Active Fire...

It has been a very busy wildfire day here in the high desert. First I heard a fire call on my scanner. As I listened, I learned the fire was in our area. I looked out and could see the smoke growing a couple of miles away. When I heard more on the scanner I realized it was very near the home of a co-worker of Tramp 1. I called him at work and he called her -she was at lunch - and left her a message. Turned out to be very close to her house, having started from an illegal burn near the property line by a neighbor. The response by the area fire fighters was impressive and they saved all structures.

After that incident, I quit listening to the scanner. When Tramp 1 got home from work he told me there was a fast growing fire south of a town to the west. We headed to the airport and the Redmond Air Tanker base to watch the action. Planes were taking off and returning after just a 15 minute flight time with a 10 - 15 minute turnaround after refilling with the fire fighting retardant. There were three tankers and two helicopters working on the fire tonight from the airbase.

This DC - 7 owned by Butler Aviation was just taking off as we arrived.

This Chinook flew over our house as we were heading to town. It came in to fuel up.

This Aero Union Orion number 20 was flying, too. A really beautiful plane to watch.

This is number 45, a Lockheed out of Montana, also helping out. The smoke plume from the fire is visble past the tail of the plane.

A helicopter that has a dangling hose to pick up water from area lakes came in to fuel and head out before dark.

The final run of the night visible against the smoke filled sky as darkness falls.

Living here in the high desert has trade offs - beautiful views, wonderful recreation and ever changing weather. It can be very challenging and learning to live with the threat of fire is a major concern. A couple weeks ago lightning started a fire down the road from us and we are the last house on a dead end road - fire could easily block us in. Last year a fire, also caused by lightning, started one hill over from us. These occurrences make us think about being ready to leave quickly if necessary. I need to pack a couple of emergency bags to grab should we ever need to evacuate. Tonight I asked Tramp 1 which vehicle I should take if I had to leave when he isn't home. He just kind of stared at me... I could tell he was thinking about his 1956 Chevy... His baby that he has had longer than me - and I have been around quite awhile... I told him I would take the big truck and camper - he reluctantly agreed! Then we took one last look out into the darkness where we could see the sky glowing from the growing fire and could see the dancing flames with our binoculars. We hope and pray that everyone is safe - those living near and those working so hard to fight the fire...