Cold North Star

Its been a slow and cold fire. The high temperatures have been only in the 60s. The last two mornings it has been 30,31. We have had mostly cloudy skies.

We are camped in a spike camp in the fairgrounds at Republic Wa. Its an hour and a half NE from Omak.

Due to the weather we havent been able to burn all the control lines together. They need to get that done in order to lift the evacuation levels and let the people go home. 

That being said Mother Nature may have a say in where the control lines are. There is another storm coming out of the gulf of Alaska, and we are supposed to have light rain tomorrow and showers on Sunday.

It looks like we will be here for our full 14 day tour. If so and they dont extend us we will be on our way home on the 17th. This may be our last fire if the season.

When all the dust settles i will have more to share with you when the season ends. It is sometimes hard to keep you up on what is going on due to poor phone signal. I also have a lot more pictures to share. It has been really hard to upload photos because of poor at best signals.

Anyway if you can please help me out with your generous donations twards the wildland engine fund i have posted on gofundme.com. You can find the link in my Facebook page under Mountaintravis. Or you can make a direct donation tome and i will forward it to the fund for the engine. If you cannot afford to donate please repost the link to those who

may be able to help out. 

Thanks again and we will be home soon....

North Star

Just when we thought our season was over we received a dispatch. We have been dispatched to the North Star fire. We will be camped in Omak Wa.

Tonight we made it to the state park above Cheif Joseph Dam.

I will try to keep you posted as I can. I have no idea of the signal or wifi. I am bringing this post to you because the park has wifi.

This fire has burned over 200,000 acres.

Also just a reminder if you can help donate to the build an engine cause we would really appreciate I ate it. Thanks to those of you who have already donated as well as reposted my cause. Thanks Keep it up!

See you all soon😀

Homeward Bound

Today we finished our tour of 21 shifts in a row. We are all tired. Nothing a bit of R and R won't fix. When we get home we will rest for two days and then be back available for the next dispatch.

It will take us a couple days to get home. We will be back late Saturday.

Here is a few pictures. Enjoy!

 See you all soon

Day 16 of the Route Complex

Today our assignment is to mop up and patrol from H-2 to drop point 98. We took one pass and there isnt a lot to mop up. There will be more hot spots that show up as the days heating continues. Otherwise it will be a patrol job. 

The pictures below are of a map of our area and also the cedar trees that have cat faced.

Sorry about the backwards maps. Some things I can't seem to fix while i am mobile.

Extended Time

Just an update for you. We were given a seven day extension. What that means is we will be working 21 days straight. Then  we will have to take some time off. It is likely we will be heading home. But from the sounds of it we wont be home long.

Here is some photos of what we have seen and been doing:

Burn operation

Its been a busy several day's. We have been supporting a burn. They burned about 20 miles. 

After the burn we started mopping up and that is what we will do today to. The main part of the fire has been growing and doins some torching and running. The fire has spread ash and embers across the line. This has caused a number of spot fires. So they pulled everyone off of mop up to grid the green.We were able to get all of the spot fires so far.

I hope to have another update for you soon.

Cold mornings slows fire

We have been getting up to cold mornings. This morning it is foggy and 43 degrees. Feels like fall. But it is supposed to warm up this week.

We had one night in a spike camp. It was really a neat spot. Our fire is mopped up to 100 feet. We will find out this morning if we are going to be patrolling it or not. 

All the nearby fires have layed down the last two days. But with it getting warmer they look to get cooking again. They have been expecting ours ro blow up. This fire is a little different. The fire has an additional feature. Slope driven terrain.

Here is some more pictures. See you all soon....

Route Complex

It has been a busy few days. The fire is over 10,000 acres. 

We have been putting in hose lays all over the mountain. We have also done some mop up work. Now we are running a pump operation. We are pumping down to the hand crew. 

The fires around us have been blowing up every day. The fire we are on is a slop over off the main fire. It is called the   "Chance" fire. 

We have seen some awesome aircraft on this fire. From large passenger planes to small helicopters.

If you are hearing that fire is all over, well it almost literally is. We are surrounded by fire in all the mountains around us.just about every ridge has some kind of fire on it. In fact right above fire camp is a fire.

Checked in and ready to go

We're finally checked in. Long day. I will try to fill you in tomorrow on what is going on. But i thought i would show you our dinner menu tonight.  Oh and it was the best steak. Fabulous!

Until tomorrow have a great night.

California bound

We made it to Bend and have checked into a motel for the night. We checked in around 11:00 pm. Tomorrow we will leave early and go to the Route complex. It will be a long day of driving. Looks like it will be about 8-9 hours drive from here in Bend.

When we get there we will get checked in and then have our truck and equipment inspected. Then we will set up camp and rest up before we go out on the line. 

It looks like we will be there for a while, maybe a month or so. But the only thing you can count on in fire work is that it always changes. So don't get to comfortable. 

I want to thank all of you for your well wishes. We will be as safe as we can. We will be home. Love you all.

Until my next post see you soon.

Correction

We got our resource order in hand and we are not going to the one that we thought we're going to the route complex fire. It is north of the other fire the mad River fire.

Dispatched: Mad River Complex

California here we come. We are getting ready to leave town within the hour.

Here is some information on the fires: http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4436/

I will update you as I can as always.

Phillips Creek Fire Evacuation Notice

The Phillips Creek fire has shifted direction. There is now a level 1 evacuation notice for Valley View and also Gordon Creek road.

Phillips Fire Update

Elkhorn Media Group

1 hr · Edited · 

PHILLIPS CREEK FIRE EVACUATIONS: Union County officials have issued a Level I evacuation notice for residents of Ruckle Road and Sanderson Springs Road west of Elgin. Level I means residents should be READY to leave their homes at a moments notice.
Traffic is still moving on Highway 204, but watch for emergency vehicles.

Phillips Creek Fire Evacuation Update

Ruckel Rd and Sanderson Springs are under a level one evacuation notice. If you live in those area you will be informed on what to do and when.

Phillips Creek Fire

The Fire west of Elgin made a run late this afternoon. There is a level one evacuation notice. I am trying to get confirmation of the areas as I write this. The Sheriff department is working to inform the public in these areas.

Just to inform you of the evacuation notices. It is a simple as "ready, Set, Go".

Level one is be read to go
Level two is leave at next notice
Level three is go now!

Please if you live in the Elgin, Summerville  or areas on the north end of the valley, please be cooperative with the authorities. If they ask you to leave.....GO! Don't risk your life or that of the authorities or of the firefighters...You cant be replaced but your property can. Don't be a hero just leave.

This season isn't a season to play with.....Be safe and help others to do so as well!

Back to the future

It seems we went back in time. We were dispatched to the Leslie Gulch fire. So we went to Vale and checked in at the BLM office. Late in the afternoon they sent us to Jordan Valley. Time warp!........................

We arrived to find fire camp. What we didn't find was cell service. No contact with the outside world. It was like we went back in time for a few days.

We weren't sure what we would be doing. We were told we may be put onto the Initial Attack group. When I went to briefing I found out that we were going out on the line. We went on out and even though it is a lot of desert we saw some beautiful country. I wish I could have gotten more pictures then I did. It reminded me of Zion National Park in southern Utah.

We got to our assignment and we cold trailed the line. That means we gridded up to 50 feet from the fire edge [known as the fire line] and checked for hot spots. If we found any we either cooled them off with water or we dry mopped them.

It was really hot there. Most days it was 116 degrees down where we worked.

We saw a Badger and some Bighorn Sheep.

Now we are Back To The Future. We demobed this morning and we are back getting ready for the next dispatch.

Here is some of what we saw:

Now we are Back To The Future. Not just because we are back in the Pacific time zone but also because we are back from the land of no cellular service.

So it"s just the beginning of a long summer so hang in there with us and we will see how the rest of it goes. Ill take you along for the ride as long as I can. So don't panic if I don't post every day.....because It just may be that I am somewhere lost in timewarp.........

Vale check in

We are in Vald going through the check in process. We are almost done. 

Not sure what the fire is doing. I will update you as i can it is really hot here. It is over 100.

Leslie Fire Info

This will work better.

http://gacc.nifc.gov/nwcc/information/fire_info.aspx

http://gacc.nifc.gov/nwcc/information/firemap.aspx

Leslie Gulch fire

I just gor my resource order. We are going to the Leslie Gulch fire. It is near the Owahee Res. It is a really neat area. There are wild horses and the land is protected for them and for the ranchers who have stock there. So protecting the land there will be High priority.....

Vale Here we come!

We just got our dispatch to vale. I'm not sure which fire yet but we are leaving in the morning at 6:30.

When I find out where we are going I will post it for you.

What I do know is we will be in the desert.

Fire season 2015 begins!

Fire season is alive and well!

Just a quick update:

Fire is all over eastern Oregon and soon we will be going out. Maybe today maybe the next.

When we are dispatched I will post on here where and when etc.

Check from time to time and I will also post pictures as I can.

To all you firefighters out there...Be safe

Coming soon!

I have some exciting new things going on.  I now have a new page on Facebook. You can find it if you look up Bigfoot firewood. I also have another project I just started. When it is ready I will let you know.

I will also post another review of last seasons fire season. It is our last fire of the year. The Chiwaukum Complex.

Lots of things happened on that fire. I will have lots of pictures. Beautiful area.

See you soon!

Leavenworth Washington

Wildfire news

I know with the coming cooler weather here on the west coast it's hard to believe that fire season is so close. However it isn't that far away.

As a matter of fact there are fires burning right now. If you want to keep track of what is going on you can see the national fire report. This link shows fires 100 acres and larger.

Here's the link: http://www.nifc.gov/nicc/sitreprt.pdf

We call this the sit report.

Also here is another more detailed report on fires: http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/

Also I will post updates and as always I will give the inside scoop on  whatever fire we are on. When we go out.

Have a great day and enjoy the cool rain while it lasts.

Rt-130 Fire Refresher

OK Here it is. I was finally able to get the pictures off of my phone. Sorry it took so long.

Fire Class

Reviewing the drought forecasts

We discussed what is currently going on and also what the national forecast is for the next six months or so. It looks like it could be a five month fire season. But then again it is the weather. It could change. However be prepared for the worst.

We spent a lot of time reviewing what we can learn from this tragedy. As with all fatalities there are mistakes made. This disaster was no exception. 

We study these for a reason. It is good to learn from others mistakes. It teaches us how to avoid making the same mistakes, as well as avoiding new ones.

Some of the mistakes that led to the 19 who died shouldn't have happened. That being said there were a lot of unanswered questions. The only one who may have the answers was the only survivor of the hot shot crew.

He was a lookout for the rest of the crew. He did his job and when it was time for him to leave his post he did. He did not abandon his mates but for safety reasons he left.

To explain this we all go out to our fire with what we call "Trigger Points". What these are is a predetermined point when we leave our assignment. As an example we would have a trigger point of "when we cant keep up with the spot fires", then it is time to pull out. There are many more according to the circumstances dictated by the fire vs what we expect to happen, or what is predicted to happen.

This is why the lookout left his post. His trigger point was reached and he had to go. It saved his life. the fire went over the spot he was stationed at.

But as we learned there was private communication between him and his crew. This is normal. However they are now frowning on that because of what happened. At any rate this lone survivor is now suffering with PTSD. He also pleaded the fifth amendment when asked to tell what he knew about what happened.

We have what are called "Fire Orders" and "Watch Out Situations". The Fire Orders you don't break those rules. Not negotiable. The Watch Out Situations have some flexibility. They are what they say they are, a watch out situation. Kind of like a red flag. Some of these are: weather getting hotter and dryer, in country not seen in daylight, no communication with crew or supervisors. There are 18 of these. There are 10 fire orders. Some of these are: Know what the fire is doing at all times, Post Lookouts, Give clear instruction, etc.

Upon our review of this case we saw numerous Orders violated. We discussed this at length and bounced ideas off each other. It is sobering to look back at what happened and wonder what we would have done in the same situation. Would we do the same thing? 

That is why we review and have our refresher each year. It keeps us in tune with what we need to be aware of out there on the fire lines. 

Lunch Line

Getting Photos for red cards

After lunch we finished our discussion of the Yarnel fire. Then we watch a video on how and where to deploy our shelter if we are caught in a burnover.  One of the last things we do in class is practice our shelter deployment. Below is us practicing.

 We are timed at this as in the event we have to deploy time is of essence. We need to do it quickly.

                                                                    Ready, Set, Go!

After we get in the shelters our instructor checks to see if we have properly sealed ourselves in. It is important to have a good seal so we don't let any of the gasses in.We also don't want any embers blowing in.

Then we fold up the shelters and get them ready for the next participants. Its not as easy as it looks. It has to be folded up a certain way for it to work. The yellow handle you see in the pictures have to be out. You place your hand on each. there are two of them one says left hand and the other says right hand.

Then to finish the day we have the pack test. It is an ardous test. Wee have to go three miles in 45 minutes or less.....With 45 pounds on our backs. Sound easy? The catch you can't run. And on this day the wind was brutal. A mile an a half of our walk was into the wind. 

Getting packs on

Ready

Go!

Into the wind

                                     Don't believe me about the wind just listen to the link below.

Happy to say we all passed. My personal time was 42:17. 

So for one more year we are ready to go to work.