The Wuff's Fire Pics

Tibarus wrote:

Ok, so I was wrong, big deal, I'm not too stubborn to admit that. Thanks for correcting it Jager.

You're welcome. I don't make this stuff up as I go along, ya know...

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As for the Army possibly being called in to fight fires, while I'm sure the help would be greatly appreciated... As big a waste of military time it would be... This is Canada we're talking about... we call our service people into the shovel snow during a Montrèal blizzard and send our troops to the desert in GREEN camo... Does being called into fight fires sound all that far fetched?

Gotta love this country of ours eh?

It isn't a waste of time. And aiding in times of natural disasters IS part of our mandate. It isn't like the CF hasn't been involved in fighting fires in BC more than a few times in the last couple of years - not counting floods and ice storms elsewhere of course.

The issue is right now we're tasked to the max. Between the guys we have in Afghanistan, the guys who are doing their workup training and about to go to Afghanistan, the guys tasked to work Op Podium at the Coast (the Olympics - about 8500 all told), the guys teaching at the battle schools, the guys attending courses at the battle schools... and the fact we're in summer stand down (the few who aren't actually directly involved with something)... Getting tasked to fight forest fires is, in my personal opinion, not only something we frankly aren't all that interested in with our other distractions, but something where we would have to gut something else to come up with the bodies. A few months ago I had a list of about 400 slots that the CF was trying to find bodies to fill (a list lots of other people had as well, I assume), and nobody to fill them. We are incredibly busy. The only bright side of that is that it is a smorgasboard for the Reservists out there. They can pretty much pick and choose where they want to go, what they want to do, how many days/weeks they want to work for, etc.

As for woodland cadpat in A'stan instead of the desert stuff, that was mostly a media issue, not a real issue. When you're moving in company strength and larger through the mountains, humping heavy loads and clanking along as you do it, everybody in the neighborhood knows exactly where you are and desert cam is not going to change that. The hajji's we're fighting don't seem to have an issue with wearing whatever color they have handy.

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As for putting my name on the service list... Had it been offered as a viable career choice option back in high school I probably would have joined up. The special events planners at my school wouldn't allow the speakers to come present, a curse of being run by the PTA. Serving as a career, or even just doing your part as a citizen wasn't a "high interest" topic... At least in my end of Vancouver.

Nothing says you can't join up now. The Reserves needs part time soldiers every bit as much as the Regular Force, and perhaps more. Down at the Coast you have an enormous number of trades to choose from: infantry, artillery, armoured recce, vehicle tech, military police, mobile equipment support, intelligence, medics, logistics, cooks n' clerks, combat engineers, heavy equipment operators, etc, etc. That's just some of the army trades - they have the navy down there as well.

Minimum service requirements are that you show up one evening a month for three hours. Obviously, the military hopes you will show up for training every week, get out to the weekend training when scheduled, and attend the one or two big exercises scheduled every year for ten days or whatever. But that isn't a requirement. And you're your own career mangler: you can't be ordered to go to a tasking in Germany, Haiti, Afghanistan, etc. You can't be ordered to take a course or accept a Class B employment contract, nor can you be ordered to show up any particular training night for that matter. You keep your eye on the taskings and courses board, and apply for the ones you want. Given that it's all voluntary with a minimum requirement of only one three hour stint a month, serving in the CF is pretty easy to do, at least as far as the minimum commitment on the individual's part goes.

All your service is paid, there's medical and dental, a pension, and full time work pretty much any time you feel so inclined. So while you certainly may choose to not WANT to serve in the military (and that's your decision, not anybody else's), it's definitely not too late. I've met two guys in the last couple of months who applied and were sworn in while in their early 50's... They'll only have until they're 60 before mandatory retirement, but they seem to be enjoying every minute of it.

Besides - really - who hasn't always secretly wanted to blow up a bridge, fire a machine gun, drive a tank over something fragile, throw a grenade, etc... and not go to jail for it.

SheWolf wrote:

You were with structural Rick?

Yeah, I took a couple of arson investigation courses from this old smokeater who used to be VFD's chief arson investigator. And the NCOIC where I was made it pretty clear he believed all members should be part of the volunteer fire department as part of the community involvement process or whatever. I was in my 20's and mostly wanted to chase skirts, hunt, fish, water ski, etc when I was off, but it wasn't exactly a suggestion. As it turned out, I found out it was a pretty good social club when it wasn't fire practice or a call, and I had a pretty good time. Never got a chance to use my arson investigation courses, however... then did the structural thing again in Radium for a year when I first got out of the CF and moved back close to where I grew up. I think the fire truck there was almost as old as I was - and I was in my 40's. Getting up the Radium hill in that truck was a long, drawn out process... should have made everyone get out and push.

Thinking of doing it again when I'm done with the CF and move down to Montana full time. Our house is on an acre out in the sticks, and there's a pretty good fuel load on the ground although not so dry there. The station is only about a mile from our house, so it kind of makes sense to join again if they turn out to be a good bunch of guys.

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I was too for 6 years before I went with straight forestry. I wasn't into working with a pot-head chief...

Given the amount of money the province puts into the guys who end up being chiefs and whatnot, I don't understand why they don't make them do the piss in the bottle trick like they do with us (how do you girls hit that.... nah.... never mind, I don't want to know). Your ordinary volunteer, sure, we're always short of volunteer anything. If the ordinary guy doesn't show up drunk or stoned, whatever. But the guys who are the chiefs and commanders, they're obviously both motivated and in a position to do a lot of damage if they screw up. In my personal opinion, if you won't pee in the bottle, then you don't get any courses and you sure as hell don't fill the position of chief.

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I just find it ironic that some of them take their holidays in the middle of fire season.

Well, on the other hand, fire season is when a lot of what people want to do the most is going on. Kids are out of school. The flyfishing is just starting to really hit its peak. Great time for adventure motorcycling. How many people would give up their passions for the span of their career if they conflicted with when their career needed them most? If they said "You can't ride your motorcycle during fire season in case you get hurt and can't work any fires that break out"... would you still be on the fire list? Or off riding?

If a guy takes EVERY fire season off, of course, then I suppose that's another thing. Not to mention a self-induced career killer.

I worked at the suppression camps one year when I got pissed off with my lifeguarding job for some reason or other I can't remember now. That was like the military is now from what I remember of it - I doubt very much any full time guys were told they could have the summer off. That was back in the day when Forestry could and did go to the local bars with the RCMP when a fire broke out to draft firefighters. The forestry dude and the cop would come in the front door, all the guys would stampede out the back - and there would be the bus with another forestry guy and a few more cops...

... bet they can't do that anymore either.

Come to think of it, I never actually saw that done, or worked with any cop who said he had been a part of drafting locals at the bar to fight fires, but I heard about it so often and remember older guys (yeah, they would be about 20 years younger than I am now) saying they weren't going to go to the bar when there was a local fire burning. So I'm pretty sure that's the way it was.

SheWolf wrote:

I think they'd probably bring in the KAMov from VIH or the S-64's before they bring in that beast.

I had a good friend who was posted to Courtney detachment for a couple of years. We went up there water skiing and just generally jacking around. Motored around the Martins while I took a bunch of pictures, also managed to get a few pictures of one taking off and flying over. Would really love to see one actually doing water drops.

They're sort of like a battleship. Probably not the best tool available for the job these days, but their LCF is right off the scale.

Jäger wrote:

SheWolf wrote:

I think they'd probably bring in the KAMov from VIH or the S-64's before they bring in that beast.

I had a good friend who was posted to Courtney detachment for a couple of years. We went up there water skiing and just generally jacking around. Motored around the Martins while I took a bunch of pictures, also managed to get a few pictures of one taking off and flying over. Would really love to see one actually doing water drops.

They're sort of like a battleship. Probably not the best tool available for the job these days, but their LCF is right off the scale.

And they're purely Canadian to boot

Tibarus wrote:

And they're purely Canadian to boot

Well, no, they're not. They were built by the Martin company for patrol service in WWII. After the US military took them out of service and sold them as surplus, I think they were bought either by the BCFS or by MacBlo. Not sure which, but that's how they came to their present location in Canada. However, they were designed by an American, built by an American company, and served in the US Navy before they were sold and brought to Canada.

If anyone is wondering what we're talking about regarding the Martin Mars, here's some video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN5PY91sO7A

Well, evacuation alert for me. Fire jumped the guards and is too smoky to see anything for aerial support. One guy's cabin already burned further up, and it's snowing ash. Tomorrow's calling for lightning and windy....

Take care Lynn. Good luck.

We travel as much as possible when it's not hibernation season. We have passed through many fire areas. Two stand out in my mind.

The first was when we were piloted through an area that the fire had just passed through. I'm still shocked to this day they were letting us through. Some of the wooden sign posts still had vestiges of flames. The entire area was gray and ash with a bit of smouldering smoke. Up on the hills around the valley there were still burning patches. I was so awe struck that I didn't even get a picture of it and I'm a photographer! Other fire pictures I've seen don't even match it for the terror and desolation that was there. The closest thing I can approximate it to is the pictures of Hiroshima after the bomb.

The second most memorable fire area I've seen in all my travels was after a long stretch of going through several evacuated areas and lots of fire activity including some very large fire camps. We came upon the next town and the residents had put up a big banner over the highway which read:
"Thank you fire fighters for saving our town"
That certainly conveyed some meaning.

Good luck FireWolf! We'll give you shout next week when we're in the area and see how it's going.

Cheers.

Taken from my back yard just a couple of minutes ago. Ashes have now turned into chunks. SAR were here going door to door giving notice. Red will be looking after my bikes for me. *big hugs to Red* Thanks for helping me out in this...it really means a lot. If you guys don't see me on after today, I've been booted out.

mwakey wrote:

Take care Lynn. Good luck.

+1 SheWolf. We've been watching this daily on the news/weather network over here. Hope to see you back online soon

Well Wuffie and family got the evac order today just before noon
This fire is a monster 40km across and doubled in size overnight
I have a cabin 10 minutes up the lake from there, Went to have a look in the boat today and there was no sun, just dark and disgustingly smoky, then we had a wicked windstorm for about 3 hours, who know's how far that took the fire
The fire is so smoky that they cant tell if it's class 5 or 6, they need to use infra red to plot growth, smoke is so thick it actually makes you gag
Couple thousand people out of their homes right now, hope they can get a handle on this soon

C'mon out we got work for ya!
75 fire fighter's from Ontario arrived today

0007onWR wrote:

C'mon out we got work for ya!
75 fire fighter's from Ontario arrived today

I'm half debating taking time off school to go help fight the beast back...

0007onWR wrote:

C'mon out we got work for ya!
75 fire fighter's from Ontario arrived today

Well, if I come voluntarily - as opposed to arriving in a Canadian Forces vehicle with a bunch of other unhappy campers - it will be to do GIS/fire mapping. If you have GIS work, then perhaps we can talk.

But, I gotta tell ya...

... that avatar of yours was shockingly gross the first time I saw it... and it hasn't improved with age...

Things that make you go "Ewwwwwwhhhhhhhh". It's an affront to the senses.

Well our friendly local fire is ranked 1 or 2 now because of some rain and humidity (Wheww!)

Oh and never judge a net buddy by their Avatar, It's not a picture of me

0007onWR wrote:

Well our friendly local fire is ranked 1 or 2 now because of some rain and humidity (Wheww!)

Oh and never judge a net buddy by their Avatar, It's not a picture of me

Thank god for that

Well I'm home for the time being but on a 15 minute evac alert. We had a nasty supercell blow thru that brought heavy winds and lightning that sparked other fires, one of which I had to go try to find but due to steep, slippery terrain and running out of daylight, I couldn't access it. I also got trapped by fallen trees and had to cut my way thru, one of which fell just short of 2 feet in front of my truck. We lost one bomber on the lake; the nose gear came down as he came in for a fill and it cartwheeled the plane into pieces. A local resident went out in his power boat and fished him out. A chopper had hydraulic issues and had to emergency land in front of the fire, but bombers and choppers dumped retardant around it enuf to get a tech in there and get it running enuf to fly it out and to the airport for servicing. I'm on patrol again today and probably the rest of the week until the campfire ban is lifted and this fire gets a better handle. With the lightning forecast agin today and tomorrow it's going to be busy and O/T will no doubt come into play again. Shit am I ever fucking tired.

we are glad to hear your ok SheWolf

0007onWR wrote:

Oh and never judge a net buddy by their Avatar, It's not a picture of me

Yeah, I know - I've seen the whole pic on the 'net with the other weird dude that is cropped out in your avatar.

If I thought it was you, I wouldn't even post a comment to you. Bad scoobies, man!

But... arrrggghhhh... man, that thing just smacks you right between the peepers every time it crops up on the screen...

SheWolf wrote:

I'm on patrol again today and probably the rest of the week until the campfire ban is lifted and this fire gets a better handle. With the lightning forecast agin today and tomorrow it's going to be busy and O/T will no doubt come into play again. Shit am I ever fucking tired.

Yeah, but that kind of O/T is what we all love, right?

I used to be an absolute pig for O/T back in my law enforcement days when you could take comp time instead of cash. Until I moved over to the military side of things, there were many, many years when I don't think I ever worked a day from mid August - mid November. Work every bit of OT the other months of the year, take the next three months off to backpack, flyfish, kayak, bike, hunt, etc. Of course, that was back when I didn't own a house, a wife, a dog... or any responsibility other than showing up the days I did have to be at work or in court.

So enjoy the O/T while it lasts. Just think of all the bike goodies that will buy.

On the other hand, haven't you already bought just about everything imagineable for your WR???

If it rained in the Okanagan today anything like it rained at our place in Montana, I think I can safely say that the fire is pretty much out. The skies went dark as it is after sundown about 1700 H... and then somebody pulled The Big Plug In The Sky.

Buckets and buckets and buckets of rain. Our gutters are overflowing and the basement sump pumps are going full bore. The fire danger in this part of Montana just got eliminated. This wasn't a flash rainfall, this was a real ground soaker, repeated about three times today with more on the way.

And, having gotten caught out in it in my Tour Master Transition Series 2 jacket, I can report that this is one awesome jacket:

Tour Master Transition Series 2



You can get it in more subdued/other colors, but I like to be seen... The Fieldsheer Mercury pants were pretty good as well, but nowhere near as impressive as the jacket in my opinion.

Anyways, the venting works to keep you nice and cool in temps as high as the low 90's - as long as your bike is moving. And once you button all the vents down, it keeps you warm and dry when the weather goes Delta Sierra and the rain and hail starts pounding down.

Not a lot of happy vibes coming from the stock Trail Things tires on the way home on that slick dirt road, however. I did not like that AT ALL!