Figuring out where the fire is while camping.

[Modstock]

During our recent trip we had a new dilemma. After having clear blue skies nearly all day, about 4p.m. we started to notice smoke roll into the canyon.
Within the hour , all blue sky was gone.

Fairly concerned I talked to a few neighbors if they heard anything about any new local fires popping up recently. Nobody knew anything. Even a guy who just came from town.
Then it started raining ash. Small tiny bits at first but got bigger pieces falling down.
About that time everyone was packing up, not knowing how close the fire was or not.

Tried busting out my baofong radio and scanning frequencies to see if I'd pick anything up (while packing).

During this im also thinking maybe the way we came in could be on fire.
I had 2 other optional routes to escape. One was a 30mile dirt road to get to a canyon to get to a small town.

Once we got to the hwy and down the canyon safely, we found out the fire was on another mountain range accross the valley.

I thought this maybe a good topic to bring up and discuss since its fire season.

Any ham users know if or what channels/frequencies to monitor if this happened to you ?

Share your stories, escape plans, ect.

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[lfhoward]

That sounds pretty scary, not knowing where the fire is in relation to your campsite. Here is a website that the Forest Service maintains showing all current fires. It says it isn’t updated more than once a day, so perhaps the up to the minute resolution you want is not quite there, but it sounds like a pretty good resource to explore.

https://fsapps.nwcg.gov/

[saltydawg]

The radio channels are going to change locally, and with who is fighting the fire. Now local ham guys might be giving more updates on public freqs but you would need to know the repeater channels to listen to.

You can download all the freqs from the net and put them in manually to listen but thats a pain with a baofeng. Do you have chirp? and or know what it is?

[twisted lines]

I guess if my phone worked this might
Make sure its current I don't think this link updates each time? Meaning My clip, site works great.
But its been great for a few years for me.

https://tools.airfire.org/websky/v1/run ... 2020091600?

[tony.latham]

It's a good question. Here we were a month ago in the middle of Idaho:



And here's what that spot looked like two weeks later:



I think the red of the retardent drop would have clashed with Flame's red.

We didn't have cell service at that camp but here's a good URL that is updated about every two hours if I recall:

https://fsapps.nwcg.gov/afm/activefiremaps.php

Me? I used to camp next to fires for fifteen years... Or at least during the summers.



And I only slept with my boots on a couple of times.

Tony

[Tom&Shelly]

Share your stories, escape plans, ect.

It's an issue for us at our home, especially since we live in back of a neighborhood with some hundred homes and there is only one road out. (And we are at the end of the line!) (Our other way out is on foot over our hill. I expect someday the county may call imminent domain on us and build a back-door but it would involve at least one other neighbor's land and there may be better routes.)

When I was fairly new here, I smelled and saw smoke and called a friend who lived where the smoke seemed to be coming from. Turns out it was from a fire in Arizona a few hundred miles away--seemed much closer from the concentration of smoke.

So these days, Shelly keeps in touch with the neighborhood forum and other facebook accounts, and when in doubt I run to the top of the hill to look around.

Far as bug out plans, our teardrop will be kept ready when we're in port during fire season.

Tom

[RJ Howell]

Doesn't National Weather service update this? Just asking..

[lfhoward]

I guess if my phone worked this might
Make sure its current I don't think this link updates each time? Meaning My clip, site works great.
But its been great for a few years for me.

https://tools.airfire.org/websky/v1/run ... 2020091600?

That’s an awesome website. Good visualization, and hourly changes reported.

[Modstock]

The radio channels are going to change locally, and with who is fighting the fire. Now local ham guys might be giving more updates on public freqs but you would need to know the repeater channels to listen to.

You can download all the freqs from the net and put them in manually to listen but thats a pain with a baofeng. Do you have chirp? and or know what it is?

I didn't do the chirp thing. I manually put in all the frs/grs frequencies just so I'd be more familiar with the unit.

Lately I've made it a habit to scan frequencies in the area while im fishing or other. Just for kicks but maybe just in case.

I found these frequencies on here. Might help, just to monitor. If I can even pick em up.
Mainly I just listen, other than communicating with the wife while away from camp.
https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?aid=8851

Would it be better to try and find the forest service OR fire frequencies in this situation ?




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[Modstock]

Here's a recent scary video of being trapped while camping.
https://youtu.be/HU05ftpkC-M



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[Modstock]

https://tools.airfire.org/websky/v1/run ... 2020091600?

Great link. I've been looking here to plan my next trip.

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[twisted lines]

It is the same day I posted it. Be aware of that; wish I Knew the right link if someone can clip the one that updated's automaticly that would be great?
In the mean time. I click these on the page that opens.
And it does look like you have a hot spot around

[Modstock]

Good to know. I clicked the 3-dashes on the upper left screen and brought that (latest) up.
Looks like the fire's are out near where I wanted to go camping.

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[Modstock]

Here's our vid of a wildfire broke out nearby while camping.
https://youtu.be/IfevIMcd_FI

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[stumphugger]

It's a good question. Here we were a month ago in the middle of Idaho:



Me? I used to camp next to fires for fifteen years... Or at least during the summers.



And I only slept with my boots on a couple of times.

Tony

I used to camp next to fires a few times each summer also, probably not as much. One thing you are taught is to locate a safe area to go to if things do not go well. It's called an escape area or safety zone. On one stubborn fire in dead and dying lodgepole pine, we used large meadows, with vegetation like the ridgetop fire guys are sitting on. The fire burned around us, and we went back to work.

You can do the same while camping. The place that the CA folks were helicoptered out of looked like a good spot. You may get smoke and it might not be pleasant, but you'll live.

I slept with my boots on a few times also, and snuggled up to hot spots at night after going hard all day and into the night, for a nap, which you are not supposed to do.