Donnell Fire (update: Tuesday - Aug 7, 2018)

Forest Service Meeting at Pinecrest Amphitheater
Monday, August 6, 2018 @ 5 PM
Fire Information Line: (209) 272-5455


Tonight's fire information meeting at the Pinecrest Amphitheater was a good one and well attended. The purpose of the
meeting was to provide accurate information to those in attendance, answer questions and try to clarify some of the
misinformation going around.

There has been a lot of rumors going around as to why Cal Fire didn't immediately respond and start suppression. People
are asking why they are letting the fires burn and turn into large out of control fires that cause structures to be lost.
The Summit Forest Ranger Sarah LaPlant addressed this rumor. First off Cal Fire was not the responding agency as this is
a forest fire and in the USFS wildland area of responsibility. The Forest Service has treated this as a 100% suppression
fire from the beginning. It was never a 'management fire". That being said resources are thin and the weather created
very erratic conditions for the first few days of this fire. Also, air attacks were not possible due to heavy smoke.
They need at least 1/2 mile visibility and the ability to fly 500 ft off the ground.

There were several agencies represented at the meeting tonight - USFS, Cal Fire, Sheriffs Office, Tuolumne County Supervisors
and other fire prevention officials from all over the United States. They are working together as a unified command. Even
community members are assisting where they can -- Dodge Ridge is allowing the fire personnel to use their fuel -- one of the
resource shortages is diesel and pumps. Another resource shortage is personnel. On a fire this size there would normally
be 1000 personnel. There is currently 200 ground personnel and an additional 100 in support staff including air support.

Good news -- we had a good day to fight on the ground and there was no forward progression to Kennedy today. Bad news - we
couldn't fly planes today, too smoky. The predicted weather for the next couple of days is for the inversion to continue,
less wind and high temps. This allows good ground progress and lessens the growth of the fire on the ground, but the bad
news is planes usually can't fly during the inversion of air.

More bad news, the resort at Dardenelle's burned last night. Some of the cabins remain but the resort itself is gone. There
are also several structures in the Brightman and Wagner Tract area that have burned. Current stats -- fire has burned 12,000
acres and is 2% contained.

Primary focus of the fire fight now is the 5N01 area (Eagle Meadow/Haypress area). Concentration is on protecting structures
in that area. The Uranium mine is not currently being threatened. There is NOT and this is a direct quote "there is NOT a
high probability that the fire will spread and come back into 108 towards Pinecrest and Strawberry". That being said they
did indicate that everyone of us should have a "go bag" packed and ready to go. If evacuation becomes necessary not only
will the reverse 911 be activated there will be postings on Tuolumne County Sheriff incident page and Sheriff personnel will
go door to door to notify residents and visitors in the affected area.

They are expecting this fire fight to go another 3-4 weeks. It will be a couple of weeks before the burned area is secured
enough for people to be able to go in to their properties. The burned area is dangerous -- tree roots have been weakened by
the burn and trees are falling even after the fire has been extinguished. The Forest Service is personally contacting anyone
whose properties/homes have been lost.

Finally, people should sign up for amber alerts on the Tuolumne County web page, under the OES label, check social media f --
Tuolumne County Sheriff's page, Nextdoor and tune to FM radio 102.7 for updated fire information.


Dee Martin
Strawberry Fire Protection District
Board President