Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Bad ideas = good stories
STANLEY, ID - Just miles from a giant forest fire in the Sawtooth Mountains, Joeja and I saw nothing. Puffy white clouds and pristine vistas was all that was visible as we approached the sleepy mountain hamlet of Stanley Monday on our way to cover yet another forest fire.
Then, as we crested a hill near Sheep Creek (pronounced "crick" in Idaho), the road turned to the south and it looked like we were driving into the apocalypse. A 100-acre forest fire looks impressive. A 13,000-acre fire looks like a nuclear war (http://homepage.mac.com/Joeja/iblog/). And, as usual we did battle with The Man, and won.
The first savvy move we made was skirting offialdom and driving straight to the fire before telling the fire bosses we were there. Dressed head to toe in regulation fire gear (yellow NoMex top, green NoMex pants and heavy boots) we drove up to a closed road that led to the evacuated community where we wanted to be. The Custer County Sheriff himself was guarding the road and, much to our shock, he mistook us for firefighters (please fight the urge to snicker at the thought of me being mistaken for a firefighter) and waved us through.
After busting up a narrow, rocky dirt road, finding no people and thinking up different headlines for a story about two Statesman journalists killed in a wildfire, we turned around to find another road and hopefully some people. After chatting up some local firefighters and finding out the cause of the fire (a detail the authorities did not want us to know) we headed back out. This time, though, we did not get waved through.
As the Sheriff played nice and distracted us, politely asking who we were and what we were doing on a closed road, a deputy went around the back of my car and started writing down my plate number. We, of course, played dumb, aw shucksing and apologizing and were let on our way. Excited to actually have something to do, they ran my plates and actually called the Statesman to make sure we were who we said we were, as if we would have stolen a car, threw on NoMex and drove into a wildfire.
The rest of the day was spent playing firefighter, talking to people with Fu Manchus and cheeks full of chew, driving too fast on windy dirt roads and scrapping for info we weren't supposed to have. And we got paid. All in all, a perfect Labor Day.
Here's the story (at least read the lede):
http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050906/NEWS01/509060311
Then, as we crested a hill near Sheep Creek (pronounced "crick" in Idaho), the road turned to the south and it looked like we were driving into the apocalypse. A 100-acre forest fire looks impressive. A 13,000-acre fire looks like a nuclear war (http://homepage.mac.com/Joeja/iblog/). And, as usual we did battle with The Man, and won.
The first savvy move we made was skirting offialdom and driving straight to the fire before telling the fire bosses we were there. Dressed head to toe in regulation fire gear (yellow NoMex top, green NoMex pants and heavy boots) we drove up to a closed road that led to the evacuated community where we wanted to be. The Custer County Sheriff himself was guarding the road and, much to our shock, he mistook us for firefighters (please fight the urge to snicker at the thought of me being mistaken for a firefighter) and waved us through.
After busting up a narrow, rocky dirt road, finding no people and thinking up different headlines for a story about two Statesman journalists killed in a wildfire, we turned around to find another road and hopefully some people. After chatting up some local firefighters and finding out the cause of the fire (a detail the authorities did not want us to know) we headed back out. This time, though, we did not get waved through.
As the Sheriff played nice and distracted us, politely asking who we were and what we were doing on a closed road, a deputy went around the back of my car and started writing down my plate number. We, of course, played dumb, aw shucksing and apologizing and were let on our way. Excited to actually have something to do, they ran my plates and actually called the Statesman to make sure we were who we said we were, as if we would have stolen a car, threw on NoMex and drove into a wildfire.
The rest of the day was spent playing firefighter, talking to people with Fu Manchus and cheeks full of chew, driving too fast on windy dirt roads and scrapping for info we weren't supposed to have. And we got paid. All in all, a perfect Labor Day.
Here's the story (at least read the lede):
http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050906/NEWS01/509060311
# posted by Druz @ 11:36 AM 
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The mountain pine beetle as well as the more well-known bark beetle burrow into trees, stripping them of bark and killing them. The tree carcasses then dry out, making them highly susceptible to fire.
Bark beetle and beetle infestation is a very common topic in the western mountain states. I'd suspect that most people reading that article knew exactly what a bark beetle was - a minion of Satan himself.
When I first started writing forest health stories it took me a while to figure out what the heck a bark beetle was. But everyone else in town knew.
When I first started writing forest health stories it took me a while to figure out what the heck a bark beetle was. But everyone else in town knew.
Here, here. The bark beetle is naturally occurring, as if fire. You know what's not naturally occurring? Houses in forests that regularly burn. Houses that your tax dollars go to protecting from destruction that was inevitable when they were built. Go bark beetles!
Maybe this should have been higher up in the story or maybe Sackface should have read a little farther down:
The fire is burning in an area with many lodgepole pine trees killed by the mountain pine beetle, which makes the area very susceptible to wildfires.
Maybe this should have been higher up in the story or maybe Sackface should have read a little farther down:
The fire is burning in an area with many lodgepole pine trees killed by the mountain pine beetle, which makes the area very susceptible to wildfires.
To clarify, I myself am not a detractor of the very natural bark beetle.
I will go on record as saying I have no ill will toward the bark beetle, and understand its place in the fabulous circle of life.
People in MY neck of the woods however, see the bark beetle, in combination with what they term environMENTAList policies against logging, as Satanic.
Jessey regrets the error.
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I will go on record as saying I have no ill will toward the bark beetle, and understand its place in the fabulous circle of life.
People in MY neck of the woods however, see the bark beetle, in combination with what they term environMENTAList policies against logging, as Satanic.
Jessey regrets the error.
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