“We’re ready to go. We’ve gotten the clearance from the governor. We’ve got the state disaster emergency declaration done. Now, it’s just a matter of getting a mission assignment from the Bureau of Homeland Security.”-Colonel Tim Marsano, Idaho National Guard
Can you believe that? Even Homeland Security is calling the shots for firefighters!
16 August 2012, in eastern Idaho the new human caused Fox Hill Fire, close to Wyoming, has burned at least 250 acres (101 hectares). Fire officials say buildings are threatened, but they don’t expect to have any containment until 18:00 hours on 17 August.
Click pics (by AAron B. Hutchins) to make bigger:
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- MAFFS 2 returns to the Pocatello Airport, 16 August 2012. It belongs to the USAF Reserve 302nd Airlift Wing in Colorado.
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- The business end of a MAFFS C-130H.
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- MAFFS 5, also of the 302nd Airlift Wing. MAFFS stands for Modular Air Fire Fighting System.
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- MAFFS 1 of the Wyoming National Guard. Note the big dump pipe sticking out the back.
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- MAFFS 1 take off run. Note the smokey haze filling the normally clear and blue Idaho sky.
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- MAFFS 5 ready for take off.
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- MAFFS 5 gets airborne!
Click here to see pics of the last time MAFFS C-130s were at the Pocatello Airport.
On 15 August, the human caused Gun Range Fire, near Idaho Falls, burned about 588 acres (237.9 hectares) before being contained.
Fires are so numerous in Idaho that the Idaho National Guard is being called into battle. According to the Boise based National Interagency Fire Center, there are at least 12 fires in Idaho (NBC news says 9, but they’re wrong), and only one is contained (yesterday’s Gun Range Fire)!
The only other state with as many wildfires is California. Altogether, at least 60 wildfires are currently burning in the United States.
It looks like this year will beat last year’s number of wildfires, already the acreage burned this year is 1.5 million more than last year (currently 6.3 million acres or 2 million hectares have burned)!
I have been amazed by the number of people here in southeastern Idaho, who are just now noticing the smoke. Some don’t notice it until I point it out to them, like “Hey, didn’t you notice you can’t see the mountains anymore?”. The response was “Well now that you mention it…”
While coming out of the Fred Meyer yesterday I overheard two people commenting about how smokey the sky was. Hello! It’s been that way for more than a week now! Oh well, just reminded me of the days when I lived in southern California and was amazed how many people there couldn’t seem to tell the difference between a smoggy day and a clear day!
Besides Idaho and California, the other states dealing with wildfires are: Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
TWO NEW WILDFIRES IN EASTERN IDAHO