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.
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Friday, July 19, 2013
New Fire- Las Vegas
I had been home for two days from the last fire, and had gotten a few things done around the house. The second day at home the phones quit working for some reason. I called the phone company from my cell phone to report the problem. There is a spot out by the pine tree in the front yard that you can sometimes get cell service. Finally late in the day I decided to check my cell phone for messages. The contractor in Winnemucca had been trying all day to get me to answer my phone.
I returned his call and found that I was supposed to be in Las Vegas by four PM the next day. The fire was named the Carpenter 1, and it was threatening structures.
I got to Winnemucca by 8 PM, Got all my stuff in the truck and met the other guy who was taking an older water tender that had been sitting for two years. They had done all the inspections and wanted to get two trucks out and working. The plan was to drive to Tonopah and find a Motel for some sleep, then continue on in to Vegas the next morning.
The drive to Tonopah was miserable, strange road, dark as could be, not bright enough lights made it miserable in the extreme. We persevered, and finally found a Motel at 4AM. It of course was run by a family of Indian descent. What a place! The steps to the top floor were closed, due to holes in the concrete steps. The rug that is usually on the walkway was pulled up and there was just tar paper instead. The fixtures were all loose. The smoke alarm was hanging open, but I think it still had a battery in it. The shower head and valves were all loose in the shower stall. It was a bit disconcerting for a bit, but being an old Rail Roader I was used to such accommodations. I managed to sleep for about 5 hours, and we were on the road again.
It is not my intention to disparage the fella that I was teamed up with, but being an inveterate people watcher and closet cynic, I was interested in what he was going to be like to work with. He had owned a garbage business that covered a lot of the area that were were going through. He had sold it and I guess like me thought that a little side money would not be bad. My first inclination that things might not be as they should was when we started driving all over Las Vegas looking for a truck stop. After touring through the second housing development, I called a halt and drove to the nearest gas station that we had passed and got my fuel. Driving a Kenworth tanker truck in Vegas traffic is not one of my favorite things. You haven't seen "crazy" until you do. I am a much better welder than I am a truck driver. The greater the stress, the less likely that I am going to hit the gear that I was aiming for.
I find all this fire stuff to be intimidating, since it is a whole new world with rules that I know nothing about. I mostly muddle through by being willing to admit that I am new, and asking for help in my best "lost but cute puppy" manner. The worst is trying to find out where you are supposed to be, since some of them may include driving for 75 miles to find a duck pond that you are supposed to fill, back in some Canyon.
We checked in among the probably thousand people that were already there, and of course found that no one knew who had ordered us, and none had any idea of where we were to go. We first had to get our equipment checked. They found that the other truck had leaky wheel seals. He went off to a truck shop to see if he could get repaired. He never did get the repairs that he needed and was sent home after two more days, while I was assigned to a "Phos check batch plant". That is the red fire retardant. There were about 5 other water tenders assigned to the plant.
We were furnishing retardant to two "Erickson Sky Cranes".
We got our refills from a hydrant in a housing development at the bottom of the hill. Turn around time was about 55 minutes each. We worked 12 hour days. The BLM guy assigned to the plant would bring up a sack lunch each day, and generally brought a few extra, which worked out for me as I was sleeping at the site. There was enough food in each lunch to supply me with lunch, dinner and some P'nut butter and Jelly "crustables" for breakfast next morning. When its that hot you don't need much anyway.
The temps in Vegas were from 105 to 107 during the day and down to 102 at night. You can well understand why I would choose to stay in the hills where it was a bit cooler. Sometimes in the early morning it would get cool enough that covering up with a summer sleeping bag would feel pretty good. Not so in town however.
The terrain was quite interesting to me. Of course Vegas is situated in the middle of a old dry Lake bed, while the hills are Granite, and so rugged that the fire could only be fought by helio's with retardant. The crews had to wait until the fire came to them. Vegas is on one side of the fire, and over the Mountain was Pahrump. That was where the structures were threatened.
We had a couple of days where it was cool and rainy up on the Mountain. This slowed the fire considerably, and furnished Vegas with some flash flooding. Combined with some serious retardant drops, the weather allowed them to get the fire under control.
They began to "demobilize" as many crews as they could. I got one more day to assist two other tenders to fill a "duck pond" that this character had in front of his house. The fire crews used it to refill their containers and tankers when they were trying to keep the fires from the houses there. We put 27000 gallons of water back in it for him. He was quite a character! Boots, Bermuda Shorts and a pith helmet. I assume he was a "flim flam" man, from his speech patterns. I was grinning all the time he was talking to me or anyone else that came by.
The news media was all over the place trying to get " the story".
Flim Flam was in all his glory as he told the story of his "close escape". One set up is camera in front of my truck, but a blast from the air horn convinced him to relocate.
I spent a total of six days on the fire. Some of the days were busy as could be, others were spent sitting in the shade of the truck. I had one book on my kindle, but it didn't last all that long, and I was back to people watching again. Finally one of the guy's finished a "Longarm" novel. I read that in less than three hours. :-/
It was nice to get back home again, get a shower, and get in out of the sun.
I returned his call and found that I was supposed to be in Las Vegas by four PM the next day. The fire was named the Carpenter 1, and it was threatening structures.
I got to Winnemucca by 8 PM, Got all my stuff in the truck and met the other guy who was taking an older water tender that had been sitting for two years. They had done all the inspections and wanted to get two trucks out and working. The plan was to drive to Tonopah and find a Motel for some sleep, then continue on in to Vegas the next morning.
The drive to Tonopah was miserable, strange road, dark as could be, not bright enough lights made it miserable in the extreme. We persevered, and finally found a Motel at 4AM. It of course was run by a family of Indian descent. What a place! The steps to the top floor were closed, due to holes in the concrete steps. The rug that is usually on the walkway was pulled up and there was just tar paper instead. The fixtures were all loose. The smoke alarm was hanging open, but I think it still had a battery in it. The shower head and valves were all loose in the shower stall. It was a bit disconcerting for a bit, but being an old Rail Roader I was used to such accommodations. I managed to sleep for about 5 hours, and we were on the road again.
It is not my intention to disparage the fella that I was teamed up with, but being an inveterate people watcher and closet cynic, I was interested in what he was going to be like to work with. He had owned a garbage business that covered a lot of the area that were were going through. He had sold it and I guess like me thought that a little side money would not be bad. My first inclination that things might not be as they should was when we started driving all over Las Vegas looking for a truck stop. After touring through the second housing development, I called a halt and drove to the nearest gas station that we had passed and got my fuel. Driving a Kenworth tanker truck in Vegas traffic is not one of my favorite things. You haven't seen "crazy" until you do. I am a much better welder than I am a truck driver. The greater the stress, the less likely that I am going to hit the gear that I was aiming for.
I find all this fire stuff to be intimidating, since it is a whole new world with rules that I know nothing about. I mostly muddle through by being willing to admit that I am new, and asking for help in my best "lost but cute puppy" manner. The worst is trying to find out where you are supposed to be, since some of them may include driving for 75 miles to find a duck pond that you are supposed to fill, back in some Canyon.
We checked in among the probably thousand people that were already there, and of course found that no one knew who had ordered us, and none had any idea of where we were to go. We first had to get our equipment checked. They found that the other truck had leaky wheel seals. He went off to a truck shop to see if he could get repaired. He never did get the repairs that he needed and was sent home after two more days, while I was assigned to a "Phos check batch plant". That is the red fire retardant. There were about 5 other water tenders assigned to the plant.
We were furnishing retardant to two "Erickson Sky Cranes".
We got our refills from a hydrant in a housing development at the bottom of the hill. Turn around time was about 55 minutes each. We worked 12 hour days. The BLM guy assigned to the plant would bring up a sack lunch each day, and generally brought a few extra, which worked out for me as I was sleeping at the site. There was enough food in each lunch to supply me with lunch, dinner and some P'nut butter and Jelly "crustables" for breakfast next morning. When its that hot you don't need much anyway.
The temps in Vegas were from 105 to 107 during the day and down to 102 at night. You can well understand why I would choose to stay in the hills where it was a bit cooler. Sometimes in the early morning it would get cool enough that covering up with a summer sleeping bag would feel pretty good. Not so in town however.
The terrain was quite interesting to me. Of course Vegas is situated in the middle of a old dry Lake bed, while the hills are Granite, and so rugged that the fire could only be fought by helio's with retardant. The crews had to wait until the fire came to them. Vegas is on one side of the fire, and over the Mountain was Pahrump. That was where the structures were threatened.
We had a couple of days where it was cool and rainy up on the Mountain. This slowed the fire considerably, and furnished Vegas with some flash flooding. Combined with some serious retardant drops, the weather allowed them to get the fire under control.
They began to "demobilize" as many crews as they could. I got one more day to assist two other tenders to fill a "duck pond" that this character had in front of his house. The fire crews used it to refill their containers and tankers when they were trying to keep the fires from the houses there. We put 27000 gallons of water back in it for him. He was quite a character! Boots, Bermuda Shorts and a pith helmet. I assume he was a "flim flam" man, from his speech patterns. I was grinning all the time he was talking to me or anyone else that came by.
The news media was all over the place trying to get " the story".
Flim Flam was in all his glory as he told the story of his "close escape". One set up is camera in front of my truck, but a blast from the air horn convinced him to relocate.
I spent a total of six days on the fire. Some of the days were busy as could be, others were spent sitting in the shade of the truck. I had one book on my kindle, but it didn't last all that long, and I was back to people watching again. Finally one of the guy's finished a "Longarm" novel. I read that in less than three hours. :-/
It was nice to get back home again, get a shower, and get in out of the sun.
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