Bigfoot And Wildfires

[Guest RayG]

Thousands of square miles have been incinerated in Texas and Arizona over the last six months or so. Where are the bigfoot that supposedly live in those areas? Are they on the move? Have sightings increased? Where will bigfoot go, and how does he escape detection whilst getting there?

RayG

[bipedalist]

I don't know RayG but you are not the only one that is curious about the saga playing out.

[Guest]

Having been in wilderness and back-country areas during a number of wildfires, I would suspect that, if they exist, they sorta avoid the front of the fire's advance (which is not that hard to do), and explore the results of where the wildfire's been, and possibly take advantage of the change that results from a wilfire's effects, particularly in the years following the event. I would say that much of the danger and drama we percieve regarding wildfire is due to our concern for buildings (I do feel sorry for those who've lost property) and our focus on images of the wildfire's most extreme expression which can be very impressive but don't represent how wildfires behave except in those specific and typically rather limited locations. cheers

[Guest]

Having been a wild-land firefighter for a number of years, I'll try and add a little perspective Ray.

On the ground its actually fairly easy to avoid the fire. It never moves in a straight line. It often leaves unburned areas. It follows terrain and fuel in a rather irregular fashion. There are usually many many flanks to a fire in rough terrain. That said, there are plenty of escape routes from an approaching blaze. You can see fire coming for miles away because of the smoke. At night the flames are just as visible. If you are downwind and mobile, well unless you don't know what fire is, you can easily avoid it if far enough ahead and do so without notice. Most every animal in the forest has a healthy respect for fire when they smell it. As for bigfoot, I'm sure they are just as savvy with it as a denominator in their behavior. With as mobile as they are, getting out of a fire zone would easily be accomplished in a single night. Sometimes animals do get trapped, but I don't see bigfoot having made the same decisions as ungulates would. BF would probably leave any area long before it got hot.

I've been on the fireline at night many times. Its always an eerie feeling to say the least. I don't think I have ever heard or seen deer or other animals anywhere near the flames. They are usually gone long before fire gets to be a risk to them, even big fires. I'm sure night is when bf would move as well, and at that time its equally easy to avoid humans as anywhere else, especially because we usually have our headlamps on and are making all sorts of racket performing a variety of tasks. Even if they were to pass within 50 feet of you at night, you probably wouldn't even see or hear them in the dark. Only if a bf were a serious straggler would they be caught in the open or near the firelines during daylight.

Edited June 15, 2011 by PragmaticTheorist

[Guest RayG]

Yes, but with fewer places for bigfoot to hide in Texas, where over 4 and a half thousand square miles has gone up in smoke, and subsequently, fewer places for humans to hunt in Texas, shouldn't there be a corresponding increase in the possibility of a bigfoot sighting or interaction in Texas?

RayG

[Guest]

Corresponding Increase? You mean from the dozens per day sightings that occurred prior to the fire? Kidding, I know what you mean.

Four thousand five hundred miles actually isn't that much. That is equal to 100 X 45 miles. How big are the forests in the affected region? The measurements are often many different fires tallied together too, and lots of unburned area in between as well. Just depends on how they are measuring? I haven't read the fire reports. News reports are different. Clearly the forested area of the state is much much larger then that. I guess if you were in the right place at the right time to see them moving, but that's always the case. There's still the same number of them and unlimited forest. Either way I'm guessing that the bf have long ago moved out of the areas of risk. They already know how to avoid detection so I don't see that changing too much. Moving around at night still affords them the same protection they had previously. They are just staying with Uncle Harry for a while in the so and so mountains to the north... although the cave may be getting a little crowded.

[BobbyO]

I don't know about AZ & NM ( i can't seem to find the Counties affected ?? ) but there hasn't been a great deal goign on in Palo Pinto County, TX since 1990 anyway..

[Guest]

Ray, just to be clear, when I said its not that big, I meant in context to the size of the mountainous region of the states and depending on how they are measuring it. Plus in respect to bigfoot effects. There is lots of devastation of course, not to discount that.

If you look at the enlarged IR Fire Map on this page of the Wallow Fire, you can see just how complex a fire can be. Hence why they often call them a 'So and So Complex Fires'. Lots of unburned or previously burned areas with areas of escapement, plus plenty of mountainous region surrounding the perimeter for said escapement. Lots of area where people aren't and bf can move freely.

Either way, the bigfoot likely moved out of the area entirely long before, and doing what they do, be elusive.

[Doc Holliday]

where does it go? motel 6, they'll leave the light on for ya....(just a joke, even if a weak one)

seriously though, ray poses a good question.

it will be interesting to see if sightings/encounters go up in the surrounding areas, or if a BBQ'd BF turns up somewhere in the aftermath.

but perhaps smelling smoke early & a running start would prevent the BBQ scenario.

[Guest]

Looks like I need to clarify myself once again. This time re Complex fire. Haven't thought much about fires in recent years. The first citing was that they are complex as in complicated burn patterns, and that they can turn into several different fires. On the other hand, different fires can start up in the same region, sometimes different fires begin to join, then that is often called a Complex. Fires being on different land ownerships can also affect the determination. Point is, many factors come into play.

Anyway you are right Ray that there could be more sightings, but people really have to be in place for that to happen. I really don't think many people are in the vicinity at night at the right spot and with proper night vision for that to happen. Hard to guess in the dark where a bf would find escapement and when.

[bipedalist]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63848768@N08/

Stunning but heart-rending photos here.

[Guest]

Re: scales of forest loss, I found a reference today for 90,000 sq km affected by mountain pine beetle infestation in British Columbia alone. How do bigfoot populations respond to disturbances of great magnitude right in the core of their range?

[BobbyO]

Re: scales of forest loss, I found a reference today for 90,000 sq km affected by mountain pine beetle infestation in British Columbia alone. How do bigfoot populations respond to disturbances of great magnitude right in the core of their range?

The same way as every other life form would i'd guess, they adapt & adjust..

Edit : I found it too, it makes decent reading in fact...

Pine forests in the western North America provide a good example of such a cycle involving insect outbreaks. The mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) play an important role in limiting pine trees like lodgepole pine in forests of western North America. In 2004 the beetles affected more than 90,000 square kilometres. The beetles exist in endemic and epidemic phases. During epidemic phases swarms of beetles kill large numbers of old pines. This mortality creates openings in the forest for new vegetation. Spruce, fir, and younger pines, which are unaffected by the beetles, thrive in canopy openings. Eventually pines grow into the canopy and replace those lost. Younger pines are often able to ward off beetle attacks but, as they grow older, pines become less vigorous and more susceptible to infestation. This cycle of death and re-growth creates a temporal mosaic of pines in the forest. Similar cycles occur in association with other disturbances such as fire and windthrow.

Edited June 15, 2011 by BobbyO

[Guest]

Each year, state forest management produce a fire report booklet for their area or maybe even the entire state. I have been collecting them for a long time in Washington. Typically they are about 20 pages long with a few maps and charts. Forest fires are a temporal disturbance and the area will quickly become productive again... in fact even more so because predators can find prey easier, certain plants wont have to compete with more established ones, etc. This temporal disturbance is a great database addition. Obviously animals would be forced to leave the area, moving out to similar but safer ones. These newer areas might have some hazards that could make the animal more visible, like in more roads, having to cross more open country or travel closer to residential neighborhoods. A likely scenario might be that a forest fire rages in a particular area, evacuating the wildlife from it so that outside of this impacted area we get more reports than usual... like what some have termed "flaps". The other scenario might be that some animals could become trapped and die in the fire.

There is one Bigfoot book about a guy who travels on foot through out many locations in south and central California in search of the animal. He encounters wildfires and kind of alludes to his purported encounters with the animal because they have been displaced by the fires.

My thought is that wildfires will displace all animals from an area, producing unusual stress on their behavior and lifestyle, making them susceptible to making mistakes more often (seen and maybe heard when they don't want to be), forcing them to travel in areas that have more human influence, areas where they may not be as knowledgeable as to what it contains (food, water, shelter, humans, roads, natural barriers, etc.)

Edited June 15, 2011 by damndirtyape

[Guest TooRisky]

Pretty sure I read somewhere, maybe the BFRO, That they put on their fire hats, grab their shovels and head for the fire to help fight it... Ye see they fight the fire from the BF side while the Human fight it from the Human side... And neither will ever see each other and the fire get's put out... Yup that's what I read...