Last week I was suffering with a pinched sciatic nerve, and therefore not going out much. On Friday afternoon I heard a plane circling my house, and so went out to look. It was the Forestry service spotter, or 'bird dog' plane. The valley was full of smoke from the California fires more than 20 hours drive south of us. I knew there must be a fire just up the hill from me, so grabbed the camera, a couple more painkillers and jumped into the truck.(well, not jumped)
This is what I initially saw.
The spotter plane was flying tight circles like an air racer, and soon 3 air tankers were circling too. If that seems excessive, the wind was gusting to 55 mph, the temp in the mid 90's, conditions were very dry, and there were houses nearby.
Then the biggest tanker started taking practise runs over the target.
Then came his first actual drop. They use fire retardant, colored red so they can see where it landed, and plan the next run accordingly.
Here is a short video.
He made 4 drops in a few minutes.
The other 2 tankers went off to another fire a few miles away.
Next came the Helicopter with the bucket.
He made 6 trips to the lake in less than 15 minutes, and soaked the area.
Next the forest fire fighters arrived and attacked it with hand tools, and it was all over with by dark.
