10 September 2012, the smoke just won’t go away, ’cause fires just keep poppin’ up! So far, the year to date fire retardant used by fire fighting aircraft out of Pocatello airport (aka Pocatello Tanker Base) is 261,797 gallons (991,009.4 liters).
Little “seeders” 802 Air Tractors are the backbone of airborne firefighting operations out of Pocatello airport, but Neptunes, MAFFS C-130s and now Convair CV580 operated by CONAIR of Canada, are making appearances at the tanker base.
Click pics (by AAron B. Hutchins) to make bigger:
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- CONAIR Convair CV580, Pocatello airport, 10 September 2012.
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- Firefighting Neptune parked behind the Convair CV580. Mainstay firefighter Air Tractor 802 comes in for a landing, while a Delta Airlines CRJ-100 taxis for takeoff.
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- AT-802 sneaks past Neptune.
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- MAFFS 1 C-130 of Wyoming National Guard, around 28 August 2012.
According to the National Interagency Fire Center, there are new fires in Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Nevada and Wyoming. There are currently 34 large wildfires burning through the United States.
Idaho has seven large fires, with 640,881 acres (259,355.3 hectares) burned! California has nine fires, but with fewer burned acres, at 151,988 (61,507.36 hectares).
The most recent fires here in eastern Idaho were the Flint Canyon Fire south of American Falls, West Menan Fire and the Pickering Fire near Rexburg.
Regarding the now notorious Mustang Complex Fire, recently officials said the fire was so hard to get to that it would probably burn until the first heavy snowfall of winter!
The Mustang Complex Fire, burning along the Idaho/Montana border, increased by 20,000 acres (8,093.7 hectares) on 09 September 2012. Mandatory evacuations were ordered. The fire is now the single largest in the United States, at 281,000+ acres (113,716.6 hectares)!
EAST IDAHO WILDFIRE UPDATE, 29 AUGUST 2012: BURN AREAS BECOME DUST FARMS.