2012 Fire Season Part 4

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Wildfire Season 2012 part 3

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2012 Fire Season Part 2

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2012 Wildfire Season

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Coming soon!

I found a way to share my fire season photo's. So as soon as I get them uploaded I will finally get them up for you all to see. I hope to have them available early this week. Stay tuned...

Mustang Complex

Fire Engine Video

In case you haven't seen this video, here is a link to it. Oh and can you pass it on? I need as much exposure as I can get. Thanks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-HdryTpY44&list=UUapZnnIO0if2ipPzeKNI2EA&index=1

Build a Wildfire engine!

Would you like to have a share in building a fire truck. You could help me to do so! Check out how here:
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/275842/wdgt/1751157

Slip in unit

If you can't directly help or don't think you can, good news. You can!. Help get the word out and tell people to check out our project. Many thanks to all of you!

2012 Yakima Complex video

I just uploaded a video of some of what we saw late this summer. I hope you enjoy it! I will have more coming soon. Stay Tuned.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEggYxbdoow

Long time no Hear

Hello to all!

I just wanted to give you all a quick update. I have been really busy since I made it home from fighting fires. Hence I've been trying to play catch up, get in the winter wood, find work, and so on.

 I will still post the wildfire season in pictures soon.I am currently hunting  and hope to be back at it next week with some fresh things for the blog.
See you soon, Travis

End of Fire Season Review

 It was a long fire season. First of all I would like to thank all of you who followed along. I hoped you enjoyed the ride. I tried to keep you up to date on all of the happening's. It was hard at times with little to no cell service. It was really irritating at times too. But all said it was a success.

At first in July we were called to Utah. We went down to the "Shingle" fire. It was near Cedar City near the Arizona border. We worked for 6 day's and had 4 day's travel. When we were demobed we realized how close we were to Zion National Park. So on the way home we made a slight detour. It was a 12 mile  trip to drive through the park. The cost normally is $25 but they let us go through because we were firefighters. It was a short tour and I wish we had time to really enjoy it. Maybe some other time.

Our next tour was a short one. We were called to the "Long Draw" fire. We went to McDermit  OR/ NV. We drove all night just to stage for initial attack.We sat  all day waiting for lightning. It never happened.The next morning we were demobed.

We were home for a short stay and then we were called to Idaho. We went to the Mustang Complex. When we got there the fire was only 700 acres. We saw the fire grow rapidly. In fact some of the largest growths in history  happened on this fire. One day the fire grew 36,000 acres. It is now over 336,000 acres. We were there doing structure protection along the North Fork Salmon River. Very pretty area with lots of wildlife. We saw Rattle snakes, Bald Eagles, Elk, Deer, and Bighorn sheep. We were there for 12 day's and then went home for a few days of R&R.

While we were gone the engine we were running had the transmission go out in it. Arrangements were made to replace it with another engine. We did but there was a fly in the ointment. We were on night shift and to make a really long and frustrating story short, they pulled us off the line during the night and told us we had to go back to camp and get our paperwork done for the new engine. When we mad it to camp we were told we didn't do anything wrong, just needed to get paperwork done. The next morning we were given a long runaround of get permission to you have permission to "Get Lost You are Demobed". So after a very frustrating time we were back on our way home. The company lost out on 3 day's pay. That was a tough one.

On our way home from that fire we decided to drive through the Sawtooth wilderness. It wasn't so much out of the way as much as it was just an alternative rout. It's a beautiful valley and then it goes down through Sun Valley/ Ketchum resort.

We were still on our way home when we reached Boise we received a call from home base. They had another dispatch for us. We were going back to the Twin Falls area to the "Horse Butte" fire. We actually started out at the BLM base in Shoshonee. The BLM guy's apologized to us for bringing us there. They told us that the fire had a years worth of rain that night and put it out. But we went out to the fire anyway. We use a little water on a couple of smokes for a bout 20 minutes. Then we sat all the next day before being sent home the next morning.

We figured our season was over and after being home for a couple of weeks we had another dispatch. We were on our way to Washington to the "Yakima Complex". We had a 14 day tour there. We had some good day's like when the fire backed down to the line and also when we supported the burn out along HWY 12. The last 6 or 7 day's were very slow as we patrolled the line to make sure there wasn't any chance of re burn. Then now we are home.

Totals for the year. Including travel day's My crew and I logged 47 day's this year. My biggest year of all time.

I hope you enjoyed following along.

I will be working on a season in review in pictures, so stay tuned.....

Day 14. 9/14/12

Today is our last day on the fire. However things are happening.  They are rolling crews over. The two engines we are working with are off for two days of R&R. They have a new hand crew here with us today. There is new overhead as well. Today is a show and tell to the new people.
There is talk of doing some left burning below the cliffs. They are concerned that the fire will fall off the cliff and restart the fire. Im not sure when the fire is basically out. There is a couple of stumps burning at most. I think that they want to have a burn to do a management burn. It makes some sense to do that.
This may be the last fire of the year for me and my crew. Not positive but we need to be home this week to get caught up. We will be available to work next week but there may not be any dispatches left. Ill keep you posted.
I would like to thank you all for following along this season. When it is over i will have the final tally and i plan to have a  album of the season in pictures. Keep checking back.........Travis

Final Drops

The K-Max is dropping its final drops on this fire. They have been using a mix of gel and water. They had some left so they decided to use it up rather then have is taken out. So they are using it on interior stumps and logs.
In the picture below you see its blue color.
We are also getting some light rain showers today.

River Rats

People are rafting the Tieton River. They only open the dam two times a year. When they do the river is flooded with rafters.

Not dead yet

Today is the same as the last few days patrol and mopup. In doing so we found a stubborn stump hole that we thought we put to bed but it keeps coming back. Thats our excitement for the day.
The weather is cooler with some t-storm activity in the area. We had a few sprinkles but not enough to even wet the ground. There is a good chance that we could end up chasing new fire starts from lightning. Ill keep you posted....

The feeling that time stopped

This is the part of firefighting we dont enjoy. The sitting. The Wild Rose fire is almost out if it isnt out. They have us sitting here with nothing to do. We may be allowed to go in at 730. The good news is we get paid to do this but it is painfully slow. Hours seem like days, minutes like hours. Soon the snow will fly and we will be home glad we stuck it out......

Fishermen Beware

Hes up a tree

9/20/12 More of the same

Not much happening here. Just patrolling the fire.along Hwy 12.  There is talk of tying in the west portion of the fire. Its possible we could support another burning operation in the coming days.
It looks like the season is winding down. The forcast as of now is for some t-storms this weekend and then cooler damp conditions for next week.

Cold Fire

This morning we mopped up a number of smokes and stumps. Then after lunch we did some foot patrol and found a few more smokes above the line. We put them to rest and it looks good now.
We are waiting for orders to return to camp for the night.
Our portion of the fire is contained. We are on division November.

K-max helicopter

Mopup and Patrol

Today we are doing much of the same as yesterday.  We are putting out the political smokes like the stump in the picture. The public drive on hwy 12 and see it and call in the fire. Yes we are aware there was a fire here. Pun intended.
Once we take out all the smokes we will be in a patrol mode. It makes a slow day but we are all a bit tired and ready for a couple slower days. See you all soon.

Slow day 9/18/12

Today we are working with the hand crews mopping up and securing the line. Its pretty slow. But it is work.

Hot mop

When you mop up with water it boils instantly. What you see is not smoke but steam.

Drafting water

9/17/12 Finally busy

We are busy and have been foe the last few days. Today we are mopping up a slopover that jumped the line during the night. We are also mopping up up the fire line that was burned last night. Looks like we may have a few days will be more of the same. Thats good. The days go faster this way.

Good clean burn

Fire

Bucket drop

9/16/12 update

Yesterday we sat on a ridge as a lookout. We saw the fire make a good run up the hill. Then we came down and watched a helicopter water show. He was dropping water on the fire. I will try to post pictures but may not be able to. Then we supported a burn along Hwy 12. Washington odot closed one lane so we could work the fire edge. They had a pilot car to take the cars through.
Today looks to be the same with our division dropping fire. We will likely support the burn and do some mopup to clean things up.
We are on day 7 and have 7 more to go then we will be home. See you soon.

Quick update

We are doing prep work for a burn. And scouting for a contingency plan. They want to burn to just above the power lines above the hwy and river.
They are still getting our sattelite camp set up

Moved again.

We move to another part of the complex. We are now in branch 3. We are planning to support the lower end of the fire. We may dig line may not but we were told long shifts and a lot of sitting. But when its time to burn we will be busy supporting the ground support.  If we burn. Ill keep you posted. Iwill try to uplaod pictures and but my service is scetchy. Stay tuned.

Just a quick update

Today we finished mopping up our 3-7acre fire. We did a grid in both directions to make sure the fire is not just out but also cold.

Not sure what we will be doing tomorrow.  We could be part of a new initial attack group. If we are not then who knows. Today was our 3rd shift and we could have 14 more before we time our.
Well thats all for tonight.  Time for my beauti rest.
Later....

A little action

The fires have been slow. They are so spread out that it takes time and energy from many to hike in and scout these 95+ fires. Most we cant reach with the engines.
A little after the noontime we got a call and went to fire #$&* sorry I cant remember the number of the fire. They are numbering each fire. We went up to a 3 acre fire and we did some mopup. Not real glorious but hey its better then sitting around. Im not sure what tomorrow will bring but we may be back at that fire to finish the mopup, or we may go to a different fire. We will see tomorrow what happens. Ill keep you posted.

Staging

We are waiting for an assignment.  All 10 or so of us engines. There are 95 fires in locations that are tough to access. They also dont have all of the fires staffed. However they now have a bunch of resources.  Hand crews and engines. We hope to hit and destroy some fire this week. So far it is starting slow.
So far the phone signal has been pretty good. I should be able to keep you up to date. It may not be until next each evening but i will do my best to keep you up to speed.

Check in

We made it to Ellensburg and we are in the check in prossess. Soon we may find out our assignment.

Change of destination

We are now going to the Yakima Complex. We will be at the Ellensburg fair grounds.

Unending Summer

Well here we go again. All the engines have been called out.Washington State was hammered by lightning. So just when we thought the season is over it's going again.

The name of the fire I am going to is called the Manila Fire. It is a complex of fires. You can look here at it:http://www.nwccweb.us/information/fire_info.aspx

For Daily updates you can check these sites:

http://www.nwccweb.us/index.aspx

This one you can look at the INCI web for hourly updates on all fires  and if you look at the situation report it has all of the fires in the nation as a daily report, updated each morning.
http://www.nifc.gov/fireInfo/fireInfo_main.html


As usual I will try to update our status with pictures etc. By now you know the drill.

One thing of note: when I update with my phone I don't post onto Twitter or Facebook. So you will have to check back every now and then.

We will be leaving around 4 am so I need to finish getting ready and hit the hay. Gnight and see you soon.......

Fort Rock

While looking for new camp we were close enough th visit Fort Rock. That is pretty cool. Check out the pics below.

Reality show update

We are going to Bend to do some filming of the reality show "Treasure Hunters". We will be on location and if we are fortunate we will film enough to finish the first episode.

I am sorry we had a delay in the shows release but life get in the way sometimes. I had planned to finish it this spring early summer.

I have started the editing on the show but as I quickly realized we needed more to be able to finish. So hopefully we will have enough film to finish the show by the end of the weekend.

The show will have a little history, and some things to help you to be successfull treasure hunter. We will show how to scout, research and find good locations. We will also teach proper etiquite of metal detecting.

In case you are new to the blog, some of what you will see in the show is in a trailer on Youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA0e0RWhx40&feature=plcp

If you see it and like it please tell a friend.

Wish us the best an hopefully soon we will have our first episode!

Fire season over?

That is the question. And the answer is yes and no. Some will go out and others will not. As you have likely heard there is a new fire near White Salmon. That will call out some resources  for a few days. But things have really wound down.

We are still ready to go at a moments notice. The summer is lasting a while longer then normal so we await for a dispatch. It does appear unlikely that the contractors will get out again. The agencies have the first priority and then if needed the contractors go out. That being said with the warming of the temperature and the lowering humidity's and the hunters out there it is still a real possibility. A lot of people hit the outdoors this time of the year and like the White Salmon fire humans could cause new fires.

We had a good season and a lot happened. As promised I will recap the season in pictures when I know we are done for sure. Stay tuned.....

I want to thank those of you who checked in and who followed this blog. I also want to thank you for telling your friends about the blog. I really appreciate your support.

Thanks Travis

A Bit of Redemption

On our way home from the disaster at the Mustang Complex we received a new dispatch. We didn't even get home. We made it to Boise. So we went on to Shoshone and checked in and the BLM guys apologized for bringing us in there. They told us that the fire was out because of rain.

They took us out to the fire anyway. It was a long drive on dirty, dusty roads. We made it to the fire later in the day and did a bit of mop up. Well that is a stretch for sure. There was a couple of smokes we put water on. To tell the truth I saw more fire coming out of peoples cigarettes.

That night we went out farther to a military bombing range and slept there for two nights in the sagebrush. The second day we patrolled the fire. Mostly we sat in the air conditioned truck drinking water and watching large dust devils pass us by. Very boring. Then yesterday they demobbed us. We thought we would be going to another fire but we made it home without a call. Maybe we are done for the season and maybe not.

The redeeming factor is this time we got paid for all three days we worked.

Below is a few pictures of the grand excitement:

On the way to the fire. Cool looking rock formations.

Yes it was very dusty

BLM Engine

Welcome to camp

At the official end of fire season I will try to make a photo overview of the season.

Crazy season

Our t-4 engine had the transmission go out of it. That was only the beginning of the crazy stuff. Long story short we had to demob.We also didnt get paid for one shift and three travel days.

On the way home we made it to Boise and were dispatched to Shosonee. So we moteled up and left Boise this morning. Now we are at the BLM office waiting to see if we are going to work. We came with a renewed spirit thinking we may finish out our season with 14 days but now it sounds very suspect. The fire was doused with heavy rain last night. They said we would maybe stage or maybe mop up. But it sounds like we wont get as many days as we hoped. But at the least we will finish our season with a paying fire.

On the road again: The good and the bad

Heading out to Idaho today instead of the morning. however then reason we are leaving early is because the engine there blew the transmission. So the owner is taking another engine up to replace it. I will be towing the  trailer up there to bring the other engine home for repairs. Then I will go on shift tomorrow night. We may be there for the month weather permitting. As always I will try to give updates on the fire and the goings on.  The North Fork store has free Wifi so as I am able I will update this blog. See you soon....

A Couple of Day's of R and R

I am back for a couple of days and then it's back to work. Weather permitting I will be there from a few days up to a month.

As of today the fire is over 99,000 acres. The cell signal is poor at best. I tried to post an update but was unable. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I will keep trying to keep you all posted. I found out the North Fork store has free wifi so I will try to update when I go by.

We have had a good time. Good assignments and good people to work with. We have seen lot's of wildlife. We have seen Elk, Bighorn Sheep, Deer, Bald Eagles, and even a couple of Rattle Snakes. In fact I walked right over the top of them. Yikes!

Below is a few pictures of what is going on. I will have more to come as well. So far I have taken well over 300 pictures.

We often have to stop to let the Sheep pass

We hiked into this cabin to make sure no one was in there. It was in Owl Cr.
It is likely gone now

A Lamb

This is not a cloud. Well it is but it is created by the fire. It's called a plume dominated fire.

Burrito Oven

The fire is making a sustained run up the hill.

Just in time. The bridge construction materials were just starting to burn.

Smoke so thick it looks like fog

Fire backing down to the Salmon river

Two Big Boys

Finally saw fire

We worked a double shift yesterday and finally saw some fire. It came over theridge and crept down to the house we have been protecting. There is 5 engines in our area that have set up a sprinkler system to run around the houses. Then we have been running them with Mark 3 pumps from the nearby creek. Today we found out we are going onto night shift. We may be on it untill the end of our tour. We should be back home around the 23 or so.
It looks like we will have a second tour on this fire so our stay at home will be a short one. As usual i will try to keep you posted as i have service. Thank you for all of your comments. I am sorry i am not able to answer them all but i will try to when i get home.
Today we are in Salmon doing laundry before we go on shift tonite so i wanted to give a update to you. Sorry for the poor writing on these posts but i usually have only a few seconds or minutes to update if any.
I have taken lots of pictures and will post them when i get home or soon after the season is over.
Thanks for following along with me!
To Mike W: aaarruuuuu oh common!