Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire The NW is Burning - Incredible Photo

Because 54% of the workforce works for the government.

I was camping at Lemola Lake when the Stouts Creek fire started. A few days later I was hiking Wizard Island in Crater Lake and the smoke was thick! - HWY 230 was/is closed to traffic due to the National Creek complex in the park.
We're supposed to have rain this weekend - Pray for it!

we have a pile of bug out stuff stacked by the front door.
they made us leave once and I only had time to get 1/2 my guns.
(99's first of course)lol. I snuck back at 1 am from the house on the river and got more but still couldn't get everything dear to us. this blow up could get here with wind in minutes.

I have fought fire many times over the last century and have watched and experienced the changes in methods and attitudes.
some are fine but some are asinine. to allow a fire to grow from 3/4 acre to 600 before getting aggressive is asinine.

let me say in no way am I denigrating the boots on the ground,
they have my utmost appreciation and respect. But when the Head Ranger does his evaluation of the fire from a overlook 11 miles across the valley.......Asinine

Two things that have been done away with in a lot of places are logging and grazing. People fight both tooth and nail and it is showing the effects it is having on big fires in many places.

AND THAT IS THE TRUTH!!

I'm thinking about heading out that way with some equipment to work the fires. Legitimate fire equipment.

Way different situations than I have worked in before but I'm not unfamiliar with the terrain or the conditions.

I'm trying to decide if I should bring it up to mama and the kid or not........

I am up in the Cabinet's fifteen or so miles NE of Sandpoint and cannot see the Selkirk's at all and little of the Cabinet's behind me that are much closer. I am well into the woods and I am still an unfortunate lightening strike away. I have not grilled for six weeks. The fire fighters are the stars without a doubt.

white Bear, various agency's are actively recruiting. the will make you do a 4 hour cert course and dump your rear on the fires. if I was 40 years younger.
if you do come out let me thank you ahead of time. these crews are strapped for manpower and supplies at this juncture. we have been passing out donuts, sandwiches and double shot starbucks(the most appreciated)
most of these kids are under 30 and some are 18. they come off the lines looking like they have rolled in lamp black.
saw one troop with 3 girls in it and only when they spoke did I realize their sex.

makes me think of the quote in the lord of the rings
"many of these trees were my friends"
http://vid1350.photobucket.com/albu...ideo-2015-08-16-09-50-28_zpsulo9wvto.mp4

We've got plenty of people on welfare with nothing to do. Maybe they will volunteer.

That's an old time saying:

"You can log it, graze it, or watch it burn"

EDm, are you up Rapid lightening?
like you this has killed most of our outside stuff. I haven't even fired a round since this started.(except a round at a rat in the spare bdrm)
this is the driest year I can remember. ground is powder

We're approaching a century of a "put it out" fire suppression policy for the range and wild-lands. No doubt that policy has the fuel loading high and shazam...infernos. A healthy range and forest land has recent understory burn (low intensity) in its past. A prime stand of ponderosa pine will have many trees showing a fire scar from the past but are perfectly healthy. Mismanagement (all facets) has lead to very unhealthy stands of timber.

Yes I am. PM me as we are likely neighbors and should share a beer.

+ 1 ,,,, The USFS is all about timber sales and protecting their cush jobs, NOT timber preservation.

Prayers sent for all of you who may loose your homes and all who are putting their asses on the line to fight these fires.

yeah we are neighbors even if we are 45 miles apart. due to health problems I can't do beer anymore but a glass of wine could work.

Just sent you a PM. Let me know as my schedule is pretty open.

And the entire time the federal gvt was insisting they know what's best for the forests and we are just a bunch of morons. No campfires, no this, no that, blocked off access, study the flowers, hire scientists to study the dirt, you name it. Write us a ticket for walking on a trail w/o a permit. And they call us kooks because we don't believe in their methodology or their science. Yeah, we're all just a bunch of dumb hicks, what could we know about land management? We should all just ask the govt to save us.

All over our state and others are folks newly homeless or about to be.
The closest my friends are to one is four miles but that isn't very fire when they are burning.

This situation has been coming for a while. USFS has some policy issues and the cutting restrictions make it worse. The weather is part of the problem too but the forest and range conditions make them easier to get started and the heavy understory makes it tougher to put out. The shame is we know how to manage it better.

There are so many groups that risk themselves for us it is hard to thank them all. My thanks to you for your fine work. May the Lord keep you safe from harm.

One bunch that doesn't get much credit are the prison inmate groups. We were camped in Wallowa and one came in and camped with us. they were well behaved and well watched. It took my wife a while to figure out why some of the fire fighters were packing Glocks but she finally got it.

I hope this rain comes as promised.