I found this typing my name into google images. This is the assignment I did for you honey, just to get my DIVS. It was 2 weeks of hell, but I did it. All for you and everyday I wish you were there to share it. I love you hon.
Firefighters make headway on Gash Creek fire
 |  | McClain Duffert, a firefighter assigned to a Type 6 engine on the Gash Creek fire, sprays foam retardant alongside a road in the Sweathouse Creek drainage where fire- fighters are hoping to stop the fire on Monday. Lower temperatures, higher humidity and lighter winds are giving crews a chance to make headway on the fire. Photo by TOM BAUER/Missoulian |
VICTOR - The radio around Larry Bush's chest has come alive.
Standing on one of the many dirt roads that wind their way along the Sweathouse Creek drainage, Bush is surrounded by the sounds of wildfire.
Standing on one of the many dirt roads that wind their way along the Sweathouse Creek drainage, Bush is surrounded by the sounds of wildfire.
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And in amongst the smoke, there's always that incessant crackle of flames racing through the dry brush, burning through the grass and occasionally flaring high into a pine.
It's 4 p.m. Monday afternoon and the Gash Creek fire has come alive after a morning of relative calm brought by lower temperatures, higher humidity and subdued winds.
The fire is burning along the lower edge of the Sweathouse Creek drainage. Crews are working to keep it from crossing the creek bottom and onto the steep timber-covered hillside to the north.
Bush, the Forest Service's line operations section chief on the Gash Creek fire, is listening intently to the radio chatter as firefighters gear up for another active burning spell that'll likely last until the sun goes down.
Over the weekend, high winds gusting upwards of 40 mph carried the fire up over the ridge separating Gash and Sweathouse creeks. A stubborn northwestern wind carried the fire along the top of the ridge and back down into the valley.
“Yesterday we were preparing for the perfect storm,” said Buster Windhorst, the fire's operation section chief. “The conditions were all right for a significant run.”
The winds were high, humidity low and the woods bone dry. Up along the top of the ridge, fire experts estimated there was close to 160 tons of highly flammable material on every acre just ready to go up in smoke.
The fire that resulted poured a column of smoke in the air as it began its run at 2 p.m. on Sunday. It hooked around the ridge and started to sweep back toward the valley floor.
“We were seeing gusts up to 42 mph,” Windhorst said. “It had its opportunity.”
But then the fire hit the mouth of the canyon and winds began to swirl. It rolled back onto itself and slowed.
“We've seen that happen before in these Bitterroot canyon fires,” Windhorst said. “The same thing happened in 2000 and 2003.”
Monday's sudden change in weather gave firefighters a chance to take the fight to the fire's edge. There are 428 people assigned the fire estimated to be about 2,100 acres in size.
“It's been a good day to make progress right up against the fire's edge,” Windhorst said. “Our crews are using direct attack tactics. Over the next couple of days the weather is expected to remain about the same. That should give us a chance to make some headway.”
On the other side of the fire camp just outside of Victor, a Missoula-based crew from Mesa Verde Aviation is keeping busy preparing thousands of gallons of fire retardant for a thirsty Sikorsky helicopter.
Every 4 or 5 minutes, the Sikorsky roars back from the fire to hover over a large red tank a hundred yards or so from the crew. Carefully, the pilot lowers a 15-foot-long snorkel tube down into the tank. It takes less than 30 seconds for the chopper's 600-gallon tank to fill.
“Watch his rotors,” Tim Dietz of Mesa Verde Aviation yells over the roar. “See how they begin to dish up as he takes on the weight.”
Sure enough, the rapidly rotating rotors start to bend. Just moments later, the helicopter eases upward, turns and rumbles off to make another pass on some stubborn spot fires burning on the wrong side of Sweathouse Creek.
“That's the advantage of these mobile retardant bases,” Dietz said as he watches the helicopter hurry toward the fire. “We can set them up relatively close to the fire. That makes the helicopter's work so much more efficient. They don't have to fly 10 or 12 miles to get water.”
The bases set up quickly. Dietz said they received an order Friday, left Missoula at 7 a.m. Saturday morning and were up and running by 10:30 that same day.
Dietz expects the Mesa Verde Aviation crew is going to stay busy for next little while.
“It looks like it's going to be a busy month around here,” he said. “All of a sudden the whole world is burning.”
Back near the fire lines in Sweathouse Creek, ----- is showing Bush the strategy she means to employ to slow the blaze. Pointing at the map, she outlines where the crews will try to hold and where she plans to use foam to hopefully stop the fire.
“I just want one victory today,” ----- says. “I want to keep it above the road. Š we're going to get a victory for you Larry.”
Bush smiles as he drives back down the road.
“Those victories are usually what's normal,” he said. “What they've been up against the last couple of days, with all the weather conditions against them, they'll take what they can get right now.”
With fires sweeping across the West, Bush knows that the kinds of resources he needs to fight the blaze burning in difficult terrain and through heavy fuels are scattered and unlikely to end up here soon.
“Right now we're just lacking the right resources at the right time,” he said. “Some people think all we have to do to put these fires out is throw more stuff at them. Š what we're lacking right now is Type 1 crews.”
The elite among firefighters, Hotshot crews, with all their specialized skills and equipment, are stretched thin this season.
“As long as the whole nation has this kind of fire activity, there's not going to be much opportunity to get more of those crews here,” Bush said. “In large part, it's going to be Mother Nature who decides how successful we are.”
Mother Nature and maybe some help from the public in helping to keep additional fires from starting.
The Forest Service and Ravalli County sheriff's office are asking people for information on a rash of recent fires on the Bitterroot National Forest.
Over the past two weeks, there have been six fires of “unknown origin” started in the forest. Anyone with information about the fires should call (406) 375-4050.
“As we all know, we are in the midst of an unusually hot and dry summer,” said Bitterroot Forest Supervisor Dave Bull. “We are now in Stage 2 fire restrictions, our helicopter and firefighting resources are limited. Every time we respond, and fortunately we have been able to put the new starts out, it not only can jeopardize the safety of our firefighters, but the firefighting effort, including protecting homes and property.”
“Even what may seem an insignificant piece of information may be the information we are looking for,” Bull said.
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