Coyote Hills Fire

Todd had spent all week (Tuesday to Friday) out on fires out west every day. Box Elder has been SLAMMED with wild land fires and a lot of them are caused by lightening. We've had a lot of bad storms out west and its so dry. Saturday I went back out west with him. We had to check up on the Cedar Hills and the Valley Fire. We knew there was a thunderstorm planned for that afternoon and we were in red flag warning. Chris was on call for County fire so he stayed home for a while. He had to bring a trailer out later that afternoon to pick up some supplies to take back from the fires. We spent some time at Cedar Hills checking on it and taking down some equipment. Then we went over to the Valley Fire. They were still monitoring it. 

Todd had been running himself ragged. He was excited I was going so that I could drive lol! I sent Jana a picture so she knew he actually got a few minutes sleep. Its 1.5 hours drive from Park Valley to Willard. He was getting home at midnightish or later depending on fires and then being back out there by 530-6am. 

 We never actually get a clean picture!

 Spencer wanted some shade under my hat. They all make fun but it keeps me from getting sunburned!

 We found where we believe lightening hit the ground to start the fire. The hold was solid and the burn patterns go out from there.

Plus there was blown apart rock pieces all around it.

 We could see a storm rolling in across that mountain range and knew we were going to be in trouble.

 We had to run back to the Cedar Hills fire to help Chris load stuff on a trailer. The skies were getting darker and darker.

 We watched an awesome lightening storm move across the skies and we knew it would just be a matter of minutes before we were sent out. We saw it striking the ground all over.

 Then the winds and rain hit HARD.. and about 5 minutes later we were being sent on a fire about 30 miles away. 

We were still a long ways out at this point.

 But it was growing fast!

 and in less than 5 minutes it had turned from the picture above into this. Its never a good sign when the smoke stands up! You know its gonna be a good one.

 We had to secure the line on the heel first. It was pushing hard one way but in case there was a wind change (which happens ALL THE TIME) we had one end of it secured and could start working the other.

 From there we worked on securing the west and east sides of the fire. The south end was pushing hard still. Too far west put it in Sage Grouse habitat which turns it into a HUGE deal. Too far east pushes it to the highway and then we have to shut it down.

 The temp was over 100 degrees. Our truck kept over heating. It was so full of smoke in the air cleaner and radiator was full of gunk. Fires are really hard on trucks! Plus our fuel filter for our pump went out. We had just changed all those things on the truck too that week. 

 It was a very hot fire. One of the hottest ones I have ever worked. There were Cedars, Junipers and lots of tall sage brush.

 So hot these are heat burns on my face. My thighs looked the same and it was through my Nomex pants. 

 Chris came over to the fire with us when it first started. He is working on his IC4 certification so he was the IC (incident command aka boss) He did a really good job running it. We had to go almost to the highway to get water from the tender. This is just a part of the fire. It was really long, not so much wide, and it had a lots of fingers going to gullys.

 We had 2 airplanes and a helicopter helping us

 and they sent in Smoke Jumpers! Not because the terrain was so rugged but more because we needed more people. The State is so strapped resource wise right now because everywhere is burning. While we were working this fire we had 4 other ones come in!!! It was a crazy day. 

 Waiting for the airdrops we had to cool down our trucks. It was 102 degrees!

 Helicopter doing short bucket work helping us stop some of the finger spreads

 Incident Command

 The bosses game planning

 It was Dustys birthday. I told him we had to have a birthday selfie to send to his wife since she didnt get to see him.

 We worked the fire late into the night. They sent us to come sheriffs cabins in the area to shower and try to get a little sleep. We got to bed about 1am. Instead of sleeping inside we slept out under the stars on our cots. The weather was perfect outside. Except I didnt sleep an ounce. Not a freaking wink. We had 3 cats around us meowing all night. A dog that wouldnt stop barking. A cow mooing non stop that sounded awful. Loud crickets and this was the full moon right in my eyes lol!! I am not one opposed to nature.. but that was a rough night!

 The sunrise over Chris and his cot. He slept like a log!

 We only had one meal Saturday. We keep snacks in the truck but we were SO BUSY fighting fire. When it came time for bed it was do I take a shower and try and sleep.. or do I eat an MRE. Bed won. That next morning was breakfast! I was soooo excited and so was my belly. Once its a 'state' fire we get supplies and fed good! Calories dont count on the fire line. Plus they actually have a rule that meals have to be at least 2,000 calories.

 We have a selfie good luck charm. It never fails. We take a selfie hunting and the hunting gets good. We go on fires and take a selfie and we are safe or it doesnt go to shit. So after having to spend the night we decided we needed a good luck selfie so that we got to go home that night! It worked! We had a very uneventful day even with a lightening storm rolling in!

 We had a heavy rain storm come in. If you look hard you can see it bouncing off the hood of the truck and coming through the trees. It felt amazing.

We were working that fire when another lightening strike one came in. Everywhere was maxed out and we were able to break free to head over to Yost. We got on scene and found out it was BLM ground so we let them have the fire! We came back to our fire, had dinner and headed for home!