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.