dr_wu002
Well-known member
I found something unusual on the summit of Mt. Tom (Massachusetts) today: a fire! I went up Mt. Tom the way I usually do these days: From Rt. 141 follow some local trails and then bushwhack. Today I bypassed the summit and wandered along the ledgy East side of the mountain before hitting the ridge. It's nice having a mountain practically in your backyard (2 miles as crow flies -- in fact, the bike path that passes through my backyard takes me to a Mt. Tom trailhead) and today was particularly beautiful with bluebird sky and humidity <15%. I started late (after 4pm) but then again you can sort of wander up and come back at your leisure. The hard part is having to turn around because it seems like there's always another ledge to explore, even though I've explored them all many times.
On the way back I planned to take the M-M trail, hit the summit and descent along the power line service path back to my car. Before I reached the summit, about 150' below the high point in fact, I came across a rather large brushfire. When you see something so unexpected like that I find it a bit difficult to process exactly what's going on and what to do. My first inclination was to look around and see if anyone was, for whatever reason, starting a controlled burn or something. My second inclination, when I realized that I was alone in the area, was to take some pictures of the fire. While doing this I kind of assessed the situation, wondering if I should try and put it out myself or head down and call the rangers (I was about 20 minutes from the trailhead and about 5 minutes extra for home where my phone was).
Lucky for me there was a small pool in the area -- anyone that hikes Mt. Tom enough knows what I'm talking about, just off the summit a small pool about 5' x 10' that is usually filled in spring and when it rains in summer. I had a Gatorade bottle too. The fire was about 150' x 150' and spreading. So I started filling the bottle up with pond water and alternated with first dousing the fire and then stomping on the embers. It was incredibly dry up there and to make matters worse about 8" of dead leaves covered the ground (no more snow down here!!!).
The entire time I kind of took care not to take a header into the fire considering it was very rocky and also on a hill. I took a header but lucky I did not land in the fire. The thought of merging my body (my head and face is like a freakin' tinderbox) with fire seemed unappealing at best considering I was all alone up there. I saw a couple and they seemed surprised to see a fire but didn't appear to have any means of helping so they left, promising to tell a ranger if they saw one. When they were out of sight I decided to urinate on the fire. I had one of 'those moments' when I realized that I had been drinking gasoline all morning and afternoon but fortunately, nothing happened.
After about 45 minutes and countless pond water refillings (I managed only one tinkle -- and didn't refill with pond water) I finally managed to subdue the fire. I spent another 15 minutes or so dousing and stomping out the remaining embers that were still smoldering and employed extra vigilance on any trees that were in the process of catching fire.
By now it was about 7pm and I was concerned with the inevitable sunset considering I did not have a head lamp and the trail down Mt. Tom is incredible rocky and steep. The fire appeared out but was still steaming a little so I headed over to the summit and quickly made my way down to my car. When I got home I called the local fire department and told them what I had done to control the fire. I reported that I had observed a fire ring but did not notice any recent activity. They said that they'd keep an eye on the area. It is supposed to rain or do one of these 'ice events' that makes my morning commute so lovely tomorrow but still, I'd hate for a fire to spring up and rage out of control during the night.
I really love Mt. Tom. I can see it from my house. I drive over it every day. I climb it on nice days when coming home from work. I can go up it just about anytime I want when I'm at home. Some day I'll gather up the courage to do a full moon night hike. I'd hate to see Mt. Tom reduced to a smoldering lump of ash. Thankfully, Mt. Tom lives to die another day thanks to me.
-Dr. Wu
On the way back I planned to take the M-M trail, hit the summit and descent along the power line service path back to my car. Before I reached the summit, about 150' below the high point in fact, I came across a rather large brushfire. When you see something so unexpected like that I find it a bit difficult to process exactly what's going on and what to do. My first inclination was to look around and see if anyone was, for whatever reason, starting a controlled burn or something. My second inclination, when I realized that I was alone in the area, was to take some pictures of the fire. While doing this I kind of assessed the situation, wondering if I should try and put it out myself or head down and call the rangers (I was about 20 minutes from the trailhead and about 5 minutes extra for home where my phone was).
Lucky for me there was a small pool in the area -- anyone that hikes Mt. Tom enough knows what I'm talking about, just off the summit a small pool about 5' x 10' that is usually filled in spring and when it rains in summer. I had a Gatorade bottle too. The fire was about 150' x 150' and spreading. So I started filling the bottle up with pond water and alternated with first dousing the fire and then stomping on the embers. It was incredibly dry up there and to make matters worse about 8" of dead leaves covered the ground (no more snow down here!!!).
The entire time I kind of took care not to take a header into the fire considering it was very rocky and also on a hill. I took a header but lucky I did not land in the fire. The thought of merging my body (my head and face is like a freakin' tinderbox) with fire seemed unappealing at best considering I was all alone up there. I saw a couple and they seemed surprised to see a fire but didn't appear to have any means of helping so they left, promising to tell a ranger if they saw one. When they were out of sight I decided to urinate on the fire. I had one of 'those moments' when I realized that I had been drinking gasoline all morning and afternoon but fortunately, nothing happened.
After about 45 minutes and countless pond water refillings (I managed only one tinkle -- and didn't refill with pond water) I finally managed to subdue the fire. I spent another 15 minutes or so dousing and stomping out the remaining embers that were still smoldering and employed extra vigilance on any trees that were in the process of catching fire.
By now it was about 7pm and I was concerned with the inevitable sunset considering I did not have a head lamp and the trail down Mt. Tom is incredible rocky and steep. The fire appeared out but was still steaming a little so I headed over to the summit and quickly made my way down to my car. When I got home I called the local fire department and told them what I had done to control the fire. I reported that I had observed a fire ring but did not notice any recent activity. They said that they'd keep an eye on the area. It is supposed to rain or do one of these 'ice events' that makes my morning commute so lovely tomorrow but still, I'd hate for a fire to spring up and rage out of control during the night.
I really love Mt. Tom. I can see it from my house. I drive over it every day. I climb it on nice days when coming home from work. I can go up it just about anytime I want when I'm at home. Some day I'll gather up the courage to do a full moon night hike. I'd hate to see Mt. Tom reduced to a smoldering lump of ash. Thankfully, Mt. Tom lives to die another day thanks to me.
-Dr. Wu
