Burn Support

One of our assignments we occasionally get is to support a burn operation. On this day this what we did. The pictures below are some of what we saw that day

Where there is smoke there is fire

Flareup 

You can see the fire bumping the road. Our job is to let it burn but keep it away from the the other side of the road.

After the burn is complete it is time to mop up and put it out.  This can be a lot of work. When there is duff the fire likes to hide. You think you knock it out and then later on patrol you see smoke and sometimes open flame. So back to work we go. It sometimes takes many days of patrol and mop up to get it all out.

Other times it is good to just let it go out by itself.

The evening cool off. Smoke laying like fog

I will have more to come in the coming days. Things are slowing down.....sort of. I should be able to post more often then I have lately. If we get a dispatch I will post it as I have in the past.

Tower and Line Time

After we were briefed we went out to the fire line. As we went out we could see what had burned and what hadn't. They saved a lot of the homes..

They took us through the fire up to the lookout. It was a nice view of the area. Plus it was cool going all the way up onto the deck. It was manned.

After a while we went on patrol. The goal was to keep the fire out of Welpinit. And I can say that would have been a real disaster. Welpinit is surrounded by a lot of timber. We caught a break as the winds died down.

That doesn't mean there wasn't trouble. We herd on the radio one of the contractors calling for help on a house he was doing structure protection. The shed next to the house was burning and he was needing help to keep it from burning the house down. Happy to say they saved the house.

On my next post our next assignment was to support a burn operation. That was pretty cool. Also something new I will include that I have never done is to include video. You will see what it is like to be on a fire.

Stay tuned.

Our first Dispatch, Cayuse Mtn. Fire

I was beginning to get nervous about not getting a fire dispatch. Being so far down the list, we had many close calls. Just not the call we wanted. We were close several times. But still no call.

The news continued to report of fires but still no dispatch. Then we heard of a number of new fires started in Washington State. I was hopeful we would get a call. 

Finally the phone rang. I looked and the caller id showed it was dispatch. I almost didn't believe it. It was in fact a dispatch. We were sent to the Cayuse Mtn. Fire in Welpinit Washington. It was on a part of the Spokane Indian reservation.

First E number 102

We arrived around ten pm and checked in. The next morning we had a briefing and we went out to the fire. At the briefing they gave us the background of where the fire started and how fast it moved. They worked through the night and they saved many homes. They did so at the risk of their lives and at the risk of their equipment. But no one lost their life.

Pre-briefing

Welpinit Ranger Station

Staging

We went out to the fire and we drove out to the lookout tower for a birds eye view.

We also got familiar with our assigned area and the people we were working with. On my next post I will show you more of what we did on this fire. Again we saw a lot of cool things and also met many good people. We also had the privilege to go to the local Indian powwow.

I will have the next post coming soon!

Rei Affiliate

I know like many of you we hate all the pop ups and also the adds we see on web pages. However it does help to fund the web page. How? When you click on a link and make a purchase we get a small percentage of the purchase.

That being said I have these links on here that I think will  save you money. So if you are planning to do an online order with one of these companies, I would like to ask if you could do so through the links I have on here.

Part of the reason is that REI has told me if I don't get enough hits they will terminate my avbility to use their link. So if I lose it I won't be able to save you any with that given company.

Thank you and stay tuned as I will have a continuation of last years fire (short) season in review. You won't want to miss it. It was short but sweet.

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......................

Slow Start

The start of the 2017 wildfire season started slow. And in fact it almost didn't happen. June was exceptionally dry. Up in the local woods it looked like late September early October. The soil was powdery dry. There was several inches of dust. Then we had a storm came through and dropped over an inch of rain. That really delayed the fire season by a considerable margin.

The rain and also a change in the weather pattern really kept a major fire season from happening. As for the weather change, it was really subtle. What happened is the pattern shifted from a SW flow to a NW flow. Yes it was still warm but the major difference is no thunderstorms. That would have been a big trigger for fire starts. That never materialized, hence few fires. 

Then a few fires started to pop up. First was the Weigh Station fire. It was wind driven across interstate 84, closing it for a while.Then was the Rail fire in Malhuer County.

We weren't dispatched to the first fire and so we were hoping to go on the Rail. It seemed like everyone was going but us. In the mean time my crew was getting hungry and had to leave and go back home to work.

So now I was scrambling to find a crew. In the mean time still no dispatch.

Then after a ten to twelve days one of the local contractors called me and asked if I could run one of his engines to relieve his crew for their R&R. So since I had no dispatch I went. Thanks to Fireworks for a couple nights of work.

The above pictures is from the Rail fire, while it was calm.

So myself along with two crew members were off to the Rail fire. We headed to Unity Oregon. After we arrived at camp we checked in and prepared for our first shift. Night Shift. Stay tuned

The Silence Ends

I have been so busy I haven't been able to keep posting. Well that's part of the truth. The fact is it (as you know) has been a really tough winter. I have had some bad flu's and now I am trying to heal up from torn cartilage in my ribs. Also we have been remodeling my home. Yay! no more camping. There has been weather delays and it goes on and on.

It has been really busy this winter. I wasn't able to get enough wood to sell and live off of for the winter so I had to get a job. Next winter I hope to have a full supply of wood to sell to get through the winter.

The good news is we are starting to get caught up. At this time we are doing our preseason stuff for this years wildfire season. I was able to put a bigger tank on and the pluming is almost done. At the end of the month we will have our refresher and inspection on the truck. Then we will be ready for what the fire season brings us. I'll keep you posted.

I am going to start the "2016 fire season in review" soon. It was short but sweet. Lots of good work and a special treat for us as we were invited to the Welpinit Indian pow wow. It was the highlight of our season. you will enjoy it.

So check back and you will see how the inaugural fire season went for Bigfoot Wildfire......

Here is a teaser: