Controlled Burns (Fires)?

[kimberlyanne546]

Hello everyone,

Yesterday I was at work when a co-worker looked out the window and noticed smoke. We all went outside and the smell was very strong. Soon, the surrounding mountains / hills were no longer visible and they asked me to call the non-emergency number for the fire department.

The phone rang and a woman answered, asking immediately:

"Southern Marin Fire District, are you calling about the controlled burn?"

I thanked her, and told my co-workers (who have houses nearby) that everything was OK.

The next thing I did was to go online, looking for details such as time and location. I could not find anything but found a list of fires that seemed to be updated by the fire department. It had nothing for that day but did list fires as recent as the day before. Controlled burns were not listed - only "accidental" fires - I think.


My question is this:

Let's pretend I had planned to fly that day. Would calling 800-WX-BRIEF or using any other source of aviation weather have alerted me to this visibility / smell hazard before I took off so that I could either cancel my flight or use another route?

I spent quite a while searching fire websites and could not find any information.

Since this was a "planned" event I'm wondering who the people starting the burn notify. There are forms to fill out, etc. so there should be a record of it somewhere?

 

[Jim Logajan]

I was walking down the street once and saw smoke. I started sprinting toward it in case my assistance was needed (although what I could have done is somewhat less than obvious in retrospect) and saw that it was a house being burned down by firemen. Made sense, actually. Good way to get training, and the house had to go anyway. Not enough smoke to affect aircraft, though.

Were there books in that house? That's probably why the firemen were burning it. :wink2: