Johnson Fire 9-1-07

[Calindy]

Brush fire..20-25 acres on Johnson Rd in Phelan. Air support on the way from Zaca Fire.

[Calindy]

Unable to access due to terrain...Lightning in area

[Calindy]

Johnson Fire

[Wildman]

Johnson fire from my front deck.  These flames are directly above the Mountain Top restaurant on the ridge.  No wind and the flames seem to be holding on the ridge.




Quick response from CDF/Calfire Copter 305




CDF/Calfire S-2 dropping on the ridge top and the Western flank of the fire.  We had an Air Attack overhead, a Lead Plane, 2 CDF S-2 Air Tankers and a CDF P-3
tanker.  They really got down here quickly and were the key to holding the fire at around 15 acres.  Very nice work.



CDF P-3 Air Tanker passes directly over our house on his race track pattern to drop.  Love the sound!





Quick response to multiple fires in the area along with fires from lightning, rescues and flooding/mud slides by multiple agencies.  Most fire stations were stripped and cover engines were the norm. 

[PinonMesaJon]

Thanks for the update and the great pictures Wildman.
My wife and I were coming home from her parents' in Pinon Hills. We smelled the smoke and saw the helicopters around 4:30, and were wondering what the situation was.
Hope it's not too close to your home and that's just a really good telephoto lens! 
Thanks again.

[Wildman]

Yes, that was my 400mm long lens but it flames were about 1/2 mile from here.  We are fine but watch any fire closely as we have to relocate 9 horses.  We also have evacuation route issues since CALTRANS closed our primary secondary evac route.  We were fortunate to get the CDF aircraft in a timely manner....the aircraft and the ground troops did a wonderful job! 

I am, however, incensed that  San Bernardino County (the largest contiguous county in the nation) does not have a single dedicated fire department water dropping helicopter.  If other agencies are busy, we simply are out of luck.  LA County has 6 Type 1 Firehawks and a number of 412 ships and they also lease the two Super Scoopers and an additional Type 1 Heavy ship.  The Feds are cutting way back and that puts a strain on CDF ships.  With the  thousands of square miles of wildland interface that we have, how can we continue without our own helos?

[Chuck]

We had this off our deck today.  Why the Sheriff's department?

[Wildman]

The San Bernardino County Sheriff's runs the Aviation program in this county.  The ship in your picture was responding to a reported Hang Glider down in the wash and floating down.  Copter 307 is configured for rescue and that is the mission being flown here.

Copter 305 is on lease to CDF/CALFIRE and operates with a belly tank and snorkel.  They are painted identically and both flown by Sheriff pilots.  Copter 305 is dispatched by CDF/CALFIRE and may not be available as they were today to initial attack the fire and hold the line until the air tankers arrive.  They could be anywhere CDF operates in the state.

[mokandi]

What happened to the reported hang glider down in the wash?

[Wildman]

No one was found by ground and air search.

[ForestGal]

Great photos, Wildman and Calindy.  Wildman, in the first pic you posted, the flames very much resemble a giraffe!  Did you photoshop that, or is that really what it looked like?

[Wildman]

Just a little fire whirl coming off of those Joshuas.  No Photoshop.

[Snowbird]

Is the fire out?

[Nolena]

Great photos, Wildman and Calindy.  Wildman, in the first pic you posted, the flames very much resemble a giraffe!  Did you photoshop that, or is that really what it looked like?

Dang! That DOES look like a giraffe!
I've seen lots of shapes in fire & smoke. It might make a nice photography subject.

[Wildman]

Yes, the Johnson Fire was completely out the next day.

[wwpt]

 
   I was driving down through Phelan and turned back over my shoiulder to see if that thunderstorm was going to follow me to work later and saw a thin wisp of smoke right as it happened. It was hard to tell the difference between the thunderstorms wisps of rain cloud dripping down, but i realized it was probably a lightning strike fire and called 911 to report it.
  
   The 911 lines were not working , and they just hung up on you, so I made some calls until I found someone at home and had them call it in from a land line. The Fire engines started that way shortly....What a tough area to have to work in.  Thank goodness for the Aircraft!

  That flame does look like a giraffe.

[Jack]

Lightning does some strange things. Our house got hit when I was a kid. It went down the TV antenna on the roof. Blew up the TV and made a small black dot on the center of the tube. Went across the room to the kitchen faucet. Blew several holes in the trap under the sink. It looked like bullet holes coming from inside the pipe. The metal was pushed out. It made small burn marks all over the inside of the cabinet. But no fire.