The Black Butte-II fire in pictures (PIC HEAVY)

[DemoTex]

Today was day five of the Black Butte-II fire in central Oregon. Fortunately, things seem to be winding down. I still have not heard a C&C call .. controlled & contained. These photos came from the USFS website:


July 6 at 3:48 AM


July 6


July 7


July 7


As seen from the Crooked River Ranch


Fire rigs on the FR-11 road


Firefighters fell a large snag


Fire crew on the fireline


Firefighters mopping up

http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/centraloregon/fires/

My thanks to EarlG for allowing my dispatches in the GD forum!

[MADem]

1. K/R!!! Love your posts! Great pics! nt

[Ohio Joe]

2. Firefighters fell a large snag

I can't really make out what they are doing and I am not familiar with the terminology, can you explain... easily :D to me

Cool stuff though, thanks for posting these :thumbsup:

[DemoTex]

4. Look for the firefighters in the trees .. with the chain saws.

A "snag" is a dead tree. In this case, a recently dead tree probably still burning. Takes a special kind of person to do that.

I love my firefighters. My ass depends on them .. literally. The lookout staffer at Black Butte was rescued by USFS firefighters at about 2 am on Monday morning (see first pic taken at 3:48 am). The firefighters hiked up the other side (non-fire side) of the butte to the tower and hiked the lookout back down to safety. I had a long talk with my Engine 34 guys today about how we might do an extraction if I ever get trapped up here on my lookout by fire.

[Ohio Joe]

8. OK, makes sense now

Firefighter really are the best, it takes a special person to do that work.

Be Safe!

[Tansy_Gold]

3. Just to let you know

Your work and your pix are appreciated!



TG

[KoKo]

5. Thanks for the updates, Mac....

This is all fascinating...

[Lone_Star_Dem]

6. Beautiful in a terrifying way.

Having family that lives in a National Forest area, and who were evacuated last year due to forest fires, I can say. These things scare the hell out of me.

[DemoTex]

9. I truly hope that I don't have another "big" fire pics to post.

And Black Butte-II ain't that big in the big scheme of things (compared to, say, the Biscuit Fire in SW Oregon in 2002 - a half million acres!). But I know better than to harbor such hope, much less voice it.

[cboy4]

7. The fires are so terrifying at night.

The orange glow is so scary, even though you know the fire "sleeps" overnight.

[DemoTex]

14. Yes, generally speaking. Temps down, RH up.

But in the Pacific Northwest, fires do not sleep on an east wind. East winds are bad. But that is not the case tonight.

Tomorrow will be good. Sunday bad. High LAL's (lightning) and Haines' indices.

[uppityperson]

10. I recently read Fire on the Mountain, had to stop and look at publication date

since it seemed I was reading the one I'd read as a child back in the 60's. Same situation, different place.

People who fight wild fires have my utmost respect and admiration.

[DemoTex]

12. August 5, 1949 .. Mann Gulch

We are coming up on the 60th anniversary of the Mann Gulch disaster. On August 5 the flag over my lookout will be at half-staff. I promise you that.

[uppityperson]

13. That is the one. Reading the new book (2000) and suddenly had to check

because it sounded so familiar. Finding out it was another similar incident hurt. Aw fuck, they did it again?

[hootinholler]

24. Had to go look it up.

It's here.

Do you have a fire cellar? Or some other device, hopefully better than the foil tent.

-Hoot

[Barrymores Ghost]

26. I just finished "Young Men & Fire" a couple of months ago...

...brought back memories of the '83 season and a close call my crew (I was second pulaski) and I had in a steep canyon near Grass Valley. We had to run full-tilt down 70% slope to a rock wash at the bottom of a canyon and bury our faces. No busted ankles, and no shake-and-bakes needed, but it got pretty exciting for a couple of minutes.

[Suich]

11. K & R! n/t

[Historic NY]

15. Looks like its not a boring job after all.

[DemoTex]

16. HA! Under-statement of the 2009 fire season.

And I thought I'd finish my novel up here.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. Stay safe

[DemoTex]

19. I was hoping you would chime in!

:hi:

[LWolf]

18. Thanks for the update.

:thumbsup:

[Blue_Tires]

20. really dumb question:

how do you get a water supply to fight fires way out in the forest? i know there are some aircraft that drop water, but what exactly do firefighters on the ground do?

[cboy4]

21. I'll let the expert answer more specifically, but having seen a lot of

fires, I can tell you water is tanked in via water tenders.

Often, the tenders are much bigger than this USFS tender.



They often dump the water into makeshift pools, and use generators to pump the water out to the water supplies, engines, hose lines, etc.

[Born_A_Truman]

22. Wildlandfire hotlist covering it

http://www.wildlandfire.com/hotlist/showthread.php?t=9342
Great website where wildlandfire firefighters hang out.

http://www.inciweb.org/incident/1720/
InciWeb has info on it now too.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

23. thank you so much for allowing us to be a part of your journey...

truly I am awed and amazed. Also very thankful and grateful for what you guys do.

[Barrymores Ghost]

25. Are those the Prineville Hot-Shotters or another crew? n/t

[SidDithers]

27. Great pics, Mac...

keep 'em coming, and stay safe :hi:

Sid

[Liberal_in_LA]

28. wow