High Park Fire

[zluster]

 

[YELLAHEEP]

How the heck do you even fight a fire on a mountain face like that???? Man, that stuff is just nasty.

I worked both the Hayman and Buffalo Creek fires years back and I gotta tell ya, it's so surreal to be driving on a road surrounded on both sides with flames both on the ground and leaping across tree tops..... tunnel of friggin' fire. Mountain fires move so damn fast with the wind.....

 

[old_man]

Yikes, yeah Grant does have a house and property up there....... given his busy racing schedules..... I wonder if he's even home.....

I called his cell and left a message a couple of days ago, but no response.

 

[DutchVDub]

Well, I'm on standby to run Wrecker/Recovery support for the 193rd MP Battalion. Waiting to see if I'm actually going or not. I'm hoping I do, I love these kinds of missions.

 

[puttzer]

Found this on Fox news,

One of the region's most potent aerial firefighting forces -- two Wyoming Air National Guard C-130s fitted to drop slurry -- sat on a runway in Cheyenne, 50 miles north of the Colorado fire. The reason: The Forest Service, by law, cannot call for military resources until it deems that its fleet is fully busy. It also takes 36 hours to mobilize the crews and planes, officials said.
"They just haven't thrown the switch yet because they feel like there are adequate resources available," said Mike Ferris of the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.


They need to pull the trigger, peoples lives are in jeopardy.:gonnablow

 

[DutchVDub]

One of our Army Aviation units is on standby, I'm guessing one of the black hawk units but might be the chinook wing. The 193rd MP Bat is also on standby as security/escort. At our shop there are 4 of us on standby with a HEMTT Wrecker and HMMWV Contact (tool) truck.

Just send us already!!!! We actually want to go, so quit being stupid and let us do our jobs. These state missions is the whole reason there is a National Guard.

 

[old_man]

Found this on Fox news,

One of the region's most potent aerial firefighting forces -- two Wyoming Air National Guard C-130s fitted to drop slurry -- sat on a runway in Cheyenne, 50 miles north of the Colorado fire. The reason: The Forest Service, by law, cannot call for military resources until it deems that its fleet is fully busy. It also takes 36 hours to mobilize the crews and planes, officials said.
"They just haven't thrown the switch yet because they feel like there are adequate resources available," said Mike Ferris of the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.


They need to pull the trigger, peoples lives are in jeopardy.:gonnablow

The problem is that Obama spent all the gas money.:dunno:

 

[afbond03]

Peterson has quiet a few C-130s sitting on their runway that are setup for firefighting duties as well and I think I read somewhere that they have never been used in state, very sad. This is what those capabilites should be used for. Won't even take care of ourselfs but good God ol mighty if Canada or Mexico was on fire they would send them to those countries in a second!

 

[planefixer]

The way my brother explained it (he was a Reservist C-130 crewchief at Peterson during the Hayman Fire) is Its all about the private aerial FF companies getting a shot at making their money first, then the military gets used if needed.Bunch of bullshit as far as I'm concerned.Why not worry about putting out the fire a little more quickly instead of who gets paid. :dunno:

 

[SolarBell]

Looks like Dutch is gonna be busy a while..

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/31182764/detail.html

The governor gave verbal approval hours after the fire started on Saturday for the disaster declaration. He also authorized the use of Colorado National Guard resources. Today, he formally signed an Executive Order for both actions.

 

[fallacist]

this is gonna be a bad season

 

[YELLAHEEP]

this is gonna be a bad season

Gonna be????

Already has been.

 

[DutchVDub]

I haven't heard anything yet. I'm still on standby.

 

[dannanw]

Springs fire has sent 6 guys. And without getting to technical sending the military is a big paper trail. I too think it's a messed up system...

 

[DrMoab]

Utah just put a statewide fire ban in place. Bad year indeed.

Good luck to my neighbors to the SE.

 

[fallacist]

Gonna be????

Already has been.

You're right. What I should have said is its only going to get worse.

On the news yesterday they said they weren't expecting full containment until fall...

 

[stockli]

Just got back home last night after being evaced on Sunday evening. The sky looked crazy up here and I.m amazed how good our firefighters are. They did a great job.

 

[Gonepostal]

I've faught wildland fires. Pray for all those firefighters out there now they are going need it. This is going to be an ugly summer.....maybe like 88 when we lost a good share of Yellowstone.

 

[fireLt.]

Our BLM FF's visited us at the station last night to brief us on local conditions. We are setting records for how dry the fuels are. It's just a waiting game at this point.

 

[old_man]

88+ square miles as of this morning.