by on September 10, 2012
Life’s been weird. I’m struggling a bit with re-entry into a semi-normal life and coming back to Bozeman. Last night I packed up the camera and fishing gear and headed to the upper Gallatin.
Nothing like some down time on the road to clear the head.
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A large helicopter comes in to refuel at the Millie Fire ICP.
Transportation at the Millie Fire.
Quick update on the Millie Fire. As of 0920h on 5 September, the fire sits at 10,191 acres and is 15% contained. 521 personnel are on scene and have set up a main fire camp at the mouth of Gallatin Canyon. A secondary spike camp has been set up underneath a ridge closer to the fire to allow personnel a shorter travel to and from the fire (this saves an average of 2 hours both ways).
Dan Cottrell, smokejumper and Type 3 Incident Commander, was kind enough to show me around again yesterday. We first drove to an overlook to view the fire scene. When terrain is talked about as being ‘extreme’, it lives up to the name. Crews have been working in harsh conditions and have also had to deal with a pack of twelve wolves along the north end of the fire. (Of note for readers not familiar with the area, this is the edge of the fire closest to Bozeman.) The crews are doing a stellar job and radio correspondence yesterday was professional but relaxed.
We then took a quick trip into the main fire camp / helibase. It was obvious the fire community has this down to a science; the camp was well-organized and running smoothly. Watching various helicopters come and go made me homesick for Russia and the quiet efficiency of the men and women was extremely refreshing to see.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for all of your hard work and professionalism. It’s appreciated.
Coming in for fuel.
Tim Brickell (left) and Fred Jones of the Forest Service check the map back at the ICP.
Tent City.
Terrain of the Millie Fire.
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Rory Paterson of Scotland on a supply run in a Russian Mi-8 helicopter.
Take a peek at the Fire Girl Photography online portfolio and you’ll see some changes.
Two new galleries have joined the show; one in color and one in what is quickly becoming a signature desaturation. Both feature the Ponoi River in Russia and the people I met there.
Check it out. Let me know what you think.
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The Pine Creek fire slows dramatically with an evening of rain.
I finally had a few hours to make a run over to Paradise Valley yesterday to take a look at the situation there. The Pine Creek Fire has been a mess and crews have been working their hardest in extreme terrain. According to InciWeb, five primary residences and several outbuildings have been lost as of 1100h today, 2 September. This has been a dramatic fire in a relatively narrow, populated valley.
View from the Mallard’s Rest takeout on the Yellowstone.
The black colouring on the foothills is burn from the past week.
Residents try to find out information on their residence as dusk falls.
As of the latest report, the fire sits at 9,578 acres. 302 personnel are on scene and, with the help of rains last night, the fire is now 30% contained.
Many thanks for our wildland fire crews out there getting the job done. True professionals.
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Team leader Jim explains the situation.
Crews work a structural defense back burn site on the Millie Fire.
I spent the morning at the Millie Fire Incident Command Center. The crew was stellar to work with and I look forward to working with this as this incident develops.
Thanks to Type 3 Incident Commander Dan Cottrell personally took the time to show us around and provided the answers we were looking for. Dan is a smokejumper himself – it’s always refreshing to work with someone who is not the “office type” – especially in a situation like this. Makes the situation so much better.
Type 3 Incident Commander and smokejumper Dan Cottrell at ICP.
Road closures leading into the fire zone on the Storm Castle access road.
A Type 2 team is on site and officially takes command of the incident at 0600h tomorrow – Friday the 31st.
Crews clear low-lying brush along a possible road defense.
As of the latest update (1430h 8/30), the fire is still holding at around 10,000 acres. Infrared flights are being conducted every 24 hours, and we should have a better picture of today’s fire activity when that flight presents data. Cottonwood Canyon, a popular recreation area south of Bozeman, has had evacuation orders placed.
It’s getting breezy in Bozeman tonight and I’ll be curious to see fire activity overnight.
Please, people, let the fire crews do their job. They have enough to worry about without policing bystanders and holiday weekend traffic. These men and women are very good and what they do and we need to let them to their job.
Current data, including closures, restrictions, and evacuations, can be found on InciWeb.
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Quick update on the Millie Fire: according to an InciWeb update at 2044h Mountain Time, the incident has now grown to 1,000 acres and is 0% contained. Sixty personnel have been assigned to the fire and will be deployed as they arrive.
The Big Sky Weekly ran a photo of mine today in their web update. I’m going in tomorrow morning to the fire line with one of their writers to scope the situation.
We’ll see how it goes.
Update: As of 2130, InciWeb lists the Millie fire at 10,000 acres. Below is a map of the incident.
A map of the Millie Fire, Storm Castle, Gallatin National Forest, Montana. 29 August 2012 PM.
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The Storm Castle / Millie Fire makes a run.
Sometimes plans go awry.
Sometimes this is for the best.
Chi Wulff Jake and I both had a rare day off from the day jobs and decided to take the opportunity to head up the Gallatin Canyon for some firearms practice. On the first pass driving past our canyon range south of Big Sky, the range was occupied. Fair game. After a quick debate we decided to make the run to West Yellowstone and see what was shaking in town.
As is typical for this time of year, not too much was going on in West other than the normal tourist traffic.
Heading towards the Millie Fire.
We headed back north. The range was again occupied. We stopped by the Gallatin River, taking some time by the river and hoping the range would be free after twenty minutes or so.
It was not.
And so to plan B. We headed north again, planning to head up Storm Castle backroads and shoot back up in the hills.
About twenty minutes from the Storm Castle turnoff, a tell-tale puff of smoke caught Jake’s eye. Soon it became apparent this puff of smoke was growing.
As smoke will do on a windy day with 90+ temperatures and low humidity. A red flag day.
As we drove closer, it became apparent the smoke was coming from back up in the Storm Castle canyon area. Adrenaline starting to hum slightly, we figured ‘what the hell’ and headed up the canyon regardless. After 7-plus miles of bumping along dirt roads we were stopped by a Forest Service truck parked across the road.
Fair enough. I was able to get some images and, after all, we were really on a mission to go shoot.
So I turned to Fire Girl Subaru around and we pulled in down a rutted-out dirt road about a half-mile from the turn around point. Close enough to watch the fire grow and to appreciate the three aircraft working the fire.
Since when did Montana get jet retardent-dropping planes? I grew up with the old World War II era fire bombers. I know I’ve been gone for over two years, but it caught me off guard.
Jake with the 1943 Mosin Nagant.
The hum of planes in the background, we enjoyed some time with our guns – especially Jake’s new (to him) 1943 Russian Mosin Nagant.
An incredible weapon. It is hard to beat holding a working piece of history, firing the weapon under the smoke plume of a very active forest fire in the Montana backwoods.
That said, Jake got some down time with his Sig and the Mosin Nagant and I was ecstatic with my improvements with my Glock. We both left the range beyond relaxed and mellow. Nothing like going through a few boxes of ammunition to take the edge off.
Stress relief – Glock 23. Image by Jake McGlothlin.
We passed two road blocks – Forest Service and highway patrol – heading out of the canyon and realized we made it in just in time.
Sometimes things don’t work out for a reason – if we had stopped at the range up canyon we would have missed the chance to get up close and personal with the fire.
I’m now back in Bozeman; it looks like the fire has been named the Millie Fire. The current size is 150 acres, and InciWeb is giving it a high potential to grow.
That’s summer in the Rockies.
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