strikeeagle801 Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 (edited) On Monday morning, a construction crew welding a bridge sparked a wildfire that has now burnt more than 22,000 acres in Central Washington just North-Northwest of Ellensbug (find the junction of I-90, I-82 and Highway 97 on a map and that's Ellensburg) and destroyed almost 70 homes, not to mention countless outbuildings. Luckily, only one firefighter has been hurt (minor burns to his face) and no one has perished yet. The Governor of Washington State has declared Kittitas County an emergency zone, so we have been able to get additional funding and help through that decleration. Although I wish it were under different circumstances, I have had the great privelage to meet several of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) firefighters and Washington Army National Guardsmen who are helping to fight the fire, and been able to take some great pictures of them "in action". I thought I'd share a few of them with you here. Aaron DNR UH-1H Huey (ex Army) Columbia Helicopters, Inc Boeing Model 234UT Chinook Washington Army National Guard CH-47D Chinook (notice the main fire behind the aircraft) Washington Army National Guard UH-60L Blackhawk Two more of the Chinook They are using three different sizes of the Bambi Buckets...the Chinooks carry 2,000 gallons of water, the Blackhawks 660, and the Hueys 240. The Blackhawks and Chinooks have been flying with a crew of 3-4 each flight, however, due to weight restrictions, the Huey can only fly with a pilot while deploying the Bambi Bucket. Edited August 17, 2012 by strikeeagle801 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Callahan Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 I'm about 100 miles to the west of the fires and have been tracking the reports. Been through Ellensburg a bajillion times, though usually heading for points east. Thanks for posting the nice photos. Hopefully they can keep the injuries down til this one is cleaned up. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Horrido Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 (edited) My friends' house was one of the few that survived. Fortunately, he thought far enough ahead to plan and design for his property to endure a fire like that. They like to raise various fowl (guineas, peafowl, golden pheasants, and all sorts of chickens), so when it was obvious the fire was coming, they grabbed the dog, cat, loosed all the birds to fend for themselves, and headed down a side access road because the main highway was burning on both sides and they couldn't use it. All of their structures and yard survived, and all the birds made it back to roost. Their view, however, is mostly of a charcoal briquette landscape. It's going to be interesting tracking the ecological impact. What's left of the remaining native soils are VERY delicate. I'm not sure how much native vs. invasive vegetation was in the area, but usually after a fire, the native plants, lichens, etc., are literally toast and it takes a LOT of work and expense to not be over-run by the invasive species. Usually, it's just game-over. Here's an image of the tail-end of the burn: http://media.kpic.com/images/120815_DNR_taylor_bridge_FS.jpg Aaron, if those are your pics, you may wish to investigate a career in photography! Edited August 17, 2012 by Horrido Quote Link to post Share on other sites
strikeeagle801 Posted August 17, 2012 Author Share Posted August 17, 2012 (edited) Thank's Horrido. They are my pics, and I'm thinking about it! I'm not as good as my buddies Jake Melampy or Ken Middleton or anything, but some day... Aaron Edited August 17, 2012 by strikeeagle801 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nerdling Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 That Columbia Chinook was down here about a month ago fighting the Miller Homestead Fire. Lots of fires here in Oregon this year. Luckily no homes have been lost as of yet. But plenty of animals haven't made it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
strikeeagle801 Posted August 18, 2012 Author Share Posted August 18, 2012 There have been some lost here too. Luckily, the Kittitas County Fairgrounds was opened so that people could bring their animals in. At the last count that I heared they had over 70 head of horses, numerous cattle, goats, etc. The community has really rallied together...They had several truckloads of hay donated by the local hay companies (the Kittitas Valley is actually the largest hay exporter in the world) and so much animal food that they have actually had to turn away donations. The fire has burned over 26,000 acres so far, and they had some spot fires pop up today. They are really worried about it heading North into the Wenatchee National Forrest. There are large swaths of the forrest that have been killed by bugs and are tinder-dry. If they go up, we could be in some major trouble. Aaron Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RotorheadTX Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 (edited) GREAT photos! Thank you kindly for sharing them!! (That UH-60L is so clean, and the paint so uniform, it's almost disturbing...) Edited August 18, 2012 by RotorheadTX Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aaronw Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 Interesting that the ANG aircraft is unmarked, they usually paint them with bright water based paint (soap & water removal) to make them more visible and easier to identify. Here is a Blackhawk I caught on the Wye fire in Northern California earlier this week. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
strikeeagle801 Posted August 18, 2012 Author Share Posted August 18, 2012 They marked the Chinook up with chalk today...I'll probably post some pics of it soon. But yeah, they need to do something more visible than that too. I might suggest paint to the LT tomorrow. We've gotten to be pretty good friends over the last week. Aaron Quote Link to post Share on other sites
strikeeagle801 Posted August 18, 2012 Author Share Posted August 18, 2012 I went around to some local stores today and got donations of paint and supplies, so the helos will be painted today. I also have recieved special permission to go out to the line today, so I'll be getting some "action shots" today as well. Aaron Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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