By Barry Zander, Edited by Monique Zander, the Never-Bored RVers
A brush and woods wildfire that reportedly began with a motorhome along the Merced River near Yosemite National Park, California, has burned more than 5,000 acres, but was reportedly 90 percent contained Thursday morning.
Cause of the fire is still being actively investigated by the Mariposa County Fire Department, according to county Deputy Fire Chief Jim Middleton. A news release issued by the South Central Sierra Interagency Incident Management Team attributes its start to the motorhome. Exact cause has not been determined.
Reports state that the fire began at 12:30 p.m. last Thursday on Hwy, 140 and quickly spread to the Sierra and Stanislaus National Forests. The area is very steep with rugged terrain, “making access difficult,” according to the news release.
One injury was reported, but no structures have been destroyed. I’m sure the whole RV community hopes the owners of the motorhome got out safely and will experience a minimum of inconvenience.
Since this is a blog site and not a news report, let me ask a question. What went through your mind when you read about the RV fire? There are so many opportunities for disasters in RVs that it’s important that you think about changes you’ve made recently or about systems that you haven’t inspected in the past few months. It’s always a good idea to consider what opportunities there are for danger lurking between the highway and the roof when you’re speeding down a lonely road.
I’m not qualified to write out a list of connections and systems to be inspected, but my policy is to bite the bullet and pay experienced tradesmen to work on our rig rather than take a chance on a making a repair myself that could spell problems down the road. Like many of you, I relish the opportunity to pull out all the tools for a project, but I’m quick to put them away when I get to the point where I’m guessing at the results.
I do want to make one suggestion. After you check to ensure that your onboard fire extinguisher works, make sure you know how to use it. From the awful smell, we discovered that a lamp secured for travel on a recliner under a blanket was on when we arrived at our next destination . A few minutes after I hooked up our power, we smelled something burning. I quickly pulled the fire extinguisher from its bracket and foamed away. An innocent and costly mistake, but it could have been worse without the fire extinguisher. You never know when a serious incident can happen. Next trip to the hardware store we bought a second extinguisher for the bedroom area.
We don’t need the unexpected to keep us interested in our RV lifestyle. We’re already …
… the “Never-Bored RVers.” We’ll see you on down the road.