horse shoe 2 a video by stevepassmore on Flickr.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Wallow Fire pictures
Just realized I have to make all flickr video under 90 seconds. So video will have to wait. Enjoy the pictures.
Wallow Fire
From what family and friends are saying this fire has been all over the news in the US and abroad. 2nd largest fire in AZ history maybe the 1st largest now, I don't know. Reserve, our home ranger district, is only a few miles away from one of the many ugly heads of this massive fire. We jumped at the opportunity to keep the Wallow fire from burning into New Mexico. Two of the small towns close to Reserve had to be evacuated. The air up at Negrito fire base is still hazy with the smoke from Wallow. The views from the 180 road I've been driving to AZ for years are now forever changed.
Stopping a large fire like this requires stepping back aways from the fires head. In this case several miles in front. We could barely see the fire off in the distance most of the time. Growing mid day into a huge column of smoke. The crew plugged along constructing fire line to be burned off as the main fire approached. At this point we heard our division is getting some of the most active fire of the Wallow. Then due to high winds we retreated from our spike camp several miles down the indirect line. Taking all our overnight gear with us since helicopters couldn't fly. An extra 45-60 pounds on top of our saws/tools and line gear packs. I got a great picture of Josh looking like a Sherpa with all his gear on. During the hike I heard humming of the song from the Scottish band The Proclaimers. "If I could walk five thousand miles..." Finally on the second to last day we saw fire. Our attempt to stop the beast failed and sent us running. We waited out the fire in a smokey safety zone. Then hot footed it to clean air where we racked our brains for the words to the Beatles song "Yesterday". A weeks worth of work burned up. Leave plan B for next roll we have mandatory days off.
Whats a safety zone? Basically its like a snow day in elementary school. The fire picks up to the point where you can't work safely anymore so you wait it out.
Erin got her picture taken by the media and they liked it some much it got posted all over camp and the internet. Erin, you owe us all beer pay up.
R&R days in brief. Cat fishing with Burg on the Frisco. Waters a bit to low from the drought this year. Perfect weather for some swimming.
Stopping a large fire like this requires stepping back aways from the fires head. In this case several miles in front. We could barely see the fire off in the distance most of the time. Growing mid day into a huge column of smoke. The crew plugged along constructing fire line to be burned off as the main fire approached. At this point we heard our division is getting some of the most active fire of the Wallow. Then due to high winds we retreated from our spike camp several miles down the indirect line. Taking all our overnight gear with us since helicopters couldn't fly. An extra 45-60 pounds on top of our saws/tools and line gear packs. I got a great picture of Josh looking like a Sherpa with all his gear on. During the hike I heard humming of the song from the Scottish band The Proclaimers. "If I could walk five thousand miles..." Finally on the second to last day we saw fire. Our attempt to stop the beast failed and sent us running. We waited out the fire in a smokey safety zone. Then hot footed it to clean air where we racked our brains for the words to the Beatles song "Yesterday". A weeks worth of work burned up. Leave plan B for next roll we have mandatory days off.
Whats a safety zone? Basically its like a snow day in elementary school. The fire picks up to the point where you can't work safely anymore so you wait it out.
Erin got her picture taken by the media and they liked it some much it got posted all over camp and the internet. Erin, you owe us all beer pay up.
R&R days in brief. Cat fishing with Burg on the Frisco. Waters a bit to low from the drought this year. Perfect weather for some swimming.
Notes from Horseshoe 2 Fire
Best quote from this roll which actually originated on the crew from some engine guy last season. "Water.. Fire hates it."
Welcome to the Chiricahua mountains home to lots of special birds that people seem to be very fond of. Big water show with lots of type 1, big, helicopters. Very active fire of the kind that does not want to be stopped. Even when every bit of man power, machine power and millions of dollars is thrown at it.
One particularly active fire day we worked well into the night holding some hot windy fire that spotted over the fire line. It was not pleasant and I was having a bad day to begin with. One of my fellow sawyers asked how I was doing and I'm now quoted as saying "How do you think I'm doing.. I'm in the depths of hell!". It wasn't really all that bad. If you watch the video I posted see if you can pick out which clip is from that night. Hint: it was extremely windy.
I'm not up with the news reports but I figure the fire might have been started by drug runners. Near the border with Mexico fires get started by dehydrated immigrants as a form of distress call. Sometimes rival drug running gangs will burn the others territory to gain the upper hand in smuggling efforts. Other times fires are set as distraction to border police while people pass into the US. A campfire could have started it or just about anything else.
Welcome to the Chiricahua mountains home to lots of special birds that people seem to be very fond of. Big water show with lots of type 1, big, helicopters. Very active fire of the kind that does not want to be stopped. Even when every bit of man power, machine power and millions of dollars is thrown at it.
One particularly active fire day we worked well into the night holding some hot windy fire that spotted over the fire line. It was not pleasant and I was having a bad day to begin with. One of my fellow sawyers asked how I was doing and I'm now quoted as saying "How do you think I'm doing.. I'm in the depths of hell!". It wasn't really all that bad. If you watch the video I posted see if you can pick out which clip is from that night. Hint: it was extremely windy.
I'm not up with the news reports but I figure the fire might have been started by drug runners. Near the border with Mexico fires get started by dehydrated immigrants as a form of distress call. Sometimes rival drug running gangs will burn the others territory to gain the upper hand in smuggling efforts. Other times fires are set as distraction to border police while people pass into the US. A campfire could have started it or just about anything else.
Back online!
The internet at Negrito Fire base is back up and running. Its nice to be a part of the inter-web again. Finally got pictures from the Horseshoe 2 Fire up. That fire is still burning last I heard. Also got a video put together. Enjoy!
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