I have to say that this really sucks. I read the story with tears in my eyes. I have been there many times, and have always stopped by. It was a wonderful facility.
-P
Posted by Steve Sieren on September 7, 2008 at 12:35 PM
That is a horrible thing. If it is in fact arson I really hope they catch who did it! That is a huge loss. The good thing is nothing can stop people from visiting.
Posted by Jack Graham on September 7, 2008 at 4:11 PM
Like Preston, I've been there many, man times and always enjoyed the friendly folks who made it work. This is a sad day not only for those who made it what is was, but for humanity. If this is arson, I hope the sic-o that was responsible is caught. Probably in the future those who frequent this are must be vigilant to suspicious activity. What else can we do?
.... a very sad day.
JG
Posted by Richard Wong on September 7, 2008 at 5:36 PM
What the heck!?! We should be able to get away from it all w/o having to worry about safety.
Posted by David Senesac on September 7, 2008 at 8:42 PM
As the news link related, there ought not be any reason for that structure to have burned since it is not on the power grid and only has a small solar cell power system for illuminating a few small light bulbs. Thus very unlikely to have been a source of ignition. When I first saw the headline, my immediate suspicion was a lightning bolt but reading along that was apparently not so. So one has to suspect arson.
That building is so far up the spur road from state route SR-168 a through highway that goes into Nevada, that there really isn't any reason for some urban arsonist to have burned it down simply as a convenient roadside act of vandalism. Just too far out of the way. An arsonists would not be able to burn down any part of the forest because all the bristlecone trees are too spaced with only thin forest matter below. Thus frequent lightning caused fires are always short lived. So that tends to point to an arsonist?
What motive could there possibly be? Even if some deranged cretin hated the forest service closure of some 4WD roads within Inyo National Forest, why would they bother to attack that very remote building in an area where to my knowledge are no offroad road controversies? Unless the purpetrator announces their act as a warning, no one would make any connection to anything. Southern California urban areas certainly have numbers of evil mentally ill anachistic people with twisted minds though extremely few are likely to visit such a remote location and are instead usually chronically urban bound. Even so, I would speculate this might be one of those arsonists who for some circumstance happened that way and like a dog lifting its leg to spray at every passing telephone pole, found it irresistable to burn this down this unprotected, lonely, vulnerable structure as an act of hate towards the rest of we citizens and society.
Posted by adrian davies on September 8, 2008 at 3:31 AM
I too am appalled by this news. As a visitor from the UK in 2006 I was given a very warm welcome, helpful advice, and a fascinating tour of the centre. I only hope it can be rebuilt, and the offenders harshly dealt with!
Adrian Davies
David: perhaps you hadn't heard, but the Barcroft Station was also vandalized and splattered with gasoline in early August (and that's EVEN further off the beaten track than the VC). Fortunately they lost their matches or their nerve. There's been a rash of damage in the Eastern Sierra as of late:
http://www.inyoregister.com/content/view/115766/27/
Posted by Eric A. Rosen on September 8, 2008 at 1:08 PM
Actually David the building also has a kerosene heater when it is cold up there before they close the place for the season... Only other option is the kerosene heater or something with the Kersoene caused a fire...
Posted by David Senesac on September 8, 2008 at 2:34 PM
Read a 47 year old was just caught trying to burn down a Lone Pine School. Hope it is also the Schulman arsonist and vandal Michael noted. With teenage vandals, the reason schools are sometimes burned is they were punished or expelled. Thus such youth with their juvenile emotions are acting out vengeance. And there are of course many criminals that continue a behavior of immature vengeful behaviors throughout their life. And such is also the vengeful way of criminals towards other criminals in their world. Thus the cretin that burned down our visitor center may well be such a person striking out at the rest of us because of something they were caught doing and penalized for during the recent past period. Of course vengeful people are most likely to act so immediately following their own punishment.
Now as for the proper punishment once the perpetrator is caught, I'm an eye for and eye, tooth for tooth, kind of guy...and so a burned off hands for a burned bristlecone center.
Posted by Harley Goldman on September 8, 2008 at 7:05 PM
It is truly a shame the center was burned down. It was a great place run by extremely nice people. I have been there many times. On a hot day, the people working there even dog-sat for my older lab while I went for a hike in the grove. It made me very sad to hear about the fire.
This is shocking news to me, as with the many other posters. I've bren there 4 or 5 times and had hoped to visit many more times. The people running the center were alway very friendly. Hard to understand why someone would want to do such a thing.
Michael R. Reynolds
California Nature Photographers
Discussion
11 repliesLoss of visitor center shocks, saddens many
-P
.... a very sad day.
JG
That building is so far up the spur road from state route SR-168 a through highway that goes into Nevada, that there really isn't any reason for some urban arsonist to have burned it down simply as a convenient roadside act of vandalism. Just too far out of the way. An arsonists would not be able to burn down any part of the forest because all the bristlecone trees are too spaced with only thin forest matter below. Thus frequent lightning caused fires are always short lived. So that tends to point to an arsonist?
What motive could there possibly be? Even if some deranged cretin hated the forest service closure of some 4WD roads within Inyo National Forest, why would they bother to attack that very remote building in an area where to my knowledge are no offroad road controversies? Unless the purpetrator announces their act as a warning, no one would make any connection to anything. Southern California urban areas certainly have numbers of evil mentally ill anachistic people with twisted minds though extremely few are likely to visit such a remote location and are instead usually chronically urban bound. Even so, I would speculate this might be one of those arsonists who for some circumstance happened that way and like a dog lifting its leg to spray at every passing telephone pole, found it irresistable to burn this down this unprotected, lonely, vulnerable structure as an act of hate towards the rest of we citizens and society.
Adrian Davies
http://www.inyoregister.com/content/view/115766/27/
Now as for the proper punishment once the perpetrator is caught, I'm an eye for and eye, tooth for tooth, kind of guy...and so a burned off hands for a burned bristlecone center.
Michael R. Reynolds
California Nature Photographers