You have our prayers from Texas....

Our air quality is the absolute worst I've seen since the fires of 2003.

While this doesn't compare in any way with the tragedy in Texas, ours is preventable by selective logging in the woods.

But, No, those that live outside the borders of our fair state say no, we may piss off a owl or a bear.

As a result, we have lost most of our timber industry, saw mills and countless jobs. Look what we get in return.

Mike - a pissed off Montana Guy

I'll say a prayer for you. Things are really tough in your parts this year.

quote:

Originally posted by mcrimm:
Our air quality is the absolute worst I've seen since the fires of 2003.

While this doesn't compare in any way with the tragedy in Texas, ours is preventable by selective logging in the woods.

But, No, those that live outside the borders of our fair state say no, we may piss off a owl or a bear.

As a result, we have lost most of our timber industry, saw mills and countless jobs. Look what we get in return.

Mike - a pissed off Montana Guy

Mike, add ME to your list of fellow....pissed off Montanans.

The Tree Huggers STOP each and every timber sale in Court. We have billions of board feet of timber that sits there, waiting for the next lightning strike or man caused spark. Then it burns and we pay millions of dollars per day to fight it.

The DC-10's we have been seeing dropping retardant...$50K per day if they sit on the tarmac and are on standby. When actually dropping retardant they charge us $26,000 per flight hour. Plus the cost of retardant chemicals and water.

The fires managed by the US Forest Service...same agency most Montanans affectionately refer to as the "Forest Circus". They are not really in the business of actually putting them OUT. Their regs constantly refer to "managing" a fire. How many have they actually extinguished? It's about STAYING there for an extended period of time and blowing through the budget.....So they can get MORE money next year.

I've been on several fires over the years when I was in the MT Army guard Aviation Unit in Helena. Believe me...USFS run operations are a huge boondogle. The waste is insane. And it has been going on for years.

We have DSL, Dept of State Lands UH-1 helicopters that are dedicated to fight fires on Dept of State Lands property. During the fire season ,they are stationed across the State in key areas. In order to react quickly to new, lightning caused fires. They use a bucket system to drop water on the fires.

The USFS has Regulations that specify the aircraft that can be used on fires, their inspection, etc. They also have specified that the bucket when used on the UH-1 platform can be no larger than X gallons of capacity. The MT DSL Hueys , which have UPGRADED engines, and rotor systems.....carry a bucket that exceed the USFS Reg by THIRTY THREE gallons. So a fire will start on Federal (USFS) land...a MT DSL Huey can be close by...it is NOT ALLOWED to extinguish that fire. As it does not meet USFS Regs.

We have been fighting the 33 gallon situation now for several years. The USFS will not budge on this despite many thousands of flt hours by these aircraft with zero issues.

The bureaucracy in the USFS system is staggering. VISIT a fire Camp. There are more 'Supervisors" than folks actually ON the fire.

I can go on and on from personal experience. It IS a mess and a huge waste of Taxpayer dollars.

FN in MT

This message has been edited. Last edited by: FN in MT, August 31, 2017 03:00 PM

FN and Mike-

It's been going for decades as you know. When I was a firefighter back in the early 80s they were nothing but money making ventures for all involved. It paid handsomely. Of course, back in those days, the forests were much healthier and a 15,000 acre fire was very uncommon. Nowadays 15,000 acres is on the small side. Get the right conditions and a good wind pushing it through thick, overgrown, unhealthy forests and it's a recipe for disaster.

The real pisser is even when the fire is out the tree huggers still sue to prevent salvage logging.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
FN and Mike-

It's been going for decades as you know. When I was a firefighter back in the early 80s they were nothing but money making ventures for all involved. It paid handsomely. Of course, back in those days, the forests were much healthier and a 15,000 acre fire was very uncommon. Nowadays 15,000 acres is on the small side. Get the right conditions and a good wind pushing it through thick, overgrown, unhealthy forests and it's a recipe for disaster.

The real pisser is even when the fire is out the tree huggers still sue to prevent salvage logging.

I'm with You. Made a bunch of money myself flying those fires. We Guardsman referred to the Federal fires as "Wind driven money machines". LOL.

We generally mapped the progress/growth from an OH-58. Or ferried around worthless Supervisors so they could get helicopter rides.

Was also involved as a State Patrolman...SEVERAL of those for days and days.
Saw the mismanagement and waste on each and every one of them.

Something has to be done with the Forest Managment and the Suits, stopping the logging. Wonder if Zinke may be our Savior?

I live 960' from the West shore of Flathead lake, and can normally see the shoreline, the east shore (16 miles across) and the 7,000' Mission Mountains that rise out of the East shoreline.

Today I can't see the nearby shoreline, much less the lake or mountains. Less than 1/4 mile visibility is hard IFR, and is keeping my plane in hangar. This happens every year; the fires won't be out until it snows so we're praying for an early winter.

Praying for the the good people of MT. Praying for some of that rain from Harvey but that is impossible.

I flew in and out of Great Falls on Tues and was surprised by the reduced visibility from all the smoke. Had to shoot an instrument approach in clear weather due to the low vis. The news has definitely not reported this story. I hope that you guys get some relief soon.

In addition to Montana fires, Washington is sending smoke this way from their fires, as well some Canadian burns. SE MT just burned up 40K+ acres in just over one day.

Here in Helena(I live in town) the smoke has made things unhealthy for sure. Pray indeed, we need rain badly....and the current Admin to flush out the enviro twinkies collecting wages from forest management. Or is it non-management. They must get kick backs from all the liberal attorneys filing all the law suits. Geeesh.

quote:

Here in Helena(I live in town) the smoke has made things unhealthy for sure. Pray indeed, we need rain badly....and the current Admin to flush out the enviro twinkies collecting wages from forest management. Or is it non-management. They must get kick backs from all the liberal attorneys filing all the law suits. Geeesh

Take a look at this

and this

and this

It's probably not good that I have ash falling in my yard, huh?

The wind is just howling out there and our fire is growing quite a bit today. Just talked with my friend that I helped out yesterday and she told me they are dropping retardant right above their property on the ridge. They are watering the shit out of everything but all it'll take is one log rolling down....

It's all part of living where we do, but it still kind of sucks.

And TMats, I can't tell you how angry that shit makes me.

Thank you Ring doorbell...and Arlo.

I had an engine pull up about an hour ago and a young gal and big Mexican fella get out and knock on the door. Both are dressed in fire gear and I just figured it was a pre-evacuation type visit, but I was wrong. The gal says that they were actually from USAA and were out just trying to get ahead of potential claims. Initially, I thought, seems a little fishy, but... "Alright, what do you need?" She says, "Oh, we're just looking for your preparedness and it looks like you've got a great green zone. Would you mind if we take a few pictures?"

"Knock yourself out", I said. Right about then, my spidey sense went up. Yes, they were driving an engine and in fire gear, the rig had a DOT number on the side with a fire type logo, and there was a large magnetic USAA decal on the door, but since when does an insurance company send out adjusters one day after a fire start when my odds of a claim are possible, but remote? About then, they were done and off they drove.

I immediately got on the horn with USAA and lo and behold...well...you know the rest. Never heard of them and they are definitely NOT with USAA. So, my next call was to the Sheriff's Office after I looked in my Ring and Arlo files and got a perfect description of not only the gal and the beaner, but of the truck and plate number.

Then I moseyed over to my neighbors, one retired Army with USAA, and one retired Navy (and the local Judge) with USAA. They'd stopped at both of their places as well. I advised them of my findings.

I hope the sonsabitches come back and try to rob me because I've got a world of hurt waiting for them.

There are scammers and criminal everywhere. Even in bumfuck nowhere Montana.

The main Sperry Chalet in Glacier Park was lost to fire today. (Sprague fire) Quite sad. Stay safe.

 

My dear neighbors (and he is a fellow match shooter, but much better than me), live here usually from late October to May. They summer in Montana. Ben emailed me last week that they are tired of "sucking smoke", and would rather put up with a couple of months of our late summer 100's instead. They are due here today (6 weeks early). Must be nice to have the choice, though
 
My regards and sympathies go out to those MT folks afflicted by the fires. We have our share here in AZ (usually in June). It is not fun.
 

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
There are scammers and criminal everywhere.

Thanks for that report and good on you for being perceptive; many people wouldn’t have been. I must wonder, though, if they were actually firefighters who it is we need to be wary of.

Prayers for you folks. We went through this for years here in New Mexico. Blessed to finally be out of our drought, but my home town of Los Alamos burned twice. Hang tough and help each other.

Prayers and thoughts Mark and all the others in Montana.

The Sprague Creek fire apparently BURNT the historic Sperry Chalet at Glacier National Park today. I am literally sick to my stomach over the loss of that beautiful and historic piece of the Park. They had measures in place but they were inadequate.

I know these fires can be unpredictable but losing the Chalet is unforgivable. Whoever was in charge of the defense of the Chalet should be fired.....But of course they wont be.

The sacred cow for most failures with the Forest Service is SAFETY. It's always safety. Sure, we need to keep the firefighters safe.....BUT they also have a job to do. A job they are being very well paid, to perform.

I should stop typing. I'm so fucking outraged over this, I better quit while I'm ahead.

Fucking weather, God damned fires!

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
I know other states are battling wild fires and have been. It's Montana's turn and things might just be as bad as it could get. Fires popping up all over. Resource's are completely overwhelmed and inadequate. Might as well be dropping dollar bills on them. Humidity is dam near single digits. Wind is kicking up. It is not looking good. We need a change in the weather but hot, hot, hot and dry, dry dry predicted for the extended forecast. People in MT. are tough, independent, hardworking and help each other. All that is about to be tested tenfold I am afraid.
We have been battling several big fires for weeks already. We did not need more for sure. Some sleepless nights and hard days ahead.

Please keep the Big Sky and its people in your prayer.

It could be worse. Trust me on that. A lot worse.