Pagami Creek Fire

Basic Information

Incident Type	Wildfire
Cause	Lightning
Date of Origin	Thursday August 18th, 2011 approx. 12:00 AM
Location	Began In the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, approximately 14 miles east of Ely.
Incident Commander	Doug Turman

Current Situation

Total Personnel	789
Size	93,459 acres
Percent Contained	59%
Fuels Involved	10 Timber (litter and understory) FM10, TU2
Fire Behavior	Minimal fire behavior was observed. Primarily creeping and smoldering.
Significant Events	Temporary residents remain evacuated. Area closures remain in effect.

Outlook

Planned Actions	On the north/northwest corner, Division A/B/Z: patrol and mop up; Near Hudson Lake on the north side of the fire, Division C: Patrol for hot spots. East of Lake Insula on the north end of the fire, Division D: Continue progress heading east from Lake Insula, prepare fireline explosive, grid islands. Along the northeast side of the fire, Division E: Begin direct line to the west using saw line and hose line. Along the southwestern side of the fire, Division Y: Continue direct line from Gull Lake to the southeast. Along the two flanks coming down Isabella Lake, Division W: Continue to grid for spots and mop up. Between Brush Lake and Section Twenty-Nine Lake along the southern side of the fire, Division X: Patrol and mop up. Heading south from Polly Lake in the northeast portion of the fire, Division T/U: Continue direct line. Along the eastern side of the fire, Division V: Continue indirect line. Rehab Group: Begin rehab of dozer lines, coordinate with Division X/W to pull pumps and hose.
Growth Potential	Low
Terrain Difficulty	High
Remarks	A community meeting was held in the Fernberg corridor with approximately 30 people in attendance.

Current Weather

Wind Conditions	6 mph NE
Temperature	70 degrees
Humidity	40%

Griak 2011

Watch more video of Minnesota Roy Griak Invitational 2011 on flotrack.org

I especially

Like Luna in the background. I survived a short shower and the ritual bending of the knee. Letting it air out a little before the immobilizer goes on again. Fun!

Lumpy doesn't live here anymore

So I had surgery on Wednesday

Baker's cyst begone! I've got a knee immobilizer, the world's longest ace bandage and a pretty decent length of gauze underneath that. The incision is a bit bigger than I thought it would be. It goes pretty much across the entire back of my knee and sort of at an angle. We couldn't see actual stitches, so I will have to get a stitch count from the doctor next week at my post op check. She told Mom that the cyst was about seven inches long and about an inch and a half in diameter at the widest point. Heh.

At least I got to run that morning. A nice 5 miler with the dog and the weather was just about perfect. The worst part was not eating from midnight on until surgery time in the afternoon. Oh, and no coffee. Mom and I went shopping at TJ's, then to Ikea where we got a whole bunch of cool stuff, but not what we came for. Then home, and a fast shower with the weird expensive antibacterial soap they insisted I use. Clean towel, clean clothes, quick driving to the hospital, then parking fail. Bad directions. Where to park? We finally figured out that the parking ramp across the street was the right one. It was really big, though, and we had to park on the third level and walk across the skyway to the hospital, then down three levels of stairs to the lobby.

Everything went fine, though. It turns out I have no issues with general anesthesia. I don't much like the immobilizer, but I think that trying to walk at this point without it would just hurt a lot.

I guess all of my complaining...

did the trick (thus goes my magical thinking). The Firefighter is on the Pagami Creek fire in Minnesota. They arrived last night and are hanging around today, figuring out their role in this fire. Today's update from Inciweb:

Containment of the Pagami Creek Fire is at 23%. With a half inch of rain in the forecast for today and tomorrow, the fire is expected to creep and smolder. Twenty-eight states are represented by incident personnel.

Basic Information

Incident Type	Wildfire
Cause	Lightning
Date of Origin	Thursday August 18th, 2011 approx. 12:00 AM
Location	Began In the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, approximately 14 miles east of Ely.
Incident Commander	Doug Turman

Current Situation

Total Personnel	738
Size	93,898 acres
Percent Contained	23%
Fuels Involved	10 Timber (litter and understory) FM10, TU2
Fire Behavior	Primarily creeping and smoldering under the canopy, where yesterday's precipitation did not have as much of an impact.
Significant Events	Area closures and evacuations remain in effect.

Outlook

Planned Actions	Division A: Hold; Division B/C: Construct direct line and hoselay; Division D: Continue to recon and prepare for use of fireline explosives. Division Z: Scout for hotspots around Clearwater lake; Division W: Continue to secure lines. Division X: Hold and mop up. Division T/U/V - Scout and Recon.
Growth Potential	Medium
Terrain Difficulty	High
Remarks	Public and Cooperator meetings were held today in Isabella. Governor Dayton visited the Isabella spike camp today.

Current Weather

Humidity	33%

Sunset over Hiawatha

Looks like the smoke from the BWCA fire is having an effect on the air here. The sky looked really cool last night as C was running fast and I was biking along.

Not my boy's fire

But a fire up north in the BWCA. A, C & I all wonder why the Firefighter's crew isn't called up for this one. The Firefighter, having canoed to the Arctic as well as all over the BWCA, is uniquely qualified to work on this fire!

This is the largest fire Minnesota has had in about 100 years. More about it here, if anyone is interested.

Castro Fire

The Firefighter has been out on this fire since the day after we left Idaho. Inciweb doesn't do many shout outs, so I thought I'd post today's summary:
The Castro Fire had minimal growth yesterday, and even received a brief light shower. The moisture is not anticipated to change fire behavior, although nearby sites did receive heavier rain. Todays forecast calls for a slight potential increase in wet thunderstorm activity.
Excellent work by the Boise and Snake River Hot Shots continued and the fire did not make any significant growth to the south. On the northeast side, the Boise fire crew completed its work, and that flank will now be in a monitor status. It has not advanced in the past 10 days.
Today the Hot Shots will work on the south and southeast flank, and the Idaho City Hot Shots will arrive to help.
Two heavy lift helicopters are available again, but they may be reassigned if initial attack needs develop. The 14 new lightning fires on Sunday across the Boise National Forest have been staffed, and all were less than one acre. Lightning Monday started additional fires Forest wide, and they are all staffed. None are rapidly growing in size. A smoke monitoring unit is in place at the Sourdough Cafe and can be viewed at -
http://satguard.com/usfs/Chart new.asp Get=4&UnitID=1004&CustID=11&sDate=9-7-2011
The Castro Fire continues to meet management objectives. A long term benefit will be a reduction in fuel that could feed a fire in a drought year, which lessens the potential for a large and intense burn.
Current trail closures in the fire area for all users include:

• Forest Trail 147 (Warm Springs Creek Trail)
• Forest Trail 148 (Links Trail)
• Forest Trail 144 (Kirkham Ridge Trail) from the intersection of Forest Trail 142 (Catpaw Lake Trail) traveling northeasterly about 7.4 miles to the intersection of Forest Trail 16 (Gates Creek Trail) 

Basic Information

Incident Type	Wildfire
Cause	Lightning
Date of Origin	Thursday August 04th, 2011 approx. 12:00 AM
Location	18 miles North of Lowman
Incident Commander	Rex Miller

Current Situation

Total Personnel	80
Size	4,302 acres
Fuels Involved	Douglas fir,sub-alpine fir with substantial beetle killed trees in the area. Fuels have dried considerably beginning in the mid-to- later August period due to high temperatures.
Fire Behavior	Fire behavior significantly diminished on Monday, with the most active in the southwest corner. Dense stands of trees in those areas, many hit by bark beetles and other insects, will torch and produce heavier smoke. Overall Other the fire is burning at a low intensity. The northeast flank, has not moved from the mouth of Cat Creek/Warm Springs Creek since a burnout operation 10 days ago.
Significant Events	Within 23 percent of the Forest where Boise Forest Plan objectives are to ensure fire fulfills its natural role in this fire adapted ecosystem. Two hot shot fire crews continue to build direct line on the south flank which has slowed the fires movement. The Idaho City Hotshots will arrive to the fire today to provide additional help. All the crews hike into the fire area and the hot shot crews are spiking out near the fires edge each night. Two heavy lift helicopters (Type 1)continue to be available to help cool hot areas with water drops. Depending on new initial attack needs, they will be available today.

Outlook

Planned Actions	A long term plan is developed for future management actions based on the fires movement. Monitoring of the fire continues from both Jackson Peak Lookout to the south and Whitehawk Lookout to the west. Aerial monitoring occurs at various times.
Growth Potential	Low to Moderate
Terrain Difficulty	Fire is located in steep terrain and is in area with substantial bug killed trees. Fire is within the Red Mountain Roadless Area.
Remarks	Forest Trail 148 (Links Trail) and Forest Trail 147 (Warm Springs Trail) are closed. Forest Trail 144 (Kirkham Ridge) starting at the intersection of Forest Trail 142 (Catpaw Lake Trail)traveling northeasterly about 7.4 miles to the intersection of Forest Trail 16 (Gates Creek Trail).

Current Weather

Wind Conditions	5 mph NE
Temperature	53 degrees
Humidity	49%

More Idaho Fun

On the way to Pocatello

Hay!

Post Office Roses

Yes, dandelion. But cool!

A & C on our hike the day after

I like this sign

Nordic ski area

More dry foliage

Crooked tree on the top of a mountain

Redundant caption: National Forest

Super hot. Super relaxing.

Outside Lava Hot Springs waiting for "AAA"

My surprise!

The new fire trucks

I had to leave him in Idaho

Pocatello Marathon

Number on the front!

It was a beautiful day for a marathon on Saturday. After not sleeping totally awfully, I was up at 4:30 to slam some coffee and wake Firefighter's gf, A, who drove me to the bus pick up and waited until the bus finally arrived. A went above & beyond the call of duty the entire weekend. She was awesome (perhaps I should refer to her as A+).

It was 43 degrees at 5 o'clock in the morning with a projected high of something like 77. Highs in the desert (dewpoint 24!) come about 5 in the evening. Perfect weather for running. C said that if we couldn't PR with this kind of weather and a downhill course, we never would.

There was a mixup with the bus company or the scheduling or the adding up of how many buses it takes to drive 608 people to the top of a mountain. Hint: it takes quite a few. ProTip: marathoners will get very anxious if they don't get to the start line with enough time to stand in line for the biff, take off their sweats, stow their bags with the truck, run through their mantras and line up where they think they need to be in order not to get trampled. The start was supposed to be 6:15, I got to the top of the mountain at 6:05, and Garmin had me starting at 6:23.

This marathon starts up at 6500 feet and drops 1400 feet over the first 13 miles. Then you stop running down the mountain and turn into town, running between mountain ranges (i.e. running the gap). Once the turn happens, the course only drops another 150 feet and there are some uphills. Hint: those who dwell near sea level are somewhat ill prepared to run uphill at altitude. Some of us can run downhill with the big boys, though.

My crazy plan involved starting with the 3:40 pace group and hanging on for as long as possible, then dropping back to the 3:50 group or maintaining 9 minute miles on my own. This was crazy for several reasons. (1) I hadn't timed any of my training runs, so I had no idea of how fast I'd been training. (2) I haven't really raced since before I broke my toe. (3) I have a bionic toe and didn't run from July to November last year, then not much at all until March. (4) I run "barefoot," i.e., with minimal shoe-ing, here a pair of moccasins with a 2mm sole between my feet and the ground. (5) a 3:40 marathon translates to 8:24 miles. (6) Baker's cyst, left knee, minimal running in April. (7) Did I mention altitude?

I didn't hear a gun or a siren, but suddenly the front of the pack was off, so we started running. The first mile seemed really slow. I wasn't breathing hard at all. Though my feet felt like they were turning over at a pretty good clip, I wasn't having any of the heart pounding lung stabbing dizzy breathlessness that I'd had the day before on my "easy" run (mile and a half up a mountain, then back down. ouch). I was really surprised when I looked and saw we'd run the first mile in 8:06. Huh. Ok.

I was talking with some of my fellow 3:40groupies while we ran down the mountain and waited for the sunrise. Some guy with an accent had run Twin Cities marathon twice. He called it brutal. We discussed the particular sadism of Summit hill after twenty miles. Another guy looked about the Firefighter's age and was cold at the start of the race. He was originally from Pocatello, but was living in Boulder. The pacer talked about having run Boston this year with a torn hamstring. Uh huh. The miles were just clicking by every 8 minutes or so. Still felt easy, no heavy breathing, nothing hurting.

I knew there was probably going to be some uphill about Mile 7 where there was an out and back section. We hadn't driven up it the day before. Sure enough, turn the corner, run UP. I hate the long, slow gradual hills in Minnesota. I vastly prefer the short, steep uphills I knew back in Wisconsin. Idaho takes this to a whole 'nother level. It didn't look that steep, but I felt myself dropping back, not being able to keep pace with the group. Breathing was hard. I let them get ahead of me, then caught them on the way back down. I knew that if I fell behind again, I probably wouldn't be able to catch up. I was having a really good time though, so at that point I didn't really care. During Mile 8, our pacer had to take a bathroom break, so she gave the "3:40" sign to the kid from Pocatello and took off for the water stop. The kid then revealed that not only could he not pace for the life of him, he didn't have a watch, either. The dude with the accent and I kept him on pace with our respective Garmin readings. Mile 8 turned out just fine, so I guess we did alright. I tried half an orange Gu then, and bleah. It didn't give me any gastrointestinal stress, but the consistency was disgusting. I stuck to water for the rest of the race.

I hit the half start line (and marathon midpoint) slightly behind the group, in what is a new PR for half for me. Now that I look at my splits, it might actually have been as fast at 1:45 or 1:46, but I was already getting a little fuzzy at that point. Though I started out too fast, I was running easy and slower than I'd run down the mountain the previous day. If anything, the pace group kept me slow enough to be able to finish the entire race.

I started looking for A at this point, knowing she'd have potato chips for me. I wasn't hungry, but once the course flattened out, I could feel myself slowing. I still had the pace group in sight through Mile 14, but when I saw A at Mile 15, they were pretty far ahead. I knew I wouldn't catch them, and told A that it was starting to hurt a little bit. Potato chips are yummy.

Most of the rest of the race is blurry, except for the wall of wind at Mile 19 when making another turn toward town and then walking up the hill at Mile 21 with a woman who'd started out with the 3:30 pace group. I felt a lot slower than my splits look. I guess I really didn't crap out until that hill, when it was hard to get started again. Miles 22 through 26 were pretty darn slow. My feet started to hurt and I wanted to run on the shoulder where the pavement was smoother, but I didn't have enough concentration left to avoid the little rocks that were everywhere. I was getting weirdly emotional, but never really hit the wall, just kind of slowed down to a crawl.

When I finally saw the finish line, I managed to kick, because I wasn't going to let any of those half marathoners beat me at the end. I kicked pretty well, too. The guy who handed me my medal said, "Hey, you came in here so fast we thought you were going to turn around and run the course again backwards!" I said, "Oh, hell no!" C and A cheered me in, I think I heard them, but didn't see them until they found me staggering around at the end. We lingered briefly, then headed to the brewery for lunch and well-deserved beers. C took 3rd place in her age group for the 5k. I was 17th out of 38 in my age group. Then, a nap and a massage, courtesy of A who got one for me at the salon where she's working. Then, more foods and sleep.

Mile 1    8:06
Mile 2    7:43
Mile 3    8:06
Mile 4    7:59
Mile 5    6:44 (this could be where I picked up that extra 1/2 mile)
Mile 6    7:18
Mile 7    8:23 (first uphill bit, foreshadowing of things to come)
Mile 8    8:11
Mile 9    8:32
Mile 10  8:08
Mile 11  8:07
Mile 12  8:06
Mile 13  8:37
13.1 Half split - Garmin says 1:45, actually more like 1:48?
Mile 14  8:14
Mile 15  8:55
Mile 16  9:31
Mile 17 10:41
Mile 18  10:07
Mile 19  9:45
Mile 20  10:12
Mile 21  11:14
Mile 22  12:21
Mile 23  11:29
Mile 24  12:01
Mile 25  12:30
Mile 26  12:28
0.2 pace 9:01

Time 4:11:50, for a 9:35 pace overall.