Fire News
 

So there is something burning up north between golden valley and spanish springs. hungry valley it's called I guess.

My parents called me and they have a fire up in Winnemucca near their house and they were told to get ready to evacuate!:( I guess my mom can see flames up the road less then a mile.

here's a pic from my house:

I just drove across the entire state yesterday and my conclusion is that the entirety of this state is going to burn ot the ground. The fire in Winnemucca is pretty big, there was another one just east of elko that was huge and burning right next to the freeway, topaz lake is on fire, plus all the other countless fires that Liz and I saw... It was crazy and the fire resources are just stretched too thin

It looked like a few years ago when there was little fires everywhere around Reno, it looked like hell on earth.

Here's pic my dad took from the top of his street:

Long story...cliffs at bottom :D

I went to take pictures and found it would be a big challenge, I was basically shooting STRAIGHT into the sun. I took a few pictures of the 2 helicopters working the fire, but wasn't having much luck. I decided to just shoot the fire/plume itself.

I was driving to find a different location and noticed a fuel or water truck and a NDF van in a big field off the road. I did not realize that it was the support team for N545DF, a Huey.

I was about to leave when I heard on the scanner that he was going to get fuel, so I decided to see if he would fly by me. Well, he didn't only do that, he LANDED where the truck and van were, so then I put 2 + 2 together and realized what was happening. I started walking around about 10 yards away. I noticed one of the firefighters coming towards me, so I asked if I could keep taking pictures. He said yea and was really friendly and talked to me while they started fueling the Huey for the trip back to Minden, their base. He had to do something, so I started taking pictures again.

A few minutes later, the pilot came up and introduced himself as Mick and said I could come up close and see the helicopter even better. While we walked back to the helicopter, we talked and he told me this particular Huey was used in Vietnam. So I did, then he surprised me and made my day when he offered me the chance to sit in the back of the Huey, of course I jumped at the chance(I didn't have my 24-70L with me because I wasn't expecting this, so no interior shots :().

He told me more about the helicopter, and said the bucket they use can hold 250G of water. I jumped out, then he REALLY amazed me, and told me I could sit in the PILOT's seat if I wanted...HELL YEA!! I jumped in and was amazed how well you could see all around and how cool it was to see actual instruments, not just 2 or 3 screens. He told me that it was like flying a station wagon, but he loved it and it is a workhorse.

The firefighter fueling the helicopter came over and told him he was ready to go. He also had to pick up some of the other crew near the fire line. So I jumped out and thanked him, he offered me a tour of their base down in Minden when they get a chance. I am definitely going to! He zipped his flight suit back up and got in. I followed to of the crew members to a safe distance and watched in shock as he turned the helicopter on and let it warm up, then took of into the sunset.

*CLIFFS*: Was having trouble taking pictures of a brush fire, noticed a fuel or water truck and a van in a field, pulled over, started taking pics, just about left, but had a firefighting helicopter land about 20yards away in said field to get gas from said truck. Meet the crew,pilot and got to go inside the Huey.

Landing:

http://machimages.com/temp/POTN/070707/HELO_LAND.jpg

http://machimages.com/temp/POTN/070707/HELO_LAND2.jpg

Getting fuel and resting:

http://machimages.com/temp/POTN/070707/HELO_REST.jpg

Briefing and removing the bucket:

http://machimages.com/temp/POTN/070707/TALK.jpg

http://machimages.com/temp/POTN/070707/BUCKET_REM.jpg

Taking off to go pick up some crew members and head home for the night:

http://machimages.com/temp/POTN/070707/MICK_TO.jpg

http://machimages.com/temp/POTN/070707/MICK_TO2.jpg

The fire:

http://machimages.com/temp/POTN/070707/FIRE.jpg

Nice pics and story. :) Any more info on the fires?

i leave for a week and come back to this... hope your parents place does ok tyson.

sweet story about the huey man.

That one should be out, burned about 504 acres and didn't burn any homes :)

That's really good to hear. :)

There's a ton of fires right now...which was to be expected. :(

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...s_N.htm?csp=34

Seems they're saying the fires were all caused by lightning.

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_6318372

Holy crap, it's really fucking smokey all of the sudden here in Stead. Which fire is it from?

Yeah it's pretty smokey in golden valley also. A helicopter just went pretty low overhead also.

Antelope Complex I believe.

Edit: Nevermind, KOLO agrees. Damn.

Yea, plus some smoke may be coming from the one down by Stagecoach. The Hungry Valley fire is 100% contained.

I don't think that you are far off with that statement including some parts of CA. I drove down to So-Cal last Friday and saw some lightning up in the hills and was wondering if it would spark something up, and sure enough when I drove back up yesterday on 395 I saw a bunch of fires near Independence, CA and some other areas. It was pretty crazy trucks, helicopters and planes everywhere...

I've been watching a storm develop this afternoon. Now it's here and the dogs are going crazy. Lightning all around and thunder shaking the hell out of the house. Time to move the wagon inside.

I really wish we could get some rain w/o the lightning... clean up the air quality w/o starting more damn fires.

Back OT. We have three to four fires working between Boca and Stampede. Sounds like they are hitting it with helicopters now.

I just had to drive 70-49-89-80 because I got caught just as they closed 395 for that fire by Bordertown. Did get some cool pictures though :D

Balls Canyon Fire:


http://machimages.com/temp/071007/20070710-IMG_0834.jpg

http://machimages.com/temp/071007/20070710-IMG_0871.jpg

Wow, nice pics. I'm sure glad I have A/C right now. It's super fucking smokey again!

lol... Balls Canyon.

http://cristal.inria.fr/~harley/ecdl3/pics/butthead.gif

"hehehe...balls"

I hope my weekend getaway house in Caughlin Ranch is okay.

According to Google Maps, the fire is about 9,000 feet from my house, but I'm not going to start worrying unless it jumps McCarran which doesn't sound likely right now.

You can park some stuff at my house if you need. I have space for a trailer along the west side of the house (paved and all). Keep us posted and good luck.

Yeah Dean if you want to store your stock suspension on my car...

Night shot from my driveway of the hills behind Caughlin Ranch. Long lens.

Video and it is on YouTube to make Scott happy.

That's Hot.

How is the fire? I'm looking across towards your neighborhood now Dean, and I can't really see the orange glow on the hill any more. Hopefully it's died down a little bit

That was from right at 10:05. Still looks pretty much the same now at 11:05 PM. Headed up the hill.

What caused this fire?

Dean with his swiss cheese downpipe. :P

Um... hillside burn?

I believe that is known as a Caughlin Burn. :)

Fire planes, big and little from out at Stead fly over every few minutes. I think 2 of each, and at least one of the big Chinook helicopters.

Wow, just got back from lunch and that fire looks aggressive! The smoke is starting to get real black now too.

From the roof of Nissan of Reno...

Its the Hawken Fire at Caughlin Ranch.

Yeah, there was some awfully dark smoke coming up right at noon. I'm thinking some structures are gone, whch probably means homes. :(

No homes lost thus far according to the media. It is probably just into the thicker fuels.

Its probably just a pile of used race tires.

At least the wind is blowing against it now. at least at 2:30 it was.

That shit looks REAL bad now from out my way. I've got bits of ash falling all the way out here on Vista. Can't even see the west end of town.

Well, the wind shifted and now my house is getting smoked out. Which is doing wonders for my asthma and chest cold. :mad: I'm going to have to go to the f-ing hospital for an oxygen mask if this gets worse. I can't even lay down in bed or my lung fill up with fluid. Yeah fucking smoke, I can't wait to sleep leaning against the wall tonight. :roll:

That sucks. Can you breathe through a damp cloth or something?

Double dosage of Albuterol seems to help... and the wind is shifting again, so it's getting better. Plus my air conditioner does a pretty good job of filtering it out as long as all the windows are shut (take that Dean's swamp cooler!).

At this point it's really too late since my asthma has been set off by my cold, and worsened by the smoke... the fluid's already in there... a mask won't help me cough it up to breath easier.

I suck.

I hope you are using at least a MERV 8(NaturalAire Standard) or better yet MERV 12 (NaturalAire Elite) filter on your AC unit, otherwise, it is just circulating the smoke particles for you. If you only have those blue/white flat fiber glass filters, go get a good one immediately. Unfortunately, K&N doesn't make them. :)

I use the former on my furnace that I run part time to move air around and use CoolPad Plus pads in my cooler which don't have a MERV rating, but allegedly blocks 89% of pollen, dust and airborne particles. I can smell the smoke, but it is quite subdued compared to the outside.

If you have a well sealed home and a good AC filter, you shouldn't smell much of anything inside, but most homes leak like a sieve. In that case, the positive pressure of the evaporative cooler may well be better as almost all the air in the house has been filtered by the pads.

The smoke looks bad from up here!

You need a CAI for your house

The kids and I watched the choppers picking up water from the Truckee and a little pond in Caughlin yesterday evening. Pretty impressive coming in that fast with crosswinds, powerlines, houses, trees, and steep hillsides (not to mention civilian gapers nearby).

N0T W1TH0UT a TUN3 !!!!11!!!1!