Fire

[Carpenter]

     Our beloved Niobrara River valley is on fire. 

     Thousands of acres have burned so far.  The last I heard was 35,000 but that was two days ago and there are at least two new fires since then.  They have not got the original one stopped yet.  At least 3 homes have been burned.  So far nobody seriously injured.  Although two firefighters were hospitalized, one with broken ribs and the other from minor injuries of some sort.  These guys are getting tired.  They've been fighting the fires for 4 days now with very little rest.  If you are religious in nature please pray for them. 
     The original fire started Friday from a lightning strike south of the river close to Norden NE.  Evidently it jumped the river to the north and since has jumped the river a few more times.  I didn't think that was possible.  I've never measured the river but I would estimate it averages 200 yards wide.  Of course it varies in spots and there are some canyons especially up by Norden, at any rate it did it.  Just for perspective Norden is approximately 25 miles north west of my house.
     Well, Saturday night another fire was started by lightning 13 miles north of my house.  We live about 5 miles south of the river.  That fire has steadily worked it's way south but is still on the north side of the river.  Saturday late afternoon a lightning storm came up.  There was just a little rain in it but right now this area is so dry that didn't amount to much and the bolts sure were striking the ground hard.  I think some of the strange storm activity has been due to the heat of the fire and the smoke.  At any rate, that is fire number two.  From what I heard at the convenience store they expected the two fires to meet, but they never did.  I don't think they will, unless something goes terribly wrong they are still miles apart.
     On my way home from work today, of course I could see the smoke from the first two fires, but I saw another huge cloud of smoke further East.  It looked fairly new so I drove down to take a look and the fire and police department were right on my tail lights going.  I don't know what could have started that one but it is also on the north side of the river. 
     We've got a very strong south wind today.  So, I'm sure it won't cross the river, but there sure is a lot of timber and grass land burning up.  And, it's 108 degrees here today.

[Warbird]

I'm sorry to hear of this.  We have had some extremely bad fire years here in Alaska but what you guys are going through now is unprecedented. 

[beenthere]

Calling them the Longhorn Complex and Fairfield Creek fires on the USFS map.

http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/index.php

Will pray for you and the firefighters. They have a tough row to hoe especially in this heat.

[Carpenter]

     Yes, I was talking about the Fairfield creek fire that started by Norden.  I was unaware of the Longhorn Complex fire.  Maybe those are the two fires that my neighbor in the convenience store was talking about possibly converging.  The first fire north west of me that started Saturday the locals are calling the Wentworth fire, evidently it hasn't made the National map yet, hopefully it won't.  This morning I didn't smell any smoke and on the radio they said that they had that one out.  But, evidently it flared up again because it sure was going strong again when I got home.
      I have no Idea what they'll call the new one that started today.   

[thecfarm]

What a mess. that is too bad.

[sandhills]

Hope you make it through these ok, if your country looks anything like ours fire is  a really bad thing, I'm nervous just checking the cows with anything that doesn't run on 4 legs.  Can't wait for harvest, that should be interesting (not that it's gonna be much of one).

[Woodchuck53]

I hope you guys are going to be okay up there.

[Bobus2003]

They called for our Engines While we were On the Myrtle Fire here in the Hills.. Now were released off that fire there is talk of sending us down either to the Longhorn complex, Ash Creek (SW of Chadron)or to the Fairfield Creek Complex.. Though we've been getting lots of lightning here in the hills on a daily basis with 20-30 new starts a day.. Keepin Folks busy.. VFD's are constantly running.. I hope to go somewhere and play in fire..

[Chris Burchfield]

"I hope to go somewhere and play in fire.."  This changes as you get older.  You figure out, you make the same money without turning a wheel.  Compared to your regular hourly wage while someone or a family experiences the one of the most tragic events in their lives.

[sandhills]

How's it going up there Jeff?  I here a thing or two on the radio every once in a while and this morning it was starting to sound pretty positive as far as containment goes, hope all is well.

[Carpenter]

     Last I heard they've got the Fairfield creek fire contained and re-opened highway 12 west of Springview.  As I mentioned before there were two other fires.  They haven't gotten nearly as big as the Fairfield creek one.  The Hall fire was contained.  But, the Wentworth fire is still going pretty strong.  They thought they had it under control yesterday morning but late morning the wind changed direction and it jumped containment again.  It still has not jumped the river but is very close to it.  They had some back fires going today and i counted 4 helicopters dumping water on the fire.  They are at least slowing the fire.  Several have been evacuated, reports are spotty but I don't think any houses have been burned in the Wentworth fire so far.  I heard they've been using a fire retardent "paint" that they have been dropping on the houses from the helicopters.  From what I saw today the fire looked more under control than it did last night.  But, it's pretty sprawled out now and you can see a lot of hotspots and still a lot of smoke.  Speaking of smoke, today I was working in the middle of the county, so a good 20 miles from here and the smoke was still thick in the air down there. 
     All of the local fire departments are volunteer and they've been working pretty well around the clock.  They've also gotten help from any of the surrounding fire departments as well as the National Guard, the Forest Service as well as out of state help.  I passed a fire truck on the highway today with Colorado plates on it.  It's really a pretty big effort.  It's neat to see these rural communities pull together like this.  All of the local firehalls have been filled with cases of gaterade and other drinks donated by the towns people.  Somebody has offered to donate 4 semi loads of hay to the ranchers who have lost grazing land.  Of course everybody is helping out wherever and whenever possible.  We'll get this thing wupped, you bet!

[Patty]

Happy Birthday Carpenter. I hope you stay out of harms way.  ;)

[Carpenter]

Thank you Patty.

[Carpenter]

     Well, they got it put out!  We got a little rain Friday night that helped tame the fire.  Their fire lines held this time!  They spent the rest of the day mopping up hotspots.  Last night the Hotshots left town.  Good job men.
     By the way, one of our Forestry forum members, Chubz, has been out fighting this fire from the beginning.  He doesn't write in much and he's probably home sleeping right now.  Thanks guys.

[sandhills]

Great news Jeff, hope you folks can all get some rest now.

[Warbird]

http://www.newsminer.com/view/full_story/19907090/article-Another-smoky-day-may-be-in-store-for-Fairbanks

:-\ :(

[WmFritz]

     Sobering photographs :(

[Warbird]

Yup.  The really crappy part is that even though it's only 25 miles out of town (much closer to the town of North Pole), they opted not to fight it because it wasn't an immediate threat to any structures.  There are lots of politics involved with this, and with both the Fed and State governments wanting to control wood burning for the heating of homes here.