Fire Updates

Does anyone know how the slide fire started? Since things have calmed down, for me at least, I have not been on this site as much.

Because of where it started, they are pretty sure it was a remnant of the Butler II fire. Tree trunks can smolder for months. We need a big snow fall! Rain doesn't penetrate the ash very well.

YAY SNOW!!!

I thought I remember hearing of two points of origin, somewhere near the 18 and GVL road and a mile back on 2N13?
Please correct me if I'm wrong. I hope I'm wrong, because two points of origin sure would be coincidental for a non arson fire.

Looking at the Sep. 23rd. Slide fire map the East End of the fire is in Section 13 T2N R2W Lat. 34.263 Lon. -117.041 Also shown on the map is slide road. Looking at the butler 2 fire maps you see that the fire was in the same section and there were reports of the butler fire smoldering still at the time. Wind charts from Big Pine Flats in the area show wind from the NE at 10+ MPH and gust clocked at over 30 MPH for 24 hours prior to the fire and past the date of 10/23 on the map. A wind chill of 30 degrees in the area on Sunday 24 hours before. Reports form big bear radio say the there where 75 people working on mopping up but do not state what hours they where working. The Butler 2 fire is rumored to have started the same way from high winds from South and lit off smoldering burn from the Butler fire. Maps and wind chart are posted at this link. http://www.socalmountains.com/e107_plugins/forum/forum_vi...

Following is a quote from an article in the 11/6 issue of The Sun regarding the cause of the Slide Fire not yet being released:

"Dietrich said it's not unusual that investigators have yet to determine the cause of Butler II, let alone the Slide Fire that ignited Oct. 22.

Results can take a few days, he said, to as long as two months. It took just days for officials to determine that downed power lines caused the Grass Valley Fire.

Richard Minnich, a UC Riverside professor of fire ecology, doesn't understand why it's taken so long. An hour after the Slide Fire ignited around 8 a.m., Minnich said it was likely started from remnants of Butler II.

On Friday, Minnich remained convinced.

"It's the Butler III Fire, not the Slide Fire," Minnich said. "It took off almost exactly from the point that Butler II stopped. It's improbable that a fire would start right next to where another fire was burning just a month ago." "

The entire article can be viewed in The Sun's archives:
http://www.sbsun.com/ci_7371990

If it was indeed a restart, I am not surprised that USFS is hesitant to release the information. That would be two restarts on the same fire, both of which grew into major fires (Butler 2 and Slide).

This is not an official reason for the slide fire but what seemed to have happened was the initial fire that started was near the Butler II fire. About 15 to 30 minutes later a power line on Holcomb Drive in GVL was knocked down by a broken tree branch which ignited brush just adjacent to some homes. Within minutes those home caught fire. I spoke with the eyewitness who saw the power lines ignite the brush and homes. She called 911 and they told her the fire had already been reported. It seems the 911 operator confused her call as one of the multiple calls of the original fire that started 15 to 30 minutes later near the Butler II fire. These two fires eventually joined into one fire.

and whats bad is the underground can contained heat for months later depending on the heat of the actual fire, this is where the flare ups are coming from.. could go on for months, as it is there are still single flare ups being reported in the butler 2 fire - there was a fire behind bear mountain with the saw tooth and millar fires few years back even with snow on the ground the smoke will rise up thru it,,, rain doesnt always stop a ground fire, ,,

Maybe it should be called the Butler-Slide fire?