CCA member David Gregory had “an unappreciated adventure” in late July. “Around 7:30 A.M. the acrid smell of smoke woke me up. It was unusually pungent. I threw on some clothes and went downstairs to check the kitchen, the garage and the storage area under the house. Nothing. Walked out to the edge of the gangplank jutting out from the deck. Wisps of dirty gray smoke drifted through the tops of the pine trees from somewhere down to the northeast of me. Very hard to discern where the fire actually originated. Called the fire department.” Since David’s home is actually in the city, it was the city fire department that responded initially, later supported by the South Whatcom Fire Authority and the State Department of Natural Resources. It took well more than an hour of pouring over maps of the area and on-the-ground exploration before the fire was actually located on a vacant CCA member lot near David’s house.
“It was the type of slow burning, under ground fire that (CCA Member) Jim Wood discovered two summers ago on top of the mountain.”
“At first (the initial responding city fireman) thought that the fire might have been started by street people camping up here… On further investigation we found a large plastic folding table red Dixie cups scattered around the lot. The tall grass had been crushed under on the flat part of the lot by a car and a truck. Unless street people are now driving cars it had to be somebody who has access to our gate code. No car can get up the trail from California Street. And, I don’t see street people dragging a heavy folding plastic table up the mountain with them. It is obvious that somebody was having a party down there last night and before they left flicked a cigarette butt into the woods. There were no remains of a campfire. The fact that they left the table implies that they're coming back.”
The take-away from this story:
“It was the type of slow burning, under ground fire that (CCA Member) Jim Wood discovered two summers ago on top of the mountain.”
“At first (the initial responding city fireman) thought that the fire might have been started by street people camping up here… On further investigation we found a large plastic folding table red Dixie cups scattered around the lot. The tall grass had been crushed under on the flat part of the lot by a car and a truck. Unless street people are now driving cars it had to be somebody who has access to our gate code. No car can get up the trail from California Street. And, I don’t see street people dragging a heavy folding plastic table up the mountain with them. It is obvious that somebody was having a party down there last night and before they left flicked a cigarette butt into the woods. There were no remains of a campfire. The fact that they left the table implies that they're coming back.”
The take-away from this story:
- We all need to be vigilant about what’s going on around us.
- We need to be careful about any barbeques or fire pits we use. (The county has issued a no-burn policy countywide for the remainder of the summer season.)
- Please don’t give out the gate codes inappropriately. (Click here for more information on Gate Codes.)
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