Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Owens Valley is Burning

Here's a site from NOAA where you can track the smoke plume, fires and fire potential from real-time or near real-time satellite images.

http://www.firedetect.noaa.gov/viewer.htm

It's not very intuitive and I couldn't find a way to display a lot of fine map detail but at least it shows county boundaries.

Call California Highway hotline 1-800-427-ROAD and request "395". Pretty up to date line. As of this writing 395 is OPEN! Keep this number in your car, on your cell phone for emergencies.

MJ,
When I left yesterday I'd say MOST of the fire activity was below Sage Flats (About 7200') and was being pushed by the wind downhill toward town. The big question as your permit date nears will be if they want to open access to the trailheads. It may be a misundesrtanding on my part but I think Inyo Complex is a name given to the sum of all the fires burning there now including the Sage fire.

An easy way to remember 427 is with the letters G-A-S. Then the CalTrans number becomes 1-800-GAS-ROAD. You also can see an interactive map on their web site at Eastern Sierra Highways.

I have family and friends in both Big Pine and Independence and a home in Indy. I spoke with my mom in BP this am...she said it was an unbelievably scary night. We have 3 strike teams from the Cleveland NF up there. I received a call from one of the firefighters who was on the Seven/Oak fire near Indy this am...he said that it looked like the town was going to be okay, unless the winds picked up again. I thanked him for everything he and the others were doing. Those guys are putting their lives on the line. MJ, tell your son thanks in advance and tell him to be safe out there, wherever he ends up!

i was up there friday/saturday in the cottonwood pass area staying at chicken spring lake. the rangers warned us when we picked up our permits that there would likely be weather to contend with friday afternoon/evening. we saw the rain clouds passing off to the north and east of us, and as soon as we drove down lubkin rd. on saturday, we saw the fire. it was amazing how high the flames were on the side of the mountain. we figured right away it was lightning strikes and felt horrible for those around that area.

There were approximately 100 of us "Piners" at the community meeting last night in Big Pine where the Forest Service, Sheriff, CHP, BLM, and firefighting captains gave us an update.

The fire as of 6pm last night was at 15% containment. They are NOT saying when they will open up the road to Glacier Lodge yet. Still a lot of hot spots out there. The firefighters are doing an incredible job and we are all thankful for them and their dedication. The smoke has abated some but it was baaaad breathing for awhile. It's much cooler today, and so far, not too windy.

Thanks everyone for your keeping us in prayers and thoughts out here.

I'm not familiar with most of the areas being mentioned. I do know Onion Valley was closed earlier. Does anyone know if it is still closed? We are (were) planning on leaving Onion Valley Sun 7/15 but it sounds like we may be changing plans.

I took my brother-in-law and cousin up Split Mountain on 7/6 - 7/8. We could clearly see the Fish Creek fire to the south and the Big Pine fire just to north. When we came down we drove out on Crocker road and were right next to the Big Pine fire - it was terrible and I feel bad for the folks whose homes and buildings have burned.
Air quality as we were coming down off Split Mountain was pretty bad. We did have a successful summit on 07/07.
Adam

Some pretty descriptive pictures related to the Sage fire are over on the Death-Valley.net forum under General Discussion. Go to D.A. Wrights posts from yesterday. http://www.death-valley.net/forum/