Stable Mesa II

Stable Mesa II - preparation, originally uploaded by craptastica.

Sunday was the second day of the Stable Mesa prescribed burn. There was rain Wednesday night so things were delayed for a few days until conditions were dry enough to carry a fire.

Same basic drill as the first day, but today I was anointed a drip-torch and thrown in with the ranks and file from the Santa Fe hotshots and the Parks Service heli-tack crew.

The first time you burn with a drip-torch is feels terribly unnatural. Walking through a dry forest spitting fire all over the place goes against everything Smokey Bear had taught us. But I'm proud to let you know that the brainwashing power of the US Gov is not what it used to be, and I found the whole thing pretty fun.

We lit for about 5 hours, sometimes holding while the burn managers make sure everything is kosher. During those breaks the fire can hypnotize you. Watching it slowly grow from a black stripe on the ground to a growing blanket reminds one of the moody movements of a wild animal.

The plan was to burn 3 to 4 chains (each chain is 66 ft) in the outside border of the area to be burned. Then later in the day, a helicopter would fly through and drop 'ping pong balls' in the center of this area. The ping pong balls fall to earth from a small helicopter, bounce a few times, and blow-up into a large ring of fire. They work real good.

After 4pm I rotated out while the rest of the crew burned out the rest of the area for the day. I ate and rested in the fading sunlight of the day.

As the day cools, the atmosphere forms a band of cool air that sits about 50 -100 feet above the mesa top. Smoke from smoldering fires throughout the area collects into a large band that sits near the top of the mesa and makes everything look faded and tired.

Maybe I'm just imposing my own state of mind onto the landscape, but by the time the sun dropped it was late and I was sick of being diesel saturated. So I scrounged myself a ride back to the District and called it a day.