El Prieto at risk!/Station Fire (merged threads)

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Tedroy, Aug 28, 2009.

  1. 1080P

    1080P Banned

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    While what has burned is sad, it's Mother Natures way of keeping things in check, including Poison Oak. Hopefully that will be scarce in the riding areas for a few years too.
     
  2. Abui

    Abui Active Member

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    You can't link because he owns the photos and wants to sell them. Too expensive for me to buy and share but I'm not going to cheat someone out of what he could deservedly earn.

    Thankfully he provides a slideshow, enjoy it.

    TJ Vrieling Photography
     
  3. MountainCycler

    MountainCycler OTB

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  4. DISCO

    DISCO Banned

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    Antoher Space pic

    this one shows the contrast between burnt and unburnt clearly.

    [​IMG]
     
  5. aosty

    aosty New Member

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  6. MTBMaven

    MTBMaven This is Shangri La

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    presence
    That is a great Near-Infra Red image.

    More on the image for those interested:
    The brighter the red the higher presence of healthy plant life. Basically plants have evolved to defend themselves from harmful near-ir wavelengths. Eemitted electromagnetic frequencies in the near-ir wavelengths are reflected off healthy plants and absorbed by unhealthy plants or inorganic matter. The reflected near-ir is captured by cameras capable of sensing the near-ir frequencies, typically mounted in fixed wing aircraft or satellites.

    The eye cannot see near-ir therefore there is no way to represent the amount of reflected near-ir captured in an image. So in the digital image above the amount of near-ir within a given digital pixel is represented as red values from 0-255. The more reflected near-ir captured the higher the number. Red frequencies are represented as green, green is represented as blue, and blue is not represented at all.

    At work we conducted a project last year using near-ir imagery to quantify all of the tree canopy within our city. It's pretty cool stuff.

    The remote sensing/GIS/biology/physics lesson is now over. You may continue with your regularly scheduled bicycle reading. :)
     
  7. MTBMaven

    MTBMaven This is Shangri La

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    Excellent interview on The Story on 89.3 KPCC right now with a Battalion Chief talking about the Station Fire. Amazing story and detail. 32 year veteran stating the fire was the defining moment of his career. I will post link to the interview when posted.
     
  8. Good_ol'_slappy

    Good_ol'_slappy aka SB

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    Thanks Brian...look forward to the link.

    Sorry a bit OT, but this Fire and ones fighting it bring light to a paperback I read long ago. Young Men and Fire, about the 1949 Mann Gulch in Montana. A good read if inclined.
     
  9. Margaritaman

    Margaritaman It's just tequila...

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    I am so humbled by all of it. Thanks to everyone for their contributions to a very informative thread.
     
  10. mpmffitz

    mpmffitz Farm Freerider

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    Extremely interactive actually got computer desk chair sick watching it. UTTER DEVESTATION, MADNESS,SADNESS, and hope the mountains don't wash away when the rains come, because it is very barren.

    Man that is sobering..

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNPTd39jAlM[/quote]
     
  11. supralight

    supralight New Member

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    [/QUOTE]

    wowowow :(

    i kept wanting the car to pass the cop car!
    i think theres something wrong with me.
     
  12. Tedroy

    Tedroy Active Member

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    Lament...

    ... I've lived in Pasadena for over 50 years, but this is the most devastating thing I have ever witnessed. Never again in my lifetime will I see the beauty that I grew up with. Gone are the quiet places that we all cherish for the calm they provide. Much of the reason I love Pasadena is gone. I fear we won't see the canopy of trees above us for many years to come.


    ...T :(
     
  13. MTBMaven

    MTBMaven This is Shangri La

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    Here is a link to the NPR show The Story title Fighting the Station Fire. http://thestory.org/archive/the_story_857_Mike_Rohde.mp3/view

    It is about an hour but I highly recommend listening. The first interview was amazing. Such detail.

    First Interview:
    Mike Rohde is a fire chief in Orange County, Calif., and he says the massive Station Fire is the worst he's seen in his nearly 40 years on the job. He tells Dick Gordon about the day last week when he led a group of firefighters into a burning canyon in search of residents who refused to evacuate. He found two survivors badly-burned in a hot tub. Another survivor emerged near a creek and three were still missing when his shift ended. Mike says national fire policy is under review, but the most important thing is for residents to heed the warnings of authorities and evacuate.


    Second Interview:
    John Kornarens was one of thousands of Californians asked to evacuate their homes during the Station Fire. He followed the mandatory evacuation at first, but eventually John went back to protect his house. John says he wasn't a nuisance to authorities - rather, he says he helped firefighters, serving as a neighborhood guide through the hills of La Crescenta. John talks with Dick about the fear, the excitement, and the sense of purpose he felt staying close to the fire.
     
  14. kanga

    kanga Active Member

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    True, this is some of the worst I've seen locally, and the local mountains will feel different for many years to come. But nobody here was in Australia in February this year, when the Black Saturday Victorian Firestorm killed 173 people, 414 injured, over 2000 homes, and more than 1.1 million acres burned, whole towns and whole communities gone. The average temperature was 110 degrees, and winds were 60mph after more than ten years of drought, perfect firestorm conditions.

    My parents' home in Australia is out in the boonies on 20 acres and surrounded on three sides by nature reserve... virgin bushland, and the bush was wild and untouched, up to about 60' from the house. We changed that to almost a quarter mile after the Black Saturday fire disaster in Victoria, losing much of the bush that made my family love the place and move there in the seventies. But safety must come first. Ironically, my parents second home at the beach, surrounded by other beach homes, burned down the week after I got back to L.A. in May. That's the home to which they were planning to retire, now that my dad is too sick to work or look after the larger property in the bush. Fire affects many people in many ways.

    We're getting off easy in the San Gabes. We've lost trails and recreational access for the most part, and, unfortunately, two who were fighting the fires on our behalf. But our lives aren't inextricably altered by this; our recreational opportunities, yes. The landscape may never be quite the same, but the trails will be back. Life will go on, and we will ride.

    We're just temporary visitors to this planet, and we live, plan, and recreate on our own time scale. Nature lives on a different timescale, and its scars will heal.

    I'm just happy and grateful to have what we still have, unlike the thousands of people who lost lives and property in past firestorms, here and abroad.
     
  15. JoeTruth

    JoeTruth Active Member

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    Steve, thanks for putting things in perspective for us. I was following the Australian fire you all had in February (summer there) and I was in shock and in awe at the devastation and lives lost. I can't imagine witnessing or living such a large fire. I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your parents beach house. Hopefully, that too will return.

    This fire is not less or more. It's apples vs. oranges. People who have not experienced such devastation prior, have nothing to compare it to. It's a loose loose situation all around but is part of our nature (arson or otherwise).


     
  16. Good_ol'_slappy

    Good_ol'_slappy aka SB

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    Well said Steve. While our collective initial impressions of this Fire have been extreme and emotional, I hope that in (short) time we can put things in better perspective.

    I look forward to putting work back into the mountain when things clear up.
     
  17. ladera Dave

    ladera Dave New Member

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    Strawberry is toast, bummer
     
  18. kanga

    kanga Active Member

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    Burnt toast, to be precise :(
     
  19. Good_ol'_slappy

    Good_ol'_slappy aka SB

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  20. aosty

    aosty New Member

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