On to Nevada

Well, we got cancelled twice yesterday but today finally got an order that stuck. Now we are headed to Winnemucca, Nevada for a severity detail. I'm not sure exactly whats in store for us but it'll be fun to do a little travel on the government's bill. By the time we get back the grass should be good and cured and we should be busy. We are spending the night in Pocatello, ID then finishing the drive tomorrow. The resource order was a little unclear but it sounds like the national office might be strategically pre-positioning us. A lot of the resources in the Southwest and the Great Basin went to California so they will probably use to fill in where needed. Could be pretty fun!

Recon Flight

We got dispatched to check out a smoke report on the Northern Cheyenne reservation today. I was on the flight load along with Matt and Shannon. I was hoping to IC the fire if it was small, but by the time we got close a couple of county engines had already gotten there and confirmed it was on private land. Dispatch had us continue our flight and do a recon of the Custer NF around Ft. Howes while making our way over to another smoke report by Knowlton. After about an hour and a half we stopped to refuel and none too soon for me. That was the longest flight that I've been on so far and my flight helmet was killing my head. It felt like a pair of vise grips squeezing my temples. After we landed I got the helmet a little better adjusted and the rest of the flight was more comfortable. We didn't end up finding the other smoke but at least I got to see some pretty country and get a couple of hours of overtime.

Canceled AGAIN!

Well, we got canceled again. Actually we got canceled twice this time. We had an order for Arizona and New Mexico and they both got canceled. We are now one of only a couple helicopters in the nation not in California or the Southwest. However, the crew did IA 3 small fires this week. I was on days off for two of them but at least we are getting some fires here and they are letting us get on them. My fire was the Griffin fire, a tiny 1\10th acre deal. The folks that flew had the fire lined by the time the rest of us got there so we just mopped it up. The top picture shows some of the helitack crew with some engine folks admiring our handy work. After we got the fire good and cleaned up the IC released most of the resources and we sat on the fire for several hours making sure it was secure. We left at about 2200h, just as the storms started rolling in. That gumbo soil is undriveable once it gets wet so you either have to get out quick or spend the night.

To Pheonix?

Well, we got word today that we'd be headed to Pheonix, AZ soon, probably tomorrow. It isn't absolutely certain yet since we don't have our resource order in hand, but its the surest thing we've gotten so far. We went to a National Preparedness Level 4 today, which means things are really starting to pick up nationally. Severity funding has probably come in for the Southwest and California and they are starting to preposition resources in those areas. So, if everything works out we'll be down in Arizona for the next couple weeks.

Another Cancelled Order

I had just gotten back from my run this morning when Conan, my boss, called and said we had a fire to go to in the Billings district. I've been in this business long enough to only believe I'll actually get on a fire when my paychecks in the bank, so I wasn't at all surprised that we were canceled as soon as I made it to the helibase. Well, at least there is the two hour call back rule, so any time you get called in on your days off you are guaranteed two hours of pay. I sharpened a couple of tools and went home. Its not much but its better than nothing.

Building Up Steam

The rest of the crew (I'm on days off) performed a recon flight over the Ft. Howes area to check if there were fires from the lightening storm last night. They got redirected mid-flight to initial attack (IA) a fire on the Northern Cheyenne reservation. So everyone got a fire and overtime. Except for those of us on days off. I could have followed in the second chase truck but those in charge decided it wasn't necessary to call me. Thats another $250 I didn't make. This on top of everything else is making me mad.

Fires in Nothern California

Today is one of my days off and I went down to the office to use the gym. I checked the Situation Report posted on the wall and was surprised to see Northern California picked up 18 new large uncontained fires overnight! Almost all of those fires are complexes, or a bunch of small fires that are grouped into a larger unit for organizational purposes. For example the SHU Lightning Complex is actually made up of 130 smaller fires, all lightning strikes. There is no reason why we shouldn't get out on these fires. I'm so ready to get out of here that every time my phone rings my heart jumps hoping its a fire call. I just hope our belly hook is fixed and doesn't hold us back.

Finally made it to Ft. Howes

Ft. Howes is an out-station of the Miles City Field Office located on the Custer National Forest 20 miles outside of Ashland, MT. The BLM has an agreement with the USFS to suppress fires on the Custer NF. Ft. Howes is also where the helitack program was located until last year when it moved to Miles City. Today I finally had a chance to get out of Miles City and see some new country. We flew the ship down there for another A-219 course. It was a real pretty flight over wooded hills and badlands. I saw plenty of deer and antelope but no elk. The crews down at the Fort did the hover hook-ups and long line training, then the electronic release on our belly hook broke so we had to fly back to the airbase. We can still fly the ship but can't do any external loads until it gets fixed. Morale is still an issue. No fires and no overtime are a bad combination. The ship has almost been here a month and has only flown 3 times. I sure hope we get on something soon. If I was on fires I could show you some more interesting photos, but unfortunately all I've got is another hover hook-up video.

Oh wait, nevermind

Yeah. They canceled us. Figures. The helicopter was just about to take off when they called and told us that they sent the Smokejumpers instead. We were having morale troubles that day and for the 20 minutes or so when we thought we had a fire everyone was happy. Then morale fell lower than ever. Somethings gotta give or this crew is in trouble.

Got dispatched to a fire

Got dispatched to a fire in the beartooth mountains south of billings!

Transporting external loads

Eastern Montana Helitack hosted two A-219 "Helicopter Transport of External Cargo" courses this past week to train and re-certify firefighters in Miles City and the surrounding outstations. The course is designed to teach firefighters how to safely hook up external loads to helicopters. The most common external loads are sling loads, in which cargo is loaded into nets then hooked to the helicopter, and bambi buckets, which are used to drop water or retardant on fires. Both of these types of loads are either attached to a steel or synthetic long line which in turn is attached to the cargo hook on the belly of the helicopter or attached directly to the cargo hook of the helicopter. To hook a load to a long line the helicopter lowers the remote hook at the end of the long line to the ground and the ground personnel attach the sling load to the hook. The other option is to perform a hover hook up, such as in the video, where the helicopter hovers directly over the load and the ground personnel attach the load directly to the cargo hook.

While the hover hook up might seem more dangerous in that the helicopter is much closer to the firefighter hooking up the load, in some ways it is safer. Hover hook ups allow the helicopter to hover within heights of one half of the rotor diameter, also called Hover in Ground Effect (HIGE). This creates a cushion of air underneath the helicopter that allows the helicopter to maintain a hover using less power. Additionally, if the helicopter were to lose power, it would only have to fall 5-10 feet before hitting the ground.

When a helicopter is hooking up a load to a long line it must hover at 50, 100 or sometimes 150 feet above the ground. This is a Hover Out of Ground Effect (HOGE) situation and requires considerably more power to maintain the hover. Additionally, if the helicopter were to lose power at that altitude it would have a difficult time performing an autorotation and land safely without power. I had hooked up long lines before but this was the first time I had performed a hover hook up. It was exhilarating. Standing still while the helicopter flies into a hover over you made my heart race and the rotor wash even from this small a helicopter was amazing. A very cool experience.

And the madness sets in...

Fire is generally a feast or famine profession and we are currently starving. I have now been on for a month and have only gotten on one fire. It has been raining almost every day now for the past two weeks and the grass is green as can be. This phenomenon is not limited to Eastern Montana either. If you check out the Situation Report put out by the National Interagency Fire Center, you'll see that there are hardly any fires going on anywhere in the country. Even the shot crews are sitting around without fires to go to. Which is little consolation for us. Even when fires do start to break out, every resource in the country is going to want to head that way and we'll have to fight for a chance to go.

Other tools used to predict where wildfires might occur are the Fire Danger Rating maps and the U.S. Drought Monitor maps, which both show the same dismal picture. While some potential exists in the Southwest, there ain't much going on. And there in lies the problem. When firefighters desperately want to fight fire and there aren't any fires to fight, boredom, depression and low morality set in. And this is where our crew is quickly heading. While its almost a given that the fire season will pick up in Eastern Montana in late July and August when all this lush green grass cures out, that is still several months out and doesn't help our current situation. Bum seasons are the last thing you want to think about when you've left the rest of your life behind to go fight fire for the summer. After all, cash moves everything around me!

A few words about our ship...

Eastern Montana Helitack has an exclusive use, 90 day contract on a Bell 206L-4 Longranger from Sky Aviation out of Worland, Wyoming. What does that all mean? Well the Bell 206L-4 is classified as a light helicopter, meaning that it is small, has a limited seating capacity, relatively low payload, and as a result, is relatively inexpensive. While many state and county agencies own their aircraft, most aircraft used by the federal agencies involved in fire are leased on one of about six types of contracts. An exclusive use contract means that the aircraft is used exclusively by the contracting agency for the specified period of time in the contract. This can be the most expensive type of contract but it means that the ship will always be there when you need it and it allows the crew to get to know the aircraft and the pilot that they will be working with for the whole summer.

An interesting bit of trivia: you see that white spike on top of the helicopter and the black spike down below the nose? That is the "wire strike protection." Wires like electrical and telephone lines provide an obvious threat to helicopters, and in the event the helicopter hits a wire, the nose will (hopefully) deflect it into one of these two devices which have sharp blades at their bases and are designed to cut the wire. Evidently a helicopter hit an old telegraph line a couple of years ago and they worked like a charm. This family of helicopters from Bell has been around a long time and is widely used by EMS, law enforcement and news agencies in addition to fire and has an excellent reputation for reliability.

Smokey for a Day

Every summer the BLM Miles City Field Office enters a float in the Miles City Bucking Horse Sale parade as part of their wildland fire prevention and outreach effort. Someone dons the Smokey Bear suit and walks down Main St. waving, hugging kids and handing out Smokey Bear frisbees and beer coozies. Well this year, I was Smokey (at left, doing my best Buddy Christ impression). While Smokey and I have been at odds over the years when it comes to the proper role of fire in the landscape (he likes every campfire out while I see fire as a necessary part of healthy ecosystems) I couldn't pass up the chance to play the role of this icon and the main character in America's longest running public service campaign.

It turns out the Smokey Bear Program is highly regulated and tightly controlled. According to the published Smokey Bear Guidelines, when wearing the Smokey suit individuals must: Remain anonymous, never speak during appearances, never be photographed without the head in place, refrain from using drugs or alcohol prior to and during the appearance, ensure that the fur is brushed generously prior to appearance, and my favorite, which I quote, "The costumed bear should not force itself on anyone." They take it very seriously. I can just see a drunk Smokey with unkempt, nappy fur stumbling through the parade forcing himself on people.

Well, the Bucking Horse Sale is the biggest party of the year in Miles City, so I had a little trouble refraining from using alcohol the night before. I was still suffering from some aftershocks when it was parade time. They give you a ice pack vest to keep you cool inside all that padding, but by the time the parade finally started moving the sun was high and it was starting to get a little warm. Wearing Smokey must be something like trying to walk around in a spacesuit. Your feet (which are now giant paws) are hidden by your furry paunch and your sight is confined to Smokey's mesh covered eyes, which are mostly blocked by fur and set so far apart that you can only see out of one at a time.

And then there are the kids. They mob you. Before that parade I hadn't realized how widely loved Smokey is. Kids stream into the street and embrace your legs. Which of course you can't see. I lost track of how many kids I accidentally ran over or swatted with my over-sized paws. Everybody loves Smokey. Teenagers want hugs. Drunk guys want hugs. Grandparents want you to hold their grandkids for pictures. The parade was a blur of hugs and pictures and handshakes. While it was a relief to head back to the station and take that sweaty suit off, that parade will no doubt be one of the more memorable events of the summer.