt":"2017-09-22T00:02:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/loggersretreat.com\/rebuild\/?page_id=62"},"modified":"2017-10-07T08:28:04","modified_gmt":"2017-10-07T15:28:04","slug":"the-fire","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/loggersretreat.com\/rebuild\/the-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"During The Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo above: Fire burns near road work on Highway 41. This road work was the tree cutting work that was initially reported as the cause of the fire.<\/p>\n

(Photo credit: Madera County Sheriff’s Office #maderaso)<\/p>\n

Certainty and Uncertainty<\/h6>\n
\"Google
This is a Google Map published by Sierra News Online in the initial hours of the fire, showing where it started according to initial dispatch reports.\u00a0 Note the close proximity to the Logger’s Retreat.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My cell phone logs tell me the call from our caretaker came in at 12:57pm on August 29, 2017.\u00a0 With an urgency in her voice she said she had seen a smoke column south of Fish Camp “really<\/em> <\/strong>close!” to our property.<\/p>\n

\"Image
The early smoke column as seen from the Oakhurst area. Photo credit: Steve Montalto<\/span><\/a> from the Sierra Star<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When I received her call I was roughly 250 miles away.\u00a0 I searched for any information I could find remotely, but initial reports were sparse. Gina Clugston at Sierra News Online published<\/a> one of the first reports I found.\u00a0\u00a0 In it she wrote:<\/p>\n

\n

At about 12:20 p.m., reports came in to Sierra National Forest dispatch that a crew cutting trees in the area had dropped a limb on a power line. That has not been confirmed as the cause of the fire.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The location of the fire was given as “near Highway 41 and Mill Canyon Road,” not a quarter mile from two houses we own on a steep hillside above and across the road from the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad.<\/p>\n

Uh oh.<\/p>\n

\n

…As of 12:53 p.m., the fire was reported about 50 feet from the roadway near the Sugar Pine Railroad.<\/p>\n

\"Image
This early image from the Madera County Sheriff’s Office shows a ground fire in the trees, across the road from the Railroad and directly below the Logger’s Retreat.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/blockquote>\n

One thing was certain: it was clearly advancing northward very fast.<\/p>\n

\n

…At 12:58 p.m. Air Attack was overhead and reported the fire at 30-40 acres, moving east, with a potential for a few thousand acres.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Railroad Fire would take two and a half weeks to contain, cover 12,407 acres of forested land, and require the efforts of hundreds, if not thousands of firefighters to control. Sierra National Forest officials finally declared 100% containment on September 16, 2017.<\/p>\n

In retrospect, the Logger’s Retreat was probably lost within the first hour of the fire.\u00a0 But we had no way of knowing that at the time.\u00a0 During the initial days of the fire perhaps the worst part for us was the uncertainty; the anxiety of having too many questions and no answers.\u00a0 Each bit of reliable information we did receive led to more unanswered questions.<\/p>\n

Bits and Pieces<\/h6>\n

Early on, we did have a few facts to work with.\u00a0 The most direct were from several webcams we maintain at the properties.\u00a0 They recorded the selfless efforts of neighbors and first responders rushing in to save lives and property.<\/p>\n

\"Webcam
At 12:22 pm a neighbor from the YMSPRR arrives at the Trestlewood Chalet to warn any occupants of the fire. Luckily both properties happened to be empty at the time. Note the orange tint to the sunlight on driveway.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Twenty minutes after our neighbors at the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad checked for occupants at the Trestlewood Chalet, the Madera County Sheriff drove up to the Logger’s Retreat to evacuate any occupants.<\/p>\n

\"Image
The timestamp on the image above is 12:43 pm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Officer
At 12:44 pm, Watch Commander Jacob Tallmon of the Madera County Sheriff’s Office arrives at the Logger’s Retreat to evacuate any occupants (it too was unoccupied).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I spoke with Officer Tallmon several days after the photo above was taken.\u00a0 First and foremost I wanted to thank him for his dedication and his service. This is an example of Madera County’s Finest, at their finest.<\/p>\n

I was also curious to hear an eye witness account.\u00a0 Officer Tallmon was one of the very first of the the first responders on the scene of the fire.<\/p>\n

He told me that at the time he arrived the fire had not yet reached the house, but there were already spot fires burning on the property — for instance near the propane tank.\u00a0 He knew he would have very limited time to evacuate anyone there.<\/p>\n

He also knew then that the house would be lost.<\/p>\n

\"Image
At 12:44:49 pm, this was the last image recorded by the webcam at the Logger’s Retreat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fortunately he was able to quickly confirm that the house was empty and leave within about 30 seconds.<\/p>\n

As he predicted, the Logger’s Retreat was of course lost.\u00a0 But we found out afterward that the propane tank was left virtually untouched<\/em> by the fire!<\/p>\n

Madera County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch Audio<\/h6>\n

If you would like to hear the Madera County Sheriff’s Office in action saving lives and property, below is the public recording of their dispatch audio from 12:40 pm to 1:10 pm.<\/p>\n

Some highlights from the audio:<\/p>\n