Video taken by a couple hikers stranded by the Bolt Creek Fire

[Dave Westburg]

Amazing video taken by two hikers who were stranded by the Bolt Creek fire. They needed wayfinding and scrambling skills to get out alive. Am amazed they made it out. Phil K and I know from personal experience how easy it is to cliff out in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. The video gives a sense of how fast a wildfire can change.

 

[Itchy Dog]

Holy shite those guys are lucky to have made it out. The footage of the fire blowing up over the ridge below them is scary as hell!

 

[Josh]

Holy hell that's scary. Glad they made it out.

 

[Dave Westburg]

I've been up some of the ridges in the area and they are incredibly steep. Can't imagine trying to move fast away from a fire on one of those steep slopes with smoke in my lungs.

The one good thing about where they were is that there were some Talus slopes where they could have maybe been able to sit the fire out in an emergency. You don't want to be in woods or in chest high brush when a fire blows up.

 

[Yard Sale]

Why didn't they just wait it out in that big rock field they summited at?


Edit: looks like DW and I are thinking the same thing.

 

[Dave Westburg]

Why didn't they just wait it out in that big rock field they summited at?


Edit: looks like DW and I are thinking the same thing.

They didn't have fire shelters so might have been burned severely even if they tried to sit the fire out in the rock field. It looked pretty narrow.

 

[Josh]

Why didn't they just wait it out in that big rock field they summited at?

I think that would have been my last ditch option. Even being near a forest fire like that would be a huge risk of heat or smoke overwhelming you. I mean, the talus slope would have been better than being in the trees. But getting the hell out of there was probably the best chance they had to survive.

 

[Dave Westburg]

Deploying on talus isn't always the solution. Here's a picture of the 2001 Thirty Mile fire deployment site in the methow where 4 firefighters lost their lives. The firefighters who deployed their fire blankets on the road between the green and white pickups lived. Those who deployed to the right of the road in the rocks died when the fire swept by.




Noone deployed in the river. That's where I would have gone.

 

[Otter]

"The average forest fire sends temperatures rocketing up past 800 degrees Celsius (1,472 degrees Fahrenheit), hot enough to cremate a human"

That's from here: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/watch-a-raging-forest-fire-surround-you-in-360-degrees/

Given the extreme wind velocity and heavy, dry fuel load (forest), I think it would have to be a very, very large rocky area to survive. It's not just the width of the flames coming out of the forest like a blowtorch that would roast them, it's the extremely hot (and toxic) air filling that whole mountainside that would sear their lungs. Flames don't have to reach you. City firefighters always say that smoke inhalation kills before flames get to you.

I would definitely say that those hikers made their only choice for survivial.

Intense video.

 

[Yard Sale]

Scary. Crazy.

Agree, I'd definitely get in the water if I could. I assume there are risks there too.

 

[RCF]

Deploying on talus isn't always the solution. Here's a picture of the 2001 Thirty Mile fire deployment site in the methow where 4 firefighters lost their lives. The firefighters who deployed their fire blankets on the road between the green and white pickups lived. Those who deployed to the right of the road in the rocks died when the fire swept by.

View attachment 32550


Noone deployed in the river. That's where I would have gone.

A warm bath would sound pretty good. Just dunk in once in awhile to cool off..

 

[Phil K]

YOWZA!

I've been up Baring a few times, and that is very, very steep terrain. The talus basin they first hunkered down in is pretty good sized, and I don't think would be swept by fire. The real danger; dying from smoke inhalation and heat stress. I'm sure it was a difficult decision to bail out downhill, and I wouldn't venture to second guess them. Being able to make it down to the valley that way would seem like far from a sure thing and a very daunting undertaking.

A friend of mine was up on Merchant Peak that day, just across Barclay Creek (the valley they dropped into), and his pics of the fire coming over the ridge on Baring are impressive.

 

[WonkyWapiti]

I used to work that area. The area is steep!!!!!!!!! The first part of the video was amazingly illustrative showing how fast that fire was moving through the area. The winds that week were howling.

 

[Mukman]

Terrifying video, and glad they made it out safely to tell the tale.

Not being an experienced mountaineer, I’m curious about their opening comments of the video: what “mistakes” were made? As far as I can see, they seemed prepared (gps, trail maps for the area) for a serious hike and got surprised by a terrifying encounter with a wildfire. What could have been done differently??

 

[WonkyWapiti]

I'd have to look at the timeline but checking a weather report/news before going into the backcountry might have told them there was a wildland fire in the area. That weekend all the news outlets were reporting high fire danger. My bowhunting plans got canceled due to Campbell Tree Farm in Snoqualmie closing due to fire danger.

 

[MT_Flyfisher]

In early September 2012, my wife and I were nearing the end of a long, hot summer on the Yellowstone River in Paradise Valley, south of Livingston, MT when we saw the flames of a large fire sweeping up the mountainside across, and several miles north of us.

This fire ultimately consumed about 5,000 acres and several homes in the small town of Pine Creek, but it was not until a couple days after the fire started that we learned the story of a local Livingston man who had been hiking on a nearby trail the day that fire started, and was able to escape by retracing his direction and hiking back up and over the mountain, hiking in the dark throughout the night as the fire chased behind him.

I’ve hiked that trail in the daylight and I can tell you it‘s steep. I can’t imagine what it must has been at night, with a fire chasing behind.

Flames at Our Heels

A hiker’s harrowing experience changes the whole meaning of a walk in the woods.

www.audubon.org

 

[Ron McNeal]

Whoaaa...... This video is more gripping & well-done than anything I've seen in a long time. Thanks for posting.

 

[Dogsnfish]

Wow, thanks for posting. Hiking those areas is tough enough sticking to the trails, let alone bushwacking with a fire chasing you.