John Fisher

@johnafisher

Retired Battalion Chief for a large SoCal agency. PSC1/FBAN. Two hundred years of tradition enhanced by progress. Student of fire and adjunct professor of ICS, wildland fire behavior, strategy, and tactics. More or less in line. Learn and love and grow.

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John Fisher@johnafisher· Jul 16

Here's a photo I took while at the Pocket Fire of an area burned by the Pocket Fire. It's within the 2014 Slide Fire scar, so fuels were reduced. There were many "burned" areas I saw that still had dried grass and ferns in them.

John Fisher@johnafisher· Jul 16

I sort of came across it on my way home. Almost had to take command.

John Fisher@johnafisher· Jul 16

Not all my fires are in beautiful spots. This last one was.

John Fisher@johnafisher· Jul 2

What do you mean? LOL

John Fisher@johnafisher· Jun 22

John Fisher@johnafisher· Jun 9

Funny - about the time you sent that, I was watching a presentation from a local Firesafe Council and was wondering the same thing. Bottom line, they correctly note that several of the largest fires in the city have NOT been in the state VHSZ area. Including yesterday's.

John Fisher@johnafisher· Jun 5

It seems like they're trying to incorporate some of the old Perry's into it. I suppose they could try to give it some soul, but it's doubtful. Side note - Perry's burned in 2010. We saved it and they rebuild, but apparently selling was the owner's retirement plan.

A picture of Perry's Cafe in San Diego. An iconic old school diner now being turned into apartments.

John Fisher@johnafisher· Jun 3

Oooh. Maybe the Firesafe Council should raffle Indian tanks. And yes, I have one. And yes, my back still hurts from using one as a teen. (Yes, I know. I didn't name them)

John Fisher@johnafisher· May 9

Presented the fire behavior briefing and seasonal outlook for the 24th annual San Diego County wildland drill. Bringing together partners across the board to make us better. Founder Ken Kremensky was celebrating his 50th and final fire season working on SD County.

Fire chief Ken Kremensky shares some wisdom.

John Fisher@johnafisher· May 7

Someone say Camp Matthews?

The interior of the Camp Matthews fire station after being taken over by the San Diego Fire Department. A Camp Matthews map is still on the wall.

The fire station at former Camp Matthews, now part of the UCSD campus

John Fisher@johnafisher· Apr 25

Trying to do my part for Zone 0. And then some. My crappy cedar slat fence needed replacement, so I did the 12' chunks next to the house and a 90' run along the upwind side to help stop embers. DG or concrete in Zone 0, with more than 5' on the upwind side.

An aluminum fence to replace a flammable wooden fence next to a house.

John Fisher@johnafisher· Apr 7

Good lesson in satellite heat detection this morning from the large (~26 acre) structure fire in Ontario, CA. The fire building is outlined in green. You can see VIIRS and GOES heat detections all around the area from the very intense fire.

A map showing the outline of a large structure fire with satellite heat detections in the surrounding area.

John Fisher@johnafisher· Apr 6

Also, Rhonda made a fantastic challah. Tomorrow's French toast is going to be lit.

John Fisher@johnafisher· Apr 6

Did I say tri-tip?

John Fisher@johnafisher· Apr 5

Prep for the annual Spring BBQ has begun. Just awaiting the May Queen and Straw Man. I'm doing a test run on a few tri-tips.

A table runner with festive lighting and figures.

John Fisher@johnafisher· Mar 25

Found this great (unedited) piece written by Eve Ewing in 1988. Eve was the child of a ranching family who worked the area that is now La Jolla, Clairmont, and Penasquitos in San Diego. She understood the need for different age classes almost 40 years ago.

"Not that we didn’t have our differences I was always trying to save coyotes or ban control burning to save birds and animals, an error our whole generation of sentimental city dwellers,, mostly newly arrived from other parts of the country, made Nature burns brush naturally in the form of dry lightening storms and in the past by the help of Indians, and later by ranchers, and by not burning we are now faced with holocausts because we have created unnatural situations where brush that is filled with natural tars and resins and used to burning every ten or fifteen years has reached fifteen and twenty feet high and in some areas has not burned for over seventy years. Unlike trees our brush starts to die out a er about sixty years unless burned back and when it then can start anew from the crown. If brush is burned frequently it doesn’t burn trees and it is called a ground f ire; but when the brush and grasses are tall it catches the trees on fire and we have what we call crown fires and that does kill trees Much of or whole county s a me bomb waitng to go off instead of a natural series of patchworks of some newly burned areas, next to some older burned areas The newly burned patches stop the spread of fire. But if fires have been prevented unnaturally for decades, there are no patches and fires can go unstopped for days and days and burn horses and ca le and houses and thousands of acres much as it did during the wild fires of 1970 when it burned from Cuyamaca to the Mexican border. The brush around Scripps Ranch and Mira Mesa are a case in point. Now the brush is so tall it may be impossible for controlled burning. These are all the things the Peaveys knew long before our National Foresters and Ecologists caught on. But I was bone headed, and somemes just impossible to shake out of my city boots, so I didn’t learn these things any faster than most of the rest of us. Now I know that people who spend there life on the land usually understand it the best.

John Fisher@johnafisher· Mar 2

If you'd like, you can look at this example a block away. You can still see the UPS truck in the lower left. Now cars force the turntable outboard, which reduces reach. Again, it's not really my battle anymore. It's just a geometry reality that all sides need to be cognizant of.

John Fisher@johnafisher· Mar 2

Mr. Murphy is always there. And the public simply doesn't respond well to, "Well, there was a bike lane." Here's a great example that took me all of 5 minutes to find. If I want to spot a truck on a corner to cover both sides of the building, I lose height due to the UPS truck.

John Fisher@johnafisher· Mar 2

E.G.

John Fisher@johnafisher· Feb 24

A Ford Pinto with painted on flames coming from the rear of the car instead of the front.

John Fisher@johnafisher· Feb 18

I told you I'm not a fan. Two inches of rain, and palm trees still burn like roman candles.

John Fisher@johnafisher· Jan 29

Got our comissioned sabretoothed otter by @thornwolf.com framed and hung. It came out great! Really captured the devious spirit we were looking for. Also, we use Wonka Galleries for our framing now if you're local.