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Still alive

steep is steep, it's just how long it lasts.
Thousands of feet elevation change , this fire had 1200 to 5300 foot elevation changes and of course the rocks and vegetation .
Climbing up those hills while crawling over and under jack strawed old growth.....talking 8 foot DBH 200 ft long down trees stacked on each other , rim rock pennicals.......there is nothing like it east of the Rockies....the NC'ers were in awe , they were Wildland fire guys from the Appalachian range. Good fire fighters.
Oregon and NC are getting a cross training and partnership program going and I might end up back there for their fire season , way earlier than ours and ends about the time ours gets rolling.
That would be cool and an entire new experience ........using plows and leaf blowers is something I have never done to fight fire.
 
I have seen KY's forestry service to use leaf blowers, dozers, back fires and air drops to try to contain fire.
 
Was at my folks cabin yesterday. Woke up to the sound of helicopters...there were 2 small fires burning close by.

Fortunately the first was close to the highway and was spotted quickly and when the helicopters arrived to start scooping water out of the lake to douse it....they spotted a second fire not too far up the forest service road which follows the small river and valley down to where we are. Both were out by the end of the day.

No end in sight...this is one brutal fire season.
 
John A. said:
I have seen KY's forestry service to use leaf blowers, dozers, back fires and air drops to try to contain fire.
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They tell me you can blow a trail through the leaves and if the wind isn't bad you can stop it. If fire blows over the line then you can run out with leaf blower and blow it back into the fire.....hope to see it some day soon.
I want to come back there in a bad way because I have always wanted to see the country, hopefully I have a little time to do that if I come out.
 
oli700 said:
lightning ?
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I'm not sure what started the fires but I'm assuming the one that was closest to us was likely lightning as it was cloudy and a bit moist the night before...not to mention it was on the top of the mountain. The other one further back on the forest service road could have been lightning also but could have been human. Access to that area is pretty easy...there is an old ski hill and some cabins tucked away back there. Lots of old clear cut areas as well...lots of fuel back there.
 
cmcdonald said:
I'm not sure what started the fires but I'm assuming the one that was closest to us was likely lightning as it was cloudy and a bit moist the night before...not to mention it was on the top of the mountain. The other one further back on the forest service road could have been lightning also but could have been human. Access to that area is pretty easy...there is an old ski hill and some cabins tucked away back there. Lots of old clear cut areas as well...lots of fuel back there.
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Worked so much with Canadian wildfire folks since '13 that I really have a deep respect for them . They ran an air attack platform , field observers and a couple task force leaders for this last fire I was on.

Want to be proud of something only your country is doing, check out Canadian rapattack crews. We have repellers but rapattack takes it to a whole new level. They can actually charge a hose lay with a hovering helicopter . And the use the hoist much more than our repellers .
I worked with them in Alaska , their 212's or Huey have the best of the best rotors, motors and all kinds of things, everything you can attach to a helicopter to make it more badass. Probably the most elite helicopter based crews in the world


BC is just like here in the west side of Oregon the Canadians tell us
Video
 
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oli700 said:
Worked so much with Canadian wildfire folks since '13 that I really have a deep respect for them . They ran an air attack platform , field observers and a couple task force leaders for this last fire I was on.

Want to be proud of something only your country is doing, check out Canadian rapattack crews. We have repellers but rapattack takes it to a whole new level. They can actually charge a hose lay with a hovering helicopter . And the use the hoist much more than our repellers .
I worked with them in Alaska , their 212's or Huey have the best of the best rotors, motors and all kinds of things, everything you can attach to a helicopter to make it more badass. Probably the most elite helicopter based crews in the world


BC is just like here in the west side of Oregon the Canadians tell us
Video
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Cool vid. BC has sooo much ground to cover using air attack is the only thing that makes sense. Getting manpower into some (read...a lot) of places is just not effective nor safe. Some of our terrain is just ridiculously formidable.

You ever see the Martin Mars water bombers in action Oli? They're friggin impressive....WWII vintage 4 engine flying boats...massive mothers.
 
cmcdonald said:
You ever see the Martin Mars water bombers in action Oli? They're friggin impressive....WWII vintage 4 engine flying boats...massive mothers.
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Not in person. Worked with several Canadian "Ducks" in AK. One thing you and AK have that we don't is the vast amount of water ways ........so many large bodies of water. The scoopers make so much since there. The are only a couple places with in a couple hundred miles of here that can use a scooper.
In AK the ice and snow melt lakes are literally everywhere, the ducks need a mile of continuous water to fill and the bigger they are the more real estate they need. But the huge seasonal lakes in AK aren't even named because there are so many
 
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I've been up close and personal with 2 of the Mars bombers in my teens while they were based on Sproat Lake, Vancouver Island. My aunt and uncle had a place on the water there and I had several opportunities to get right up to them in a small boat...gotta be close to 2 stories tall over the water...massive.

Wikipedia says they cover up to 3-4 acres per drop...holy $h1t!!

Watched them take off, land and scoop off the lake...something to see bro.
 
oli700 said:
They tell me you can blow a trail through the leaves and if the wind isn't bad you can stop it. If fire blows over the line then you can run out with leaf blower and blow it back into the fire.....hope to see it some day soon.
I want to come back there in a bad way because I have always wanted to see the country, hopefully I have a little time to do that if I come out.
Click to expand...

If you get some extra time, you have a seat and plate at my table.
 
that would be so cool.....got another day off today.
I had a rib out on the Stouts fire but put it back in on a river rock. Still beat up feeling so I went into the chiropracter today. Turns out I still had a rib out and 3 twisted vertebrae in my neck.Getting beat down this season ......19 days in a tent so far this season....that's 51 days in a tent between last season and this season, so far.
Makes you appreciate home I tell ya
 
Saw this the other day, I wonder if it worked.

 
on that day, with those winds, in that fuel I would say yes.
But it had a lot of vegetation left in the line where fire could creep through, a good wind shift would test it and without a bare mineral soil line or an engine following up that plow the fire would probably slop over that line or blow embers over the line creating multiple spot fires
 
Still gotta respect him for trying to save it.

I hate that it happened to begin with. I'm sure it made it harder on them losing anything.
 
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