Night Shift on the Rail

 The first of two shifts on the Rail. For the most part we didn't see much action. Notice that we didn't SEE much action. Just before dark we we on our division. We had great views. (You can see our views below)

For us it was slow. We were on patrol. Our Job was to keep the fire from crossing into the Strawberry Wilderness area. It was easy for us cause the fire activity where we were was low. So we would do an hourly patrol until 2 am, then we slept in shifts. We staged on a high point so as to see most of our division.

Where we didn't see much action it doesn't mean there wasn't action. Oh No! There was action in a nearby division. We heard on the radio that the fire was on the move. they said it was moving fast and it was going where they had staged heavy equipment, including a low boy.

There was a bit of panic over the radio as they couldn't find the owner of the low boy and also the Caterpillar they needed to move out of harms way. They made numerous phone calls to find the owner. They finally found him and he told them where the hidden key was. Then they couldn't find it. When they did they couldn't get it started. Again there was a bit of panic over the radio. They needed to get the equipment moved and moved right away.

They did eventually did get the Cat started but they couldn't get it to move. No one seemed to know how to move it. Not to long after that the owner showed up and he moved everything out of harms way. Then the radio went quiet.

The fire continued to make a pretty good run. All we could see was the glow. The smoke was to thick to really see what was going on.The picture below shows the glow. The picture doesn't do it justice as it was a very large area.

Most of the night it was very smokey and we couldn't see the fire or the valley. But just as the sky was beginning to lighten up the smoke cleared and we saw a nice sunrise.

 After two nights the original crew showed up and took over the engine and we went home. It was Aug 16th. A late season compared to what we have had the last four years.

I went home wondering if I my fire season was only two days long. It felt like it was over. I tried to stay optimistic. Surely Bigfoot Wildfire would get it first dispatch. Wouldn't it? Or was it over before it began?

I waited one,two three, and more days. I watched the weather,news, and forecasts. Would there be any new fires? At this point the Rail fire wasn't calling for any resources. It wasn't looking to good.

And then on August 23rd......................