Fire in the Mountains
By: Thomas O'Keefe
Tags: Backpacking, Hiking, Public Lands, Forest Fires, Forest Service

I spend a lot of time on rivers but don’t get up into the high country all that often. With the kids back in school and the slow transition to autumn underway, I was invited to join friends for a couple days in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. I’ve been curious to see this place and gain some first-hand knowledge on management issues associated with rapidly increasing day use and the ongoing discussion regarding the future of high-hazard dams in the wilderness.

We were camped at Stuart Lake which positioned us for a day trip up to Horseshoe Lake, a relatively quiet destination compared to more popular destinations along the emerald string of lakes in the Core Zone of the Enchantment Lakes. We watched a group of climbers explore routes on the west side of Horseshoe Lake as we stripped off our clothes and rinsed the dust of the trail from our bodies before enjoying lunch. After further exploring the area we decided to head back down. Looking 1200 feet below us I could see what was to my back on the hike up: a beautiful view out across Stuart Lake and the valley below. That’s when I noticed it; the first sign of trouble was smoke curling up from among the trees along the lake shore. Obviously an illegal campfire at one of the campsites along the shoreline I told myself. We descended with no particular sense of urgency assuming there would likely be an awkward conversation to remind our neighbors that we are still under Stage 2 fire restrictions with the entire National Forest nothing but a giant tinder box.

Hiking down from Horseshoe Lake and noticing smoke rising up along the shoreline of Stuart Lake.

I was moving at a brisk pace for the last stretch into camp when a woman abruptly stopped me with a panicked look on her face: “help!! fire!!” She was struggling to carry a handful of water bottles; I grabbed them and ran up the trail where the gravity of the situation was quickly evident. It was not a campfire I had seen from above but a wildfire that was approximately 1/10 acre but quickly expanding with active flames and smoke. Two women had been making a desperate effort to keep the fire under control with their water bottles, and while they had made progress, they were perilously close to loosing the battle. It appeared the situation was on the verge of quickly spiraling out of control. Moments after our group arrived on the scene, the group we had seen climbing up at Horseshoe Lake arrived. One of the members of the group, Dale Moody, came with wildland firefighting experience and quickly got us organized.

Dale efficiently directed us in creating a fire line and then we set to work with the tools we had among us: several water bottles, a couple of pocket knives and multi tools with short saw blades, trekking poles that served as our Pulaskis, cat hole trowels and flakes of granite that served as hoes, and our bare hands. More individuals arrived back from their day hikes and soon we had about 15 people working together with one crew focused on the fire and another filling and running water bottles up at the lake (it was a climb up of approximately 120 feet over 80 yards from the lake).

Dale using his trekking pole as a Pulaski [note: I did not start taking photos until we had things moderately under control].

At the fire we worked to take down a couple of burning trees and pulled up burning logs; we removed ladder fuels with the tiny saws on our pocket knives. Once we had the surface fuels removed and the flames had died down we began locating hot spots, digging up the ground with the tools we had and using our water strategically. Dale showed us how to dig deep enough to find hidden hot spots in among the tree roots. Water delivery became more efficient as we pooled water bottles and Joe filled his backpack with them. Others grabbed the empty bottles and quickly ran them down the hill to the refill station. We turned the hot earth with the tools we had and mixed in the water forming a slurry that slowly resulted in fewer and fewer smoldering hot spots. After a couple of hours of effort, we all couldn’t help but be impressed at what we were able to accomplish with a couple of trowels, some trekking poles, our collection of water bottles, and a whole lot of hard work.

Searching for hot spots

Through all this, Michelle had been able to make contact with the Forest Service through her inReach. By the time we had the fire mostly under control, and were in the process of doing mop up with only a few warm spots remaining, a plane of smokejumpers arrived overhead and began circling. After several passes to assess the situation from above, the plane headed out without anyone making the jump. We got word that a water drop was planned and were directed to leave the immediate area of the fire but it quickly became apparent that such action was unnecessary. Dale and his friends Scott and Charlie were camped closest to the fire site and agreed to keep an eye on it — they put out a couple of hot spots that flared up late in the evening but by morning the fire was out. Ultimately the Forest Service decided to send in two fire fighters on foot the next day to check the site.

Site of the fire the next morning (47.49686, -120.88149).

It’s unclear how the fire started but it was mostly likely human-caused, a careless action that would have quickly blown up throughout the Stuart Zone and possibly beyond.

I’m glad we were there and capable of quickly assembling an effective team, but every team needs a leader and Dale was able to assume that role and provide the direction we needed to be effective. Together we were able to address what at first seemed to be a hopeless situation of putting out a forest fire with water bottles.

The experience was a reminder of the words of the Lorax, “UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”