The Cruelest Month

It’s the afternoon of Feb. 16. Who’s calling on my phone, because I absolutely do not remember that ringtone. Okay, let’s see. What the??? It’s an emergency alert to get ready to evacuate for a wildfire? Really? Is that wrong?

Nope. Look at that plume of smoke. My God, it’s huge, right behind town. That’s when I hear it on the radio: “Fire near Buckley Ponds, 20-30 mph winds.”

Really? A wildfire? It’s February, for goodness sake, the middle of February. It’s still winter. Has it started already? Then, we remember, it was Feb. 6, 2015 when a fire ripped through Swall Meadows on the Sherwin Grade, burning 40 homes, almost all of them the homes of locals. So, yes, it’s possible. Better go take a look.

Stop at the Bishop Golf Course. Can’t see the Whites behind the smoke plume, which is stretching for miles and the smoke cloud is black and gray and white and moving with the wind. Really big smoke. Bet it’s already in Big Pine and Independence.

Well, here we go. Again.

In February? In February.

The scramble starts, looking for websites and resources which I didn’t think I’d need for another five months. Which website is the right one for this fire? USFS? Calfire? Inciweb? Calfire San Bernardino Inyo/mono? I had them all last summer and fall for all those fires, but sort of forgot, sort of thought there would be some time to find it in the spring, not February. OK, there it is, the right one for this fare, fire.ca.gov. Pretty straightforward, actually.

Now, how about the air quality. Which site was it? Gov.air, or Air. gov, and Great Basin Air Pollution. I bookmarked them, right? Yes, here they are at the bottom of the list. Time to move them up, I guess.

May as well drive south and see how far the fire has gotten. Boy, it’s moving fast. Big smoke plume on the valley floor. Looks like smoke blanketing the highway and the Sierra. Yuck.

So I’m really driving through smoke, again, just like last year and the year before, but it’s February? Always creepy. Like driving in a bubble. You can see directly in front and around you, but not very far ahead or behind or on either side. But it never closes in completely.

Almost to Big Pine. The smoke is over the Big Ears, but the front edge of the fire is still a bit north of the Ears. And the smoke is starting to go straight up, not being driven sideways by the wind. A good sign. A bad sign: they are now evacuating the east side of Big Pine. I think of my neighbors and go to bed.

Next morning. Time to see what happened last night. Can’t believe this is already part of the morning routine.

OK, let’s find out where this thing is now. What is that website that shows the terrain? Oh, I remember, caltopo. com, the one with satellite photos. There it is, like last summer’s cast offs, on the bottom of the list. Pull it up.

Live cameras were where? Oh, there it is, alertwidfire.org, with a camera on Marzano Peak.

Here come the updates. Looking better. Didn’t get past SR 168. Still north of Big Pine. Relax? Maybe. Blue sky in Bishop. Not even a wisp of smoke from miles of burned sage and river vegetation.

But the wind is still blowing.

It’s now Thursday evening, the flames are finally mostly dead, mop up underway, Big Piners going back home.

No one hurt, no structures lost and everyone geared up and ready for another fire season.

In February.