Fire Information Discussion split off from Blue Lake Fire

[Fun CH]

Again, FB groups. You obviously aren't aware and choose not to be that all the First Responders in the County and State have FB pages, as do all the meteorology organizations, like the Nat'l Weather Service, all the Incident Commands have pages, WSDOT is on and too many more to list. They post updates by the day and sometimes by the hour. Some aggregate the various posts but it doesn't take long to get a good picture because they get fed to your own page. Everyone has issues with FB but when it comes to retrieving emergency information they're a reliable resource.

sounds like a mess to navigate. I just want one government site that reports accurate fire information. I don't really want to sort though he said she said stuff. I just checked and inciweb still isn't reporting that Copper/Bridge Creek Fire, also mistakening referred as Blue Lake fire.

[Rideback]

Pal, the first sentence is not an example of 2nd hand information, it's from WildCad, that's why it's referred to as 'update'

There are examples of first-hand observations during the immediate moments of a fire as well as peoples' pictures, but the information will come from govt sites in the form of updates, as well as scanners.

[PAL]

So here is an example of possible 2nd hand info from Facebook's Methow Valley Fire Info,
"It’s been updated to 100 acre.s

They are thinking to bring the hiway closure closer to Mazama this sfternoon."

But Rideback is correct about the agencies posting the most accurate and timely info. Looking at the official sites is what I do. Then I also look at Okanogan/Methow Valley Topics of interest. They try to be very accurate with their info. They post info from the official sites as well.
I thought that the Forest Service, when they posted, that you did not have to belong to FB to get their info.
For the 2018 and 2021 fires I used a combo of Caltopo, Inciweb and FB.

[Rideback]

Again, FB groups. You obviously aren't aware and choose not to be that all the First Responders in the County and State have FB pages, as do all the meteorology organizations, like the Nat'l Weather Service, all the Incident Commands have pages, WSDOT is on and too many more to list. They post updates by the day and sometimes by the hour. Some aggregate the various posts but it doesn't take long to get a good picture because they get fed to your own page. Everyone has issues with FB but when it comes to retrieving emergency information they're a reliable resource.

[Fun CH]

No Chris I'm not saying 2nd hand hearsay is better. Apparently you have never used the current FB pages that report on wildfires or you would know they post from FS websites, aerial websites, incident websites, scanners, just like the pics that Ray is posting. They are reliable and just as importantly timely. The admins are well known among law enforcement and often express appreciation for their work.

I and many others aren't members of facebook and don't intend to join.

So what is the definitive source of accurate fire information? I thought that was inciweb until Ray informed me that they wait to post until a fire becomes an even greater threat to public safety.

[mister_coffee]

Y'know, that "secret trail" was on old USGS maps that were made before Highway 20 was even there. My guess is that it was one of the old fire trails built during the 1920s and early 1930s Fire Trail Construction Boom. Or it was laid out by the same guy (probably Lage Wernstedt (https://methownet.com/grist/features/wernstedt.html)).

Wildfires are rapidly developing, rapidly changing situations for obvious reasons. You have to make some sort of tradeoff between reliable, high quality information and timely information that might well be less reliable (or might be very reliable). Anyone who has been involved in fighting an active wildfire knows that things often get very confusing even when it is just communications between professionals. If you only consider the "daily briefs" you should keep in mind that, in the worst case, some of the information in that "daily brief" might be 24 hours old, which if you have a rapidly developing wildfire that 24 hour old information might as well be from the Sumerians.

[Rideback]

No Chris I'm not saying 2nd hand hearsay is better. Apparently you have never used the current FB pages that report on wildfires or you would know they post from FS websites, aerial websites, incident websites, scanners, just like the pics that Ray is posting. They are reliable and just as importantly timely. The admins are well known among law enforcement and often express appreciation for their work.

[Fun CH]

Because alot of people know the location of Blue Lk, I think that is why they named the fire that. Right it's not at Blue Lk. I have always wanted to hike that "secret trail" that goes over to Copper Pass. I've been told where to catch it. I think there were some blow downs in there and we didn't want to deal with them at the time.
Gad, red sky this morning towards Twisp.

That secret trail is a downed tree obstacle course with some very steep sections that get slippery because of the Dust. We've hiked it for many years but I think after this years hike there I'm done with that trail. The Copper creek trail also makes a very steep switch backed climb to where 'secret Trail' and Copper Creek Trail intersect.

Fortunately the fire has some pretty Rocky terrain to go though to get into Blue Lake Basin so maybe it won't get that far.

Rideback, are you saying 2nd hand citizen heresay on facebook is a better source for fire information than Direct information from fire officials?

I would agree that sometimes reports from Witnesses are the first sources of information but not He said she said heresay.

I first heard of this fire from a friend who located it on a some fire map and my friend reported it to me as near the 'Secret Trail' which to me was more accurate than official reports of the fire being in Blue lake which its not.

I just hope the fire doesn't back down into Bridge creek. That's a beautiful old growth forest.

The take away is that we still need better official fire reporting, and warning systems as well as earlier 'no fires anywhere' burning restrictions.

I would speculate that the cause of this fire, given the actual location was a lightning strike that smoldered for a while before the blow up.

[Rideback]

FB pages created within the County are the best resources during wildfires, hands down. But here's a post from the FB page that was posted before the fire took off later in the day.

A new fire is burning a couple miles southwest of Washington Pass on the Methow Valley Ranger District.
This fire, named Blue Lake Fire due to its proximity to Blue Lake, is estimated to be 10-15 acres in size. There are many firefighting resources responding to the fire including two Interagency Hotshot crews, two Forest Service Type 2 crews, two engines, four rappelers, smokejumpers, and helicopters dropping water from buckets.
The fire is burning just south of State Route 20 and near popular hiking and climbing trails, such as Blue Lake, Heather Maple Pass, and the Pacific Crest Trail near Bridge Creek. Forest Service personnel are notifying visitors in the area and advising them to leave the area for their safety. The Pacific Crest Trail is closed in the fire area.
Photos: Smoke from the Blue Lake Fire seen from State Route 20 on August 15, 2023.
🗺 Map showing the location of the Blue Lake Fire in proximity to State Route 20 (black line) and Washington Pass.
Credit: U.S. Forest Service

[PAL]

Because alot of people know the location of Blue Lk, I think that is why they named the fire that. Right it's not at Blue Lk. I have always wanted to hike that "secret trail" that goes over to Copper Pass. I've been told where to catch it. I think there were some blow downs in there and we didn't want to deal with them at the time.
Gad, red sky this morning towards Twisp.

[Fun CH]

[Fun CH]

If you can get on Caltopo, you can see it. It looks like to the right of Blue Lk. if you are looking from the highway. Then a small dot at Bridge Cr.
I google Caltopo wa state and it will load. Then click on Fire Activity on the right panel and it should get you there.
On the video daily briefing it was from yesterday when I looked a couple of hours ago.
The rumor I was talking about is that some people have said the highway won't open back up until spring. Rideback said they are just that, rumors.
I'm able to get on Methow Valley Fire info because I am able to use my dear husband's account. The agreement is for me not to comment and I don't have time. This one and the other BB is enough.

Ok that clears that up. Do you remember if the hwy stay closed after the last Fire around Newhalem ?

I'm not on facebook either.

Thanks Ray, I didn't know inciweb doesn't always report on fires.

[PAL]

If you can get on Caltopo, you can see it. It looks like to the right of Blue Lk. if you are looking from the highway. Then a small dot at Bridge Cr.
I google Caltopo wa state and it will load. Then click on Fire Activity on the right panel and it should get you there.
On the video daily briefing it was from yesterday when I looked a couple of hours ago.
The rumor I was talking about is that some people have said the highway won't open back up until spring. Rideback said they are just that, rumors.
I'm able to get on Methow Valley Fire info because I am able to use my dear husband's account. The agreement is for me not to comment and I don't have time. This one and the other BB is enough.

[Fun CH]

you can go to the InciWeb page and get the daily briefing. They addressed the rumors and said they are just that.

link please. I went to the inci web site and the map is not showing this fire. And you're saying it's a rumor? Is that a rumor?

Still amazed how hard it is to get accurate fire information. The Methow fire face book page is a private group of facebook users.

On The MethowNet BB Jim Brenon says with some certainty that the fire is in Copper Creek.

Rays report say Blue Lake.

Where's the fire?

[Rideback]

you can go to the InciWeb page and get the daily briefing. They addressed the rumors and said they are just that.

[realoldtimer]

Just read on the m-net bb that it's near Blue Lake

[Fun CH]

A friend informed me that there's a new fire just East of Bridge Creek on Highway 20. I haven't checked out the incident web site to confirm this.

Anyone know any information on this or is it a false alarm?


Edit post title. OP was not changed