92 replies to this topic

[Peter]

Snowmaking is water!

[JustJeepIt]

Very nice seeing those new Dopp upper terminals at Valley of too much Sun!

[Limelight]

I've spent the last 5 days in Sun Valley getting our house ready for the fire. Our place is in Warm Springs, and they've spent the last two days lighting back fires to burn off all the fuel on the ridge opposite of Bald Mt. This fire is huge! Over 14,000 acres now, and growing. The Bald Mt ski area is still in danger, as well as my house and several other areas around Ketchum. As for Baldy, the snow making equipment really wont do much. They can't protect the lifts or any of the lodges. Plus the heavy timber would create a huge fire storm that has so far been impossible to stop.

Lots of people are very nervous about this one. The good news is, we've got a great team of firefighters protecting us and our property.

I've taken a ton of video, just not sure how to post it.....

[JustJeepIt]

Stay safe up there and keep us posted when you can

[Peter]

I think the best way to show video is to put it on YouTube and link to it. I didn't realize you had a house there! Good luck. I read that this is now the number 1 priority fire for the US government. It seems like the team they brought in to take over from California is top notch. I was just there, and biked the Warm Springs trail through what is now fire. Do you know how much of the Fox Creek and Adam's Gulch drainages have burned? I hiked those trails too. It sounds like the backburning is working so far, so I am hoping for the best!

[SkiBachelor]

Does anyone know if the Evergreen 747 is helping with this fire? Since Boise's airport can accomidate this aircraft, I can't see why it wouldn't be used right now.

http://www.alaskajou...504/747fire.jpg
http://www.evergreenaviation.com/supertank..._pg/drop_05.jpg

[Peter]

I don't think so. It is not on the list of aircraft being used. Maybe it is too mountainous to get in low enough?

This post has been edited by Skier: 22 August 2007 - 08:49 PM

[Limelight]

Its not. Not sure why because I'd LOVE to see it, but its not......

Current count we have,

4 Heavy lift helicopters
1 Medium lift helicopter
2 spot planes
A few (not sure of the number) P-3 fire bombers
27 engines
590 firefighters
30+ National Guardsmen (for traffic control in restricted areas)

[Peter]

As of the 9:00pm press release it is up to 744 firefighters. That is impressive.

[Limelight]

Skier, on Aug 22 2007, 08:57 PM, said:

Do you know how much of the Fox Creek and Adam's Gulch drainages have burned? I hiked those trails too.

From what I've seen and heard, a most of that area is on fire. Along with Red Warrior Creek, and the Baker/Nortan Lakes area. This just plain sucks.............

[Limelight]

Skier, on Aug 22 2007, 09:50 PM, said:

As of the 9:00pm press release it is up to 744 firefighters. That is impressive.

Just saw that. Damn...... The cool thing is that the local community is calling and treating these firefighters like heros! They've had to tell us to stop donating food to them, because they can't keep anymore. Glad to hear of such things.

[SkiBachelor]

I found an article and even though the aircraft has been approved by the FAA and has a 'signed' fire fighting contract with the USFS, it appears the U.S.F.S. feels that the plane wouldn't be able to work with its strategy of fighting this fire. While it can lay down a full mile of retardant or water at once or in segments, the USFS believes its ground crews wouldn't be able to get to these covered areas quick enough.

While it does cost $20,000 and hour to operate, it packs a punch holding 24,000 gallons, 8 times as much as the current bomber planes being used right now which cost $5000 an hour. However, it appears that this 747 has been converted back to a cargo plane and is over in the Middle East right now. It sounds like the USFS is kind of like FEMA.

http://www.boiseweek...id=oid%3A270851

Personally, I think the two NASA 747s which fly the space shuttle back to Florida after it lands in Houston should be converted to this fire fighthing setup. These planes are hardly used these days, although I guess they have been reinforced quite a bit inside to handle the weight of the shuttle. The US government also has four other 747s that are hardly used anymore that can be modified to this setup.

[Peter]

I wonder what will happen with them when the shuttles are discontinued in the next few years? Thanks for the info Cameron, it is really interesting.

[Limelight]

"While it can lay down a full mile of retardant or water at once"

Thats amazing! I would think that would provide a huge advantage for us right now, but I'm not a firefighter, and I don't work for the Forest Service, so what do I know.........

[Peter]

So are you in the voluntary evacuation area or in the Ketchum city limits with no order yet?

[SkiBachelor]

I think the USFS is so used to fighting forest fires their current way, they don't want to try anything new out. I understand that the 747 wouldn't be as affective in mountainous terrain, but the plane has been rated to fly as low as 800 ft off the ground. With today's computer technology and equipment, GPS positions could be pinpointed in flight path and a computer would automatically release the retardant at the desired locations and all the pilots would have to do is fly that suggested flight path. This idea seems very simple, yet complex to people who don't understand today's technology.

[Peter]

New numbers:
Total Personnel: 950
Size: 15,757 acres
Percent Contained: 9%

[Snoqualmie guy]

It would be awsome if they still used B-17's and B-25's! They used to.

[Compuboks]

Limelight, on Aug 22 2007, 07:51 PM, said:

As for Baldy, the snow making equipment really wont do much. They can't protect the lifts or any of the lodges. Plus the heavy timber would create a huge fire storm that has so far been impossible to stop.

Not entirely accurate. The system has been fully charged since Monday, and we've been experimenting with creating defense lines along Seattle ridge and Warm Springs face. We'll also be prepping Cozy and the rest of Greyhawk country in the next few days.

Our testing on Warm Springs face and Seattle ridge has been very encouraging. We think we can saturate enough grass to setup a fairly effective defense line behind Seattle Ridge lodge (combined with conventional firefighting techniques), and we are also experimenting with wetting down portions of lift 10 (Challenger), as well as 12 (Seattle Ridge).

We're already supplying water to the heavy helicopters working the Red Warrior Creek hot spots with water from our domestic water system via 6,000 gallon "pumpkins" that have been placed in the Broadway Saddle.

[Allan]

We have these things: http://www.martinmars.com/

SkiBachelor, on Aug 22 2007, 10:07 PM, said:

I found an article and even though the aircraft has been approved by the FAA and has a 'signed' fire fighting contract with the USFS, it appears the U.S.F.S. feels that the plane wouldn't be able to work with its strategy of fighting this fire. While it can lay down a full mile of retardant or water at once or in segments, the USFS believes its ground crews wouldn't be able to get to these covered areas quick enough.

While it does cost $20,000 and hour to operate, it packs a punch holding 24,000 gallons, 8 times as much as the current bomber planes being used right now which cost $5000 an hour. However, it appears that this 747 has been converted back to a cargo plane and is over in the Middle East right now. It sounds like the USFS is kind of like FEMA.

http://www.boiseweek...id=oid%3A270851

Personally, I think the two NASA 747s which fly the space shuttle back to Florida after it lands in Houston should be converted to this fire fighthing setup. These planes are hardly used these days, although I guess they have been reinforced quite a bit inside to handle the weight of the shuttle. The US government also has four other 747s that are hardly used anymore that can be modified to this setup.