I hope it’s readable and at least somewhat informative.
I am going to make a point from now on to add at least one “good news” item, or more if I can find.
I myself need to see some uplifting/good cheer stuff.
GOOD NEWS on FREEPER freepersup
Hello FRiends!
I am safe for the time being and my coworkers are safe as well.
We housed, fed and helped evacuate over 140 people that were trapped on this side of the fire.
Dozens of hikers came off the surrounding trails, and not a minute too soon.
Also, people that were at the High Sierra Pack Station, Mono Hot Springs Resort, Muir Trail Ranch, Florence Lake and Resort, Edison Lake, Ross Ranch, and the Mono Pass Trail Trailhead parking lot, sheltered with the owners and crew at Vermilion Valley Resort, where I happen to live and work all summer long.
The CA Army National Guard (Sacramento based) sent a Boeing CH 47 Chinook helicopter... call sign- Zero Six Comma, < 0 6 , > to the dam’s emergency spillway and transported several groups of people and multiple individuals down to the Yosemite Fresno International Airport this morning.
The US Navy sent a Sikorsy UH 60 “Blackhawk” helicopter from Lemoore Naval Air Station, Lemoore, CA, to the same location and also made multiple evacuation flights to Fresno.
The thin blue line consisted of Fresno County Sheriff’s deputies, and Fresno Police Department’s officers.
I rode in the front seat of a cop car for the first time in my adult life last night, and I kind of liked the experience. considering the alternative. lol An officer and I, went down to the beach last night to look for solid parking on the now dry lake bottom, and for a potential landing site if need be. This was a preemptive move as about 50-60 car owners needed a safe place to leave behind their vehicles, once they evacuated the area.
Contact was made at 0333 hours by the US Navy, in the dropping of a violet M 18 smoke grenade from said USN helo., marking an “alternative” LZ, which was not used in the operation.
On a sad note, a visitor collapsed and died the night before, in our parking lot, due to a preexisting medical condition. The corpse was flown out on the initial helicopter sans any other passengers. A number of hikers and campers took turns performing CPR on the individual, to no avail.
I am sheltering in place here at V V R, along with the owners and a skeleton crew. I’ll be in touch later, as I am turning over access to the computer and Internet service to a coworker.
THIS is the big fire that everyone feared.
Here’s a link to a map of the fire. Thomas Alvin Edison Lake is in the upper right corner, and V V R is located at the west end of the lake.
https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=37.22459,-119.30946&z=11&b=mbt&a=c%2Csma%2Cmodis_mp