Newfie....Good to hear from you....I am good, her indoors is travelling too---currently in Vernal, UT visiting one of her stores... Glad you are safe, will check out the FB pics---I post occasionally... Hopefully you get to go home to your lovely wife---who I need to meet one day----lets make a plan...
Things are slow to pick up this year south of the border----I think the USFS is being "fiscally conservative" right now and not filling all the resource orders to save money.
I am currently on the 5,000 acre ridge fire in Idaho----great part of the country, even though it does tax ones skills as it is all around 7,000 to 9,000 feet.....
For the rest of you who do not know what can be accomplished by helicopters...: The fire I am on is completely reliant on helicopters---tis the only way in or out. We have 11 hotshot and type 2 crews on the fire---220 people. We have to support their needs, (food, water, clothing, medical, toilet paper) along with all the operational needs--- chainsaws, gasoline, oil, water pumps, hoseline, connectors, let alone water on the fire, and bringing down EVERYTHING ss it is a wilderness area, therefore remove all trash etc.
We have 8 helicopters supporting this fire--- 2 cranes, a 205, a 212, a 407, a B3 Astar, a B2 Astar and an L4. This is from the daily sit report on the fire a few days ago---we have put more up there since:
Crews have been successful in putting almost 10 miles of hose on the east side of the fire to assist with hot spots and mopping up. Since the start of the fire on 7/17 up until yesterday (7/24), a half million gallons of water have been put on the fire, 70,000 pounds of cargo have lifted to and from the fire, and 350 people have been shuttled in and out of the fire area. Aerial resources will continue to be mission critical towards supporting the efforts of the fire fighters.
You can follow the fire here, they update it every few hours:
Inci Web Ridge Fire
Here are a couple pics I took yesterday, (and yes that is a nasty razor back ridge @8,400' and 25'C with fire burning all around----fun fun fun---tis where we get our adrenaline rush):
