[pct-l] PCT Fires in San Diego Co., CA

[msaenz at mve-architects.com (Mike Saenz)]

"Ah, well, when I was a Boy Scout... yes, it could have happened.
:-(  Perhaps supervision is tighter at camps nowadays."



Yeah, I heard that it was because of some ornery scout named "Craig
something-or-other" that inspired the new Adult Leader Supervision
Policies.....
I hear the Scoutmasters have to carry straight jackets as standard gear
on campouts!

;)


On a serious note:

Damn, it seems there's more burnt or desert sections of the PCT in
Southern California than not!

M i c h a e l   S a e n z
McLarand Vasquez Emsiek & Partners, Inc.
A r c h i t e c t u r e    P l a n n i n g    I n t e r i o r s
w  w  w  .  m  v  e  -  a  r  c  h  i  t  e  c  t  s  .  c  o  m


-----Original Message-----
From: Craig Milo Rogers [mailto:rogers@isi.edu] 
Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 2004 3:19 PM
To: Mike Saenz
Cc: pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net
Subject: Re: [pct-l] PCT Fires in San Diego Co., CA

On 04.07.14, Mike Saenz wrote:
> Nowhere does it say that Boy Scouts set off the bottle rockets.
> The fire just happened to have started near the Scout Camp. Started in
> three separate places, so the article said.
> 
> Though I know boys will be boys, Scouts are usually a cut above the
> average in the responsibility department. If nothing else, they're
well
> supervised at camps.
> I'd have a hard time believing Boy Scouts would set off fireworks into
> dry brush, even accidentally.


	Even though I typed "near a Boy Scout reservation", per the
news articles, I mentally interpreted that as "at a Boy Scout
reservation" and the Utah case parallel sprung to mind.  You are
right, that's an unwarranted leap; the BSA camp may have simply been a
open, accessible location for some less-responsible person's
activities.  Nonetheless, there's been a lot of pressure om the BSA in
parts of San Diego recently, and the projected parallel (that the BSA
may be investigated and held responsible regarding the fire) is not
completely unwarranted given the current political climate.  On
reflection, though, I apologize for referencing the issue in a jocular
fashion; that may have been inappropriate.

	Jocularity and concern for the Scouts aside, the issues of
fire safety and who pays for fire suppression and rehabilitation are
important ones to PCT hikers and trail angels.  There were the two
Whitewater fires earlier this season; who's paying for that?  When I
hosted the Bird Spring Pass Resort party this year, I was jittery at
times about fire safety; some guy wanted to bivy right next to my fuel
farm, for cryin' out loud!  And as I've pointed out before on this
list (I believe), certain thruhiker fuel systems might not be legal in
certain areas (e.g., solid fuel tabs in the Angeles NF), if you take a
strict interpretation of the fire regulations published on the Web for
those areas.

					Craig "Computer" Rogers