Local fires

One of the hazards of the High Desert is fire. Normally the hottest month of the year is July, and it puts the finished touches on the Sage, which is already dry. Most of the month has humidity in the low teens and sometimes in the single digits. Then in August the "dry lightening" starts. Sometimes water actually hits the ground, but mostly it is in the form of "Verga". This year however we went right to Dry lightening in July. I can only guess at what August will be like.

Mike, one of our friends from New Mexico flew through a storm on his way back form our fishing expedition on the Owyhee River and flew over some of the fires close to the house. He made a nice video of the flight and the fire, and has kindly made it available for your viewing.

 http://vimeo.com/70596313   password- backcountry

He was also curious as to the method used to fight these fires. Fires are ruled by the availability of the fuels on the ground. Sage burns hot and fast. Tumbleweeds burn even hotter. If there is Cheat grass, is tender dry in July, and all of them combined can burn very hot and very fast.

Now first the disclaimer - 6 months ago, I couldn't even spell "firefighter", so what ever knowledge I claim to have is through common sense, and listening to those who do know something.

The first rule of firefighting is to stay in the black. The fire has already burned all the available fuel there, and it is the safest spot at the fire. Generally concerning Sage land fires, they will try to get a fire line around the fire to deprive it of fuel. Occasionally a back fire will be used, but it also causes more land to be burned. What is of course is the best, is a line of fire retardant either on the leading edge of the fire or in front of it.  The fire you will see in my video was stopped by just such a method. The ground crews, (Hotshots) will come in after that and put out all the hot spots that may be left over. Of course the best is to get them before they get big enough to began to make their own wind and weather.

 https://vimeo.com/70691829     password- owyheeflyer

This is likely to be an interesting year, while I was editing the video I got another call for a fire in Elko, Nev. Fortunately there is an alternate driver, and I opted to sit this one out.