Are Ponds a Viable Safety Zone if over run by a Forest Fire?

[washerman]

Beats climbing a tree

 

[vt_shooter]

Seems like there could be something akin to tornado shelters in fire-prone areas, underground shelters with a sealed and insulated trap door leading to it, and a compressed air supply. Doesn't seem like a lot would be needed to weather an hour or two of burning temperatures above ground. It would think it'd take a lot of hours to heat the ground say 3 feet down, more than an average fire would be around.

 

[mtgianni]

Seems like there could be something akin to tornado shelters in fire-prone areas, underground shelters with a sealed and insulated trap door leading to it, and a compressed air supply. Doesn't seem like a lot would be needed to weather an hour or two of burning temperatures above ground. It would think it'd take a lot of hours to heat the ground say 3 feet down, more than an average fire would be around.

Fire crews are issued blankets which will save their lives in most cases if they use them properly and cover every square inch of their body. They are rotated out regularly. Our old Scout troop was able to get some scraps to build fires on. [when the blankets are found to be old they are cut into 3' squares] The fires would leave green grass under them unharmed.

 

[Jon651]

Seems like there could be something akin to tornado shelters in fire-prone areas, underground shelters with a sealed and insulated trap door leading to it, and a compressed air supply. Doesn't seem like a lot would be needed to weather an hour or two of burning temperatures above ground. It would think it'd take a lot of hours to heat the ground say 3 feet down, more than an average fire would be around.

If people would maintain large firebreaks around their homes and evacuate when told to do so then something like this wouldn't be needed. Here's a story about people in Oregon who refused to evacuate for all the wrong reasons:

As Antifa Rumors Spread in Oregon, Residents Defied Evacuation Orders - The New York Times

It's still amazing to see how people will let their political fears override their common sense. Even if there were roving mobs of Antifa arsonists in Oregon threatening your home, regardless of what you believe or who set the fire you are still dying a useless death trying to do nothing more than protect your "stuff".

 

[Absalom]

There have been stories around Oregon about people getting excited about possible radicals on the loose because they misunderstood references to BLM in radio traffic heard on scanners. Out here, that's still the Bureau of Land Management

Just stories, but wouldn't surprise me at all.

 

[Jon651]

There have been stories around Oregon about people getting excited about possible radicals on the loose because they misunderstood references to BLM in radio traffic heard on scanners. Out here, that's still the Bureau of Land Management

Just stories, but wouldn't surprise me at all.

You absolutely CAN NOT post things like this!!! I very nearly sprayed my drink all over my computer monitor...

 

[wood714]

The portable fire shelters ("baked potato bags") that the wildland fire guys use are a nightmare - but in theory you should have enough air inside the shelter to sustain you for long enough for the fire to blow by you. Emphasis on the word "theory".

Fire crews are issued blankets which will save their lives in most cases if they use them properly and cover every square inch of their body. They are rotated out regularly. Our old Scout troop was able to get some scraps to build fires on. [when the blankets are found to be old they are cut into 3' squares] The fires would leave green grass under them unharmed.

I watched a movie that was based on a true story about 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots That burned up using those blankets.

Was a good movie called Only The Brave.

 

[BearBio]

Even without everything else that is both spectacular and heroic about this story, can you imagine having to go into a raging wildfire and considering A PISTOL as a needed and valuable piece of equipment ???

Well into the mid-20th Century, forest rangers in the Pacific Northwest carried pistols for bears and moose, etc. My agency was co-located with a Forest Service office and they had a poster blown up from an old photo of two "forest rangers" eating in a ranger station (just a log cabin) and there was a Colt SAA and what looked like a large Colt DA, as well as an 1886 Winnie on the wall with a shotgun and tack. In this age of "enlightenment" only LEO can carry firearms in the lower 48 (somehow, I was certified to use firearms in my state and I had to get re-certified annually). I taught bear spray as Safety Officer, which required a Safety Course and a "practicum" by me.

I agree with the comment about BLM=at first I was wondering why Bureau of Land Management would be protesting and what their issues were. BTW: To us, BLM meant " Bureau of Lumber and Mining"!

 

[BearBio]

Pulaski was one of the first to "sit out a fire". In the Mann Gulch fire, the supervisor lit a "back fire" or "back burn" in a patch of grass and laid in the ashes. Several of his men ran past him and died. When the inquiry asked why he did that (no one had before), he answered "Just seemed like the thing to do" (Grass fires burn fast and not too hot).

Living in the PNW we've been told to evacuate twice (Once my office and once at home for me and my wife's office when embers started a fire in town). We also can identify the type of fire by the smell of the smoke.