Saw line. The fire has been burning areas of unburned fuel inside the boundary of black. Today we worked on reinforcing the retardant line with a saw line. The goal is to remove heavy fuels with the chain saw. By keeping unburned areas it helps re-growth and controls erosion. Also in this case the fire could still spread up the ridge line to the top of the mountain then back down to the fish area (very small chance of that happening). One more thing, I got another Helicopter ride.

2851 acres. 70% of that is actually burned. Known in the fire world as a dirty burn. More of the same mop up. Got a Helicopter ride 1/2 way up the mountain. It was my first time in a helicopter. Also the Americorps Tahoe got a flat tire. Turns out if something breaks on a fire they fix it for you. Goes for ripped pants, tires, tools and anything else.

Waiting

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Helicopter rides!

Mop up. Now the long process of securing the edge of the fire begins. By this point we are all getting a little tired from the 16 hour days and long steep hiking. Our saving grace is the amazing catered dinners provided to us each night. We had steaks a few nights as well as tasty locally brewed root beer!

Controlled burn

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Controlled burn

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2nd Night

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2nd day view of the fire

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Fish habitat

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View of the fish habitat after it got burned over. The water got so hot it boiled off and cooked the fish.

Smoke column

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Fire(1) vs. Northern CO(0). Well so much for the fish. 2000+ acres burned over night. The Pilot fire transitioned to a type 3 incident. Two hotshot crews, two hand crews, two helicopters, two small planes and two large planes arrive early in the day. One large home is now in danger as well as the holding pond for the remaining fish. Most of the fish habitat is nuked. Our goal for the day is to save what habitat is left by digging 30+ chains of line with Northern UT. Then set a backfire to build a black (burned) barrier. It worked. The burn was risky due to the squirrelly winds we have had. If the wind shifted during the burn it would have been hard to get away fast enough in the light flashy fuels.

helidrop

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Look what my camera and photoshop can do!

More running away

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The branch scratches on the side of the Tahoe are called Colorado pin strips.

Run away!

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Night view

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When we woke up to evacuate I got this shot of the advancing fire.

suppressant drop

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Since the streambed had to be clear of retardant the ridgeline was the only option for seed drops.

Tree no longer torching

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Helitech dropped a bucket on the torching tree. The propeller blades kicked up hot embers and started spot fires that popped up shortly after.

tree torch

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I got to watch as this tree went up. It eventally started spot fires all over.

Spot fires

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We eat lunch in the shade where the flames are burning in this picture. Minutes later the whole tree went up.

spot fires

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The spot fires are out of our control at this point. You can see part of the line we dug in the lower left hand corner.

Smoke blocking the sun

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On our way out the smoke made it look like late afternoon.

Pilot Fire. Wendover UT is home to the most genetically pure strain of Cutthroat trout in the west coast US. Our goal is to save the streambed that houses the fish habitat. Restrictions on fire retardant and back burns are in place due to the fish. Northern CO is the Initial attack crew on the fire that is 60 acres and growing. Air support and Utah County crew are in route.

It is a Red Flag day. That means that the temps, relative humidity and winds will reach levels that can create volatile fire conditions. We hit that point around 2pm, 90 deg, 12 RH and 20+mph wind.

The morning we spent digging line around the downhill section of the fire. Around 2pm the helicopter kicked up embers from a spot fire that then blow up below us. Simultaneously a spot fire picked up were we hiked in sending embers and smoke in behind us. We decided it was a good time to leave by following the fire line back. At this point the IC (Incident Commander) choose to team us up with UT county and heliteck to dig line up hill from the streambed. Shortly after a grass fire started below us. In fear of loosing an escape route the IC called everyone off the hill.

That night we set up camp approx 3 miles from the fire in the grass lands. At 11pm we evacuated our campsite because the fire was creeping within a mile of us.

Then at 3am my squad boss Chris came down with what turned out to be a kidney stone. It was decided that he should be helicoptered to Salt Lake city for diagnosis. Somehow I slept during the whole thing and helicopter landed only a few feet from me.

Pilot Fire - Wendover UT

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The morning we arrived on the fire almost no smoke was visible. The lower half the fire is in UT the upper half is in Nevada.

Equipment Rehab. Finished with the Magpie fire. While waiting for reassignment we rehabbed tool, trucks and feet. To over come the long day we played shuffleboard with floor squeegees and turtle wax cans. We left that night for Wendover UT and a 60-acre fire. Our accommodations included the peppermint hotel & casino in Nevada. (Wendover is on the boarder)

Casino?

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Last thing we expected was a night in a casino. Let alone three. I didn't do any gambling but we did find out how many pictures you can take before they kick you off the gaming floor.

Hiking. Spent 5 hours hiking today. More mop up. One of our crew members got pneumonia. A replacement will be flown in asap.

Sun set over spike site

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Awww purdy

Lunch on Magpie

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Spike Out. A decision was made to have us spike out (camp over night) on a mountain next to the fire to avoid the hike in and riding the ATV's (two atv's rolled over the first day). We continued to mop-up and dig line around some small spot fires. Spent about 4 hours of our 16hr day hiking.

Water drop (from the cotton wood)

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The pilot hit his mark this time and we got a little wet too.

water drop

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A huge cottonwood was stubbornly burning so we order a few bucket drops that ended up missing the target.

magpie

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Magpie

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View trom the fire with a dust storm in the background.

Magpie fire. 660 acres. Considered a Type 3 fire due to complexity and the number of firefighters involved. Our duties are to mop-up the edge of the fire in steep terrain. The high light of the day was getting an ATV ride up part of the mountain. Our hike was still extremely long.

Dispatched. A 20-person dispatch was put together today. Including 4 Americorps, USFS, Larimer County and a few other organizations together forming the Northern Colorado crew. Our destination is a KOA campground in Fillmore Utah.

Dispatch? On Tuesday 9 of us got put on to the national dispatch list. Getting dispatched means traveling to any part of the US for two weeks to be placed on one or more fires. Our group is considered a type 2 crew that is initial attack capable. The national list has only one other crew similar to ours. Long story short that means that in the next couple days or hours I'll be going somewhere. The rumors are northern California is likely.

As for this week I've been working on different cutting units. Continuing the enhancement of the all powerful Aspen...

Boulder Falls Fire. Thirty minutes into the start of a cutting project we got a fire call. A small .2 acre fire started from a lighting strike in Boulder Canyon. Boulder Canyon is known for its hundreds of rock climbing routes. When we arrived it seemed like 10 different volunteer departments had responded. The media was in full storm taking bunches of pictures as well as interview a few Americorps. 9 people had already climbed the steep route to the fire and had finished the fire line about the time we arrived. Our job was to hike water up the cliff for mop up and bone pile burning fuels. It took a good hour to get 200ft to the fire. A couple large boulders got dislodged sending us scrambling out of the way. One corps member Ross got his tool handle split in half like a toothpick. While on our way the county fire crew lost control of a burning log. Then it fell 200ft off a cliff onto the road bellow. It didn't land on any cars but started a few spot fires on its way down. After we finished on top of the hill 3 corps members and Julie from the forest service stayed the night with the fire to declare it out in the morning after the bone piles had burned. On the way down a rope had been put in to assist getting down the steepest section where the majority of the lose rocks were.

I didn't get any pictures my camera battery was dead. No one else had a camera either.

Barnard lake, CO

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Often during the week a small group of us will take a break from cutting to do trail work. Barnard Lake is often were we go.

Central City (Columbine campground)

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Aaron cutting down some little trees sentenced to death. Recently we have been spending most days thining the forests. The weather has been unseasonably wet. For some action you have to get dispatched out of state. Two small groups of Americorps have gone. One group to Utah for 14 days and two to Wyoming. I have yet to be on call when a dispatch got called. Also, in contradiction to the recent wetness this weekend 4 corps members went on a small fire here in CO.

Very Purdy

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More purdyness

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Purdy

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Mammoth Hot Springs

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Sadly the springs are not as active as they once were. A couple told me that last time they visited this view was covered in spring water. Global warming/drought? I'm sure they drove their 36ft RV to Yellowstone...

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone (Artists Point)

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Popular view. Often recreated in paintings. We made a point to hike the trail to get there rather than drive.

view of Grand Canyon of Yellow Stone form Mt Washburn

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Great hike up Mt Washburn. Good views aside from the UV haze. On top of the Mt. Washburn is one of the few remaining active fire watchout towers.

I had to take a picture of one...

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I think the buffalo are actually park service employees who dress up and pose for the tourists. Its got to get really hot in those suits.

Old Faithful

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Wait for it.... Wait for it... Wow!


Best part about Old Faithful is the soft serve ice cream stand just out of camera shot.

Wyoming rodeo

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It got dark real quick. So, all the pictures of bucking cattle are blurry. Note the cowboy hat in the forground (that makes it authentic).

Pictures will be updated when Flickr! gets back online. Some tech problem....

Cutting. Since we got back from break we've been working on cutting projects. These are areas of the forest that are high risk for fires and need to be thinned to keep the amount of fuels lower. This year we have 200 acres to complete. After we arrive we are briefed on the prescription, what is to be cut and how to pile it. For example, "All Aspen and Spruce are to be saved. Cut and pile everything else that is less then 10 inches in diameter. Leaving at least one tree every 30 ft radius. Piles are to be made at least 10ft high and expect to carry up to 100 yards." Then we pair off into groups of two. You switch cutting after you run the chain saw through a tank of gas. The person not cutting is "swamping", piling the debris. Lastly, all saws are to be rehabbed at the end of the day. Topped with gas, cleaned and sharpened.

Just incase you’re into saws I've grown fond of the Stihl 440, full skip chain.

Team Leader applications are due this Friday. I've chosen to apply so I can keep my options open for next year. That means a quick resume update, letters of recommendation and an essay. Last I heard 7 corps members are applying for the 2 wildfire TL positions, stiff competition. Team Leaders manage a group of 9 americorps members. Compensation is another $5,000 for college and $12,000 stipend or twice what I get paid.

As for Americorps being around next year... The house has funding for Americorps in its budget and congress will be putting the budget infront of Bush sometime in September (I think). Everything I've heard through the grape vine has been good news and Americorps is going to act as if they have full funding for next year.