Fire Season
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Well, fire season if here. It came a bit early this year since things have
been so dry. We were driving home and saw this one and since it was right up
the street from the house we drove up to see. This fire was named the
Alabama fire. I'm not sure why.
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It climbed this ridge in about 10 minutes time. I want to tell you it
moves fast. The contained this fire just to this ridge so it was a very
small fire. I expect before the season is over this whole side of the
mountains may burn.
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One of the choppers fighting this fire ended up landing
right behind the house. This is taken from our back yard. He landed in the
development where the hadn't built any homes yet. |
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Here is s shot of the chopper after the mechanic had checked it out. He is lifting
off. Notice the red collapsible bucket hanging. This is what they use to drop
water on the fire. This one is a medium size bucket and it holds 300 gallons.
It hardly looks like it could do anything. The chopper has magnets about the
size of my fist located in the transmission and the engine. If a metal chip if
circulating in the oil it shorts out the magnet and turns a light on warning
the pilot who then needs to land the chopper.
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This entourage showed up about 30 minutes or so after the
chopper landed. It seems where ever the chopper goes this entourage
follows. The truck to the right is sleeping quarters. Then the other
trucks include a tanker to fill the gas tank and a mechanics truck and
trailer. The chopper holds 200 gallons of fuel and that can keep him
flying for 2 hours. |
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Here is a picture from our yard showing the smoke. |
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