Point Reyes Light - September 27, 2001

Lightning storm blasts fire lookout

By Daniel Freed

High atop Mount Barnabe, county fire lookout Lucas MacMath got a shocking surprise during Monday’s lightning storm when a "renegade strike" hit a utility pole only 100 feet from his tower.

MacMath at the time was plotting the locations of numerous lightning strikes five to six miles away when the utility pole was struck and a flash of electricity leapt to a nearby pole.

What was it like to be so close to a lightning bolt? "It’s loud!" replied the lookout. Although MacMath was uninjured, the thunderbolt left his ears ringing. "That’s what takes you more than anything," he said.

MacMath noted that extra care taken when the lookout was being wired protected its communications equipment from electrical damage. Nonetheless, some small repairs were still needed the next day.

The rare lightning storm that zipped through West Marin shortly after 4:30 p.m. left not only the lookout but a number of PG&E lines needing repairs.

Blackout in Bolinas

The thunderstorm, which arced across the Bay Area, left 70,000 to 80,000 households and businesses blacked out, PG&E spokesman Lloyd Coker said Tuesday. In Marin County 4,600 customers were affected, while in Bolinas 252 households and businesses lost power.

Elsewhere in West Marin, lights flickered during the storm, and there were brief outages.

MacMath said that soon after the lightning strike near the lookout, he observed about 30 strikes over Bolinas Ridge.

At 4:45 p.m. one bolt hit a transformer near Bolinas School on Olema-Bolinas Road. Another hit an antenna near the Bolinas firehouse.

Power was restored to 249 customers by 12:30 a.m. Tuesday with the remainder back on line about two hours later, Coker said. The PG&E spokesman added that a few homes in Nicasio lost power Tuesday morning because of the storm.

PG&E counted 4,600 downstrikes in the Bay Area, Coker noted, making it the biggest electrical storm here since September 1999. MacMath said the last electrical storms this big to hit Marin County were the one in 1999 and another in the mid-1970s.

Spectacular view from lookout

MacMath said that from the fire lookout, he observed about 60 downstrikes and a lot of cloud-to-cloud lightning on Monday. "It was a spectacular view from here," he said. "It’s so rare to have electrical storms."

Although MacMath was able to enjoy a 360-degree view from his mountain top, he didn’t have much time to enjoy the show. During electrical storms, MacMath and other lookouts, including one on Mount Tamalpais, plot locations of lightning strikes so that they can check the areas later for wildfires.

One fire found

One strike MacMath observed on Bolinas Ridge above Stinson Beach Monday caused a small fire near the Laurel Dell Picnic area, and he notified firefighters.

Firefighters, who went to the scene the next morning, cut down a lightning-struck tree whose top was still smoldering. MacMath said the tree was split down the center by a high-intensity (or "strong-pulse") lightning bolt.

MacMath noted that the lightning that struck near his lookout was of low intensity (or "light-pulse"). He said that the bolt had a reddish tint, indicating it was moist.

Fire department airplanes are continuing to monitor areas struck by lightning for forest fires, MacMath said, because fires can linger inside tree trunks for weeks.

Although the rain that accompanied Monday’s thunderstorm will reduce fire danger in the short term, said county firefighter Tom Nunes Wednesday, it will slightly increase fire danger in the long run by washing dust off leaves.

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