This is exactly what I was referring to. It doesn't matter how well the firefighters fight fires, it's how fast they get on a fire when it starts. For those that may not remember, we had a fire on the "real" Boards Crossing Road (the dirt road that goes down to the old Boards Crossing Bridge). Luckily the firefighters had it out in less than half an hour. Had it gotten very big, I'm quite sure a lot of BTV would have burned to the ground.

Tom Stienstra, S.F. Chronicle…..good read.

It is heartbreaking to see the old, giant pines get incinerated by the Rim Fire in the Tuolumne canyons and on their ridges. You wonder if this can be prevented elsewhere.

The forests around beautiful Cherry Lake and Eleanor Lake in Yosemite are in flames. The beloved Camp Mather and San Francisco’s power and water utilities are under siege. Miles of blackened tree skeletons will be left behind for 20 years and longer. Ash and topsoil will wash into the Tuolumne.

I have explored this region in my truck, on foot, in a raft and the trail-less canyons from the air. Everybody in the area knew it was a time bomb.

When a fire starts in such an explosive landscape, it must be put out right away or it can blow up from a spot fire to an inferno. The DC-10s were late arriving, and in three days the fire grew from 5,000 to 50,000 to more than 100,000 acres.

Environmentalists and fire scientists agree on how to avoid these high-heat infernos that turn into forest massacres, while keeping the forest landscape and habitat fresh and healthy at the same time.

A key is addressing “ground fuels” and “ladder fuels.” The Tuolumne canyons, for instance, are filled with ground-level manzanita, chemise and layers of dry pine needles. When they ignite, they burn fast and hot, and can catch low-lying limbs of pine trees.

If you burn out the ground fuel in low-heat prescribed fires, you remove much of the tinder for big fires and keep the soil fresh and charged with nitrogen.

You also trim the lower limbs of pine trees, up to eight feet above the ground, and thin out tightly-packed groves of smaller trees. That way a ground fire won’t spread “up the ladder” and get into the tree canopies – and in a worst-case scenario, start “crowning,” jumping from treetop to treetop.

What we’re seeing now is a worst-case scenario. An area many love for recreation, wildlife and the source of drinking water and electricity is a war zone. We are losing the war.

Tom Stienstra is The San Francisco Chronicle‘s outdoors writer. E-mail:tstienstra@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @StienstraTom

From the LA Times:
GROVELAND, Calif. — Each time the breeze picked up, Lee Bentley of the U.S. Forest Service squinted and took a look at the smoke cloud forming over the Rim fire.

Conditions on Sunday were eerily similar to how one of the largest wildfires in recent California history exploded in the first place.

It was first spotted on a ridge in the Stanislaus National Forest on Aug. 17 by a plane flying to another small fire. An air team was called in and dropped water until nightfall.

PHOTOS: Rim fire at Yosemite

"Things looked good. We were feeling we had it pretty much under control," Bentley said.

But the next morning an inversion layer thick as fog kept the planes on the ground.

In the afternoon, the inversion layer lifted and the winds kicked in.

"The fire came boiling out, just cooking," Bentley said. "It was so hot it created its own weather. It was like dropping a boulder in a pond — fire spread out in every direction."

The Rim fire, which has ballooned to nearly 134,000 acres, presents firefighters with every challenge: steep slopes, dry fuel, rugged terrain and entire communities that could be endangered depending on which way the wind blows. Every technique is in use: planes, bulldozers and thousands of firefighters trying to hold the line around summer camps, homes and towns.

On Sunday the winds were coming from the southwest, pushing the fire north towards Tuolumne City near Sonora and away from Groveland where residents returned home and reopened businesses that had been shut for a week during peak tourist season. The streets were decorated with signs thanking the firefighters.

But Bentley said the relief could be premature.

"Everybody in this town has a right to feel nervous," he said. "This fire could always turn, depending on which way the wind blows this afternoon."

More than 2,800 firefighters have been battling the blaze, which is 7% contained.

I'm not questioning the firefighters on the ground or the ones in the air. I was only questioning the decisions made by upper management when the fire first started. I've been up here since 1994 and I have a LOT of respect for our firefighters. They all do spectacular jobs fighting fires.

You do know the fee does not go to fighting fires right? The money is for fire prevention services.

Be safe Chris Westlye, and all you other firefighters.  Anybody still feel the fire fee for the Sierra is not justified?

There is a facebook page for the Rim Fire with great info:

https://www.facebook.com/californiarimfire

Thank you to all the firefighters who risk their lives to keep us safe.