Okanogan National Forest fires

[nerdom]

I heard recently about the deaths of 4 firefighters in the N. Cascades (sad), and heard that one of the larger fires was in this national forest. Checking a topo map I found, it looks like Liberty Bell Mountain borders Okanogan County. Does anybody know if these fires are impacting access to Liberty Bell in any way? Excuse my ignorance of the local geography! (I'm scheduled to give Liberty Crack a go this coming week).

 

[Andrew_Grove]

The Thirty-Mile fire is nowhere close to Liberty Bell. You might keep an eye on the news anyway because the forests are real dry and there's been lightning in that area recently. So, new fires could pop up anytime. If you call a govt office, call the National Park Service on the west side of the mtns -- everybody on the east side is busy with fire business.

ciao

[Dru]

On the other hand it is a lot closer to Cathedral Peak than it is to Lib Bell.

[specialed]

Its really sad about the firefighters killed. One was 18, one 19, one 21, and the other in his 30's. All local kids from Yakima and Ellensburg. Bummer.

[Ruprechkt]

 

[ 05-12-2002, 07:10 PM: Message edited by: Ruprechkt ]

[David Yount]

Here's some more direct information about those unfortunate 4 fatalities, from a friend in Yakima working as a forest firefighter.

Dave,

you're correct that four firefighters have died, two men and two women. Tom

Craven of Ellesnburg/Cle Elum; Jessica Johnson, Miss Fitzpatrick, and Mr.

Weaver all of the Yakima area. The crew they were from the Naches Ragner

district of the Wenatchee National Forest. They were part of a 20 person

crew, 10 from Naches and 10 from Lake Wenatchee district. The fire had a blowup and over ran them; 13 firefighters

and two civilians depoloyed shelters one firefighter took two civilians into

her shelter. Six people were also

injured, one in serious condition with burns to 30% or more of his body.

mainly to his hands and legs. I knew Jessica who died and Jason Emhoff who

was seriously burned. The funeral for Jessica and Miss Fitzpatrick are

tomorrow. I worked with Jessica last year. the investigation will not be out

for a couple more weeks of what the team found to the events leading to the

fatalities. I also knew a couple of the other folks who survived. I met Tom

Craven at a couple fires but didn't know him well. The other other two

people were at the recent fire camp that I helped with.

Take care,

Matt

[johnny]

Not to be insensitive, but why did they have to die? They called this fire the 30 mile fire because it was 30 miles up the Chewuch RIver valley at the end of the road in the Pesayten Wilderness. No houses, just wilderness. Fire is an important part of the natural system and if no human life or property is immediatly threatened why should we (taxpayers) pay for fire suppression and risk the lives of innocents. All this in the name of interfering with the natural order of things and increasing the risk of fire in the future. (fire prevents fire by reducing fuel for fire.......huh?)

My $.02

[offwidthclimber]

gotta agree with you johnny. fire is an important part of the ecosystem and forest health. it should happen regularly in a healthy matter rather than be suppressed for centuries and result in catastrophic firestorm (yellowstone 1988).

however, in this "drier than usual blah, blah, blah" year i think the forest service is likely to suppress early season fires rather than let them burn themselves out. i think the fear of catastrophic fires ripping through the dry forests is motivation.

[Mr._Blister]

To respond to the original question, four of us hiked in to Cathedral Peak several weeks ago, and were rained out. Bummer, but a beautiful 38-mile hike. I suspect that was the last rain in the area. In any event, access to the Cathedral Peak area from the U.S. side via the Chewuch River trail is now on fire/burned out, as far as I can tell. As mentioned above, no impact on WA Pass climbing. Cathedral will have to wait, unless perhaps one can still get there from Canada this year.

John Sharp

[Dru]

The access into Cathedral from Canada is still a go. Plan on about 7-10 hrs (depending on amount of windfall and pack size) hiking from road end to the lakes in the Cathedral-Amphiteatre cirque.