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| Saturday, Apr 20 |
| All Day | Tickets on Sale Now for "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown!" |
| All Day | The 7th Annual Crafty Chicks Spring Market |
| All Day | Big Plans at Big Trees State Park for Earth Day! |
| All Day | The Big Used XC Ski Sale Starts April 20th at Bear Valley Adventure Company! |
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| 09:00 AM | Spring Cleaning Time at Shred Fest 2024 on April 20th |
| 01:00 PM | Celebration of Life for Robyn Victoria Williams |
| 05:00 PM | Fundraiser Dinner at VFW San Andreas |
| Sunday, Apr 21 |
| All Day | Tickets on Sale Now for "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown!" |
| All Day | Big Plans at Big Trees State Park for Earth Day! |
| All Day | The Big Used XC Ski Sale Starts April 20th at Bear Valley Adventure Company! |
| All Day | Our Sunday Edition with Local Features, Local Specials & More Every Sunday All Day Long! |
| 09:00 AM | Get Ready to Run in the 2024 Mr. Frog's Wild Run on April 21st. |
| 11:30 AM | The 11th Annual Mountain Ranch Chili Cook Off! |
| Monday, Apr 22 |
| All Day | The Big Used XC Ski Sale Starts April 20th at Bear Valley Adventure Company! |
| Tuesday, Apr 23 |
| All Day | The Big Used XC Ski Sale Starts April 20th at Bear Valley Adventure Company! |
| Wednesday, Apr 24 |
| All Day | The Big Used XC Ski Sale Starts April 20th at Bear Valley Adventure Company! |
| Thursday, Apr 25 |
| All Day | The Big Used XC Ski Sale Starts April 20th at Bear Valley Adventure Company! |
| Friday, Apr 26 |
| All Day | The Big Used XC Ski Sale Starts April 20th at Bear Valley Adventure Company! |
| All Day | HCO Sledfest 2024 is April 26-28 at Bear Valley |
| Saturday, Apr 27 |
| All Day | Come Celebrate Calaveras’ Spring Wine Weekend |
| All Day | The Big Used XC Ski Sale Starts April 20th at Bear Valley Adventure Company! |
| All Day | HCO Sledfest 2024 is April 26-28 at Bear Valley |
| All Day | Huge Savings at Millworkz Inventory Reduction Sale Every Saturday! |
| Sunday, Apr 28 |
| All Day | Come Celebrate Calaveras’ Spring Wine Weekend |
| All Day | The Big Used XC Ski Sale Starts April 20th at Bear Valley Adventure Company! |
| All Day | HCO Sledfest 2024 is April 26-28 at Bear Valley |
| All Day | Our Sunday Edition with Local Features, Local Specials & More Every Sunday All Day Long! |
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Posted by: Kim_Hamilton on 09/06/2009 09:17 AM
Updated by: Kim_Hamilton on 09/06/2009 09:17 AM
Expires: 01/01/2014 12:00 AM
:
Master Blaster Called in to Clear Roads in Yosemite....You can feel the concussion a thousand feet away
Yosemite, CA....That was the minimum safe distance yesterday when members of the Stanislaus Hotshots used 55 pounds of fireline explosives to fell an eighty-foot tall incense cedar near the Big Oak Flat Road. The tree had burned partway through, making it too dangerous to cut down with chainsaws. The crew is one of many removing hazard trees to make the road safe enough to re-open in the wake of the Big Meadow Fire in Yosemite National Park.....
Reg Bowdler, the US Forest Service's regional blaster examiner and program coordinator for California, is overseeing the fireline explosive work. An employee on the Stanislaus National Forest, Bowdler is dispatched to fires around the state to assist with dangerous and difficult projects and to train new blasters.
"Safety is the main benefit of using fireline explosives," Bowdler explained. As crews work to re-open Big Oak Flat Road and Tioga Road in Yosemite National Park, expert sawyers evaluate trees for safety along the road and identify hazards that need to be removed. In some cases, trees are too large and have too much fire damage to cut down safely using typical tools such as chainsaws and wedges. "Fireline explosives give them the option not to fell the tree with a saw," says Bowdler. Instead, a blaster using a radio transmitter can topple a dangerous tree with fireline explosives from up to five miles away.
The explosive, which is manufactured in ninety-foot long tubes an inch and a quarter in diameter, is taped to the side of a tree in a bundle. By packing the explosive properly, an expert blaster can determine the direction in which the tree will fall in order to minimize damage to nearby trees and other resources. According to Bowdler, fireline explosives are generally used to clear line in wilderness areas when crews are short on time or don't want to leave tree stumps. Because fireline explosives throw debris without leaving a pattern, they leave a more natural appearance along the line. On the Big Meadow Fire, fireline explosives are being used mainly to remove hazard trees.
The use of fireline explosives to drop hazard trees is helping to train the next generation of "master blasters" as well. The training program that certifies a firefighter to use fireline explosives is three years long and requires a sign-off by Bowdler as well as the firefighter's supervisor. In this case, Stanislaus Hotshot Buggy Captain Brandon Hull was the trainee blaster.
Crews will continue to work throughout the Labor Day weekend to remove dangerous trees and open Big Oak Flat Road and Tioga Road as soon as it is safe.
Unit Information
NPS Shield
Yosemite National Park
National Park Service
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