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Haze in valley traced to far-off source |
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Friday, 20 July 2007 |
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 Smoke scatters skyward from a small fire in a tree-filled canyon almost at timberline northwest of IndependenceTuesday. The small blaze was within the boundaries of the Inyo Complex fire, and was allowed to burn itself out. The smoke that filled the Owens Valley Tuesday and Wednesday blew in from the big Zaca Fire near Santa Barbara. Photo by Jon Klusmire By Jon Klusmire
Register Staff
Billowing smoke has caused county residents who just recently recovered from the Inyo Complex fires to cast a cautious eye to the sky, and scan local mountains for any sign of renewed fire activity.
While those with sharp eyes, or even binoculars, will probably be able to spot some smoke plumes at high elevations above Independence and Big Pine, those little puffs of smoke from small, smoldering blazes are not causing the haze that has enveloped the Owens Valley.
The big waves of smoke are actually being blown into the valley from the 28,000-acre Zaca Fire, which has been burning since July 4 near Santa Barbara. That was the only explanation officials from the Inyo National Forest could offer Wednesday. Meanwhile, back on the ground, work has almost been completed on a temporary Independence water plant and representatives from the Governor’s Office have made a sweep through the burned area to assess the damage and what kind of emergency aid the state might offer in the wake of the fires.
The thick layer of smoke, though, has been generating the most speculation. Concern about the Inyo Complex fires coming back to life, however, is unfounded.
John Louth, manger of the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in the White Mountains, said the smoke was extremely thick Wednesday, and actually started to accumulate in the Owens Valley late Tuesday.
A quick check on the Inyo and other forests in the Eastern Sierra and atop the spine of the Sierra revealed no wildfires, Louth said. But the Zaca Fire in the Los Padres National Forest was quite active on Tuesday, and strong northwest winds were driving the smoke from that large blaze right up into the Owens Valley.
Debra Hine of the Bishop Office of the Bureau of Land Management noted that the Zaca Fire had grown about 3,000 acres on Tuesday, and the winds and the additional burst of burning brought the smoke from the fire to the valley.
According to a national Forest Service wildfire Web site, the Zaca Fire has burned about 28,000 acres, and is currently being fought with 1,700 firefighters and a small armada of helicopters and air tankers. The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department has ordered numerous road closures and mandatory evacuation orders because of the fire.
There is still a little local smoke contributing to the general haze, though.
In several spots inside the containment area of the Inyo Complex fire, small fires have been blown to life, or are smoldering and sending up smoke. Louth said such small flare-ups could occur for several weeks in the burned areas, but fire crews and rehabilitation crews are on the ground and monitoring the situation. For the most part, the small fires are near the tree line and burning the sparse trees and brush in small, high- altitude canyons.
On the valley floor, five large, portable water tanks have been put in place at the location of the Independence water plant. The metal roof over the “reservoir” at the site was burned and melted in the Inyo Complex fire that threatened Independence and prompted officials to evacuate the town for several hours last Saturday.
The new tanks will temporarily replace the small reservoir on Independence Creek, said Ron Chegwidden, Inyo County Public Works director. The plumbing needed to get the tanks connected to the town water system was anticipated to be completed on Wednesday, he said.
Once the tanks are operational, the water system will be flushed and water tests will determine when the boil water order can be lifted and residents can go back to using their tap water. Chegwidden said the temporary system could be approved to provide drinking water as soon as today.
The boil water order went into effect on July 8, when the water plant was burned. Since then, county employees from Public Works and other departments and crews from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power have been working to get the temporary tanks in place, the plant up and running and drinking water flowing. Since a well provides the water itself, residents have had water for watering and other uses.
“The end is in sight,” Chegwidden noted.
The beginning of efforts to get state disaster aid is just starting to come into focus, though.
County Administrator Ron Juliff said a representative from the Governor’s Office toured the burned areas on Tuesday, and even brought his own GPS device to pinpoint damaged or burned areas.
Juliff said there will be an initial assessment of damage to county assets, from roads to the aforementioned water plant, and then a team will arrive to further refine the damage estimates.
Eventually, the county is hoping to apply for emergency grants to help it rebuild the Independence water plant. Juliff had no estimate on when the county will know when such funds would be available or how much the state could pitch in for replacing the water plant. It was noted that several state agencies and departments have grant money or emergency funds available to help repair a catastrophic loss of a water system.
After the temporary system is up and running, the county will have to figure out how to build and pay for a new water plant for Independence.
(Premonition Department: It was just at the end of June that the Board of Supervisors reviewed the status of the county-owned water systems in Independence, Lone Pine and Laws. At that meeting, the supervisors appeared resigned to the idea that the small towns would not have the financial wherewithal, based on state standards, to actually take over their water systems.
One of the largest problems with the finances of the three systems is that the current rates have not allowed the county to build up a significant reserve fund to handle even “routine” capital improvements, such as installing new water mains. Thus, the supervisors noted that any “catastrophic failure” at any of the water systems would mean the bill to fix the problem would fall on all county taxpayers, since the county is responsible, under state law as the official operator of the water plants, to keep them running and keep the water meeting state standards.)
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Last Updated ( Monday, 10 September 2007 )
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