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End of our Summer Fun in
Paradise Valley. Look carefully at the pictures, you can
barely see the mountains, for all the smoke there is in the air.
The Derby Fire, near Big Timber, has burned about 200,000 acres,
causing the evacuation of almost 300 people, burned over 28
homes and has cost of over $6.1 Million to fight it .... and it
is still only 25% contained as of today 9/5/2006. The
Yellowstone River is low, but the fishing was great. Our
cabin was at the
Yellowstone Bed & Breakfast on the Yellowstone River.
Even with all the smoke, we enjoyed a great float, as we always
do with friend Greg, Linda and Anne.
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Photo
courtesy Stacy Schweigel |
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Photo by
Woody Jones
Retired Park Service ranger Woody Jones took this photograph of
the Derby Mountain fire's blowup in the Stillwater Valley on
Aug. 30.
High atop a ridge
near Midnight Canyon, Jones watched Aug. 30 as the 8-day-old
Derby Mountain fire erupted into a hellish monster of smoke,
flame and shifting winds, devouring grasses and trees drier than
anywhere else in Montana. "It looked exactly like Mount St.
Helens," said Jones, who taught a federal wildfire investigation
course after he retired as National Park Service ranger. "I
thought, 'Holy cow, here it goes.' " For hours, he snapped
photos of a massive swirling cloud of fire and smoke in Trout
Creek, "tornadoes of fire" sweeping across nearby grasslands,
wind-borne embers that sparked new fires a half-mile away, and
walls of flames consuming everything in their path. That would
be the single most destructive episode of Montana's 2006 fire
season, as the wind-whipped Derby Mountain fire destroyed 26
homes and 20 outbuildings. "You don't fight the fire when it's
going like that," Jones said. "You stay out of the way." With
the end perhaps weeks away, this year's fire season already
seems headed for the history books, possibly ranked among 1988,
2000 and 2003.
by Gazette Staff
Friday 9/8/06
An estimated
1,028 personnel were assigned to the blaze. That figure includes
12 Hot Shot crews, eight hand crews, 87 engines, 11 dozers, nine
helicopters, four single-engine air tankers and four water
tenders.
Helicopters are working from a portable retardant base 10 miles
south of Big Timber on the Boulder River. Air tankers from
Billings have also been available.
Helicopters dumped 180,000 gallons of water and 16,000 gallons
of retardant, while slurry bombers dropped 4,100 gallons of
retardant. "These ranchers are losing all their grassland,
all their winter feed, even some haystacks. It's just
devastating."
Today (9/7) was the third day that the area scored 6, the
highest rating on the Haines Index, which measures atmospheric
conditions and dryness. But early Thursday morning, the score
dropped to 5. "They're calling this level six for three days
running," Daniels said. "Rarely, if ever, in your career do you
see a Haines level five."
from the Billings Gazette
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Photo courtesy of
Stacey Schweigel
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Photo by Gazette Staff
Saturday 9/9/06
BOB ZELLAR/Gazette Staff
Nick Matheson and Ben Agol, of
the Eldorado Hot Shot crew from Northern California, guard a
fire line at the Derby Mountain fire Friday.
Nine helicopters, 10 Hot Shot crews,
seven Type 2 crews, 104 engines, 11 bulldozers and seven water
tenders are working the lines. More than 10,000 feet of fire
hose has been laid to help shore up dozer lines. Helicopters
equipped with buckets dropped 90,000 gallons of water, and
48,000 gallons of retardant was dropped by the heavy helicopters
working the fire.
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09/14/06
LARRY MAYER/Gazette Staff
Jay O'Neill, of the Park County
Sheriff's Department, left, and Jeff Schoenen and Pat Walker of
Livingston Fire and Rescue man a roadblock on Swingley Road east
of Livingston Wednesday night as the Jungle fire flared up.
BOB ZELLAR/Gazette Staff
A Park County Sheriff's deputy
drives away from the Jungle fire on West Boulder Road to inform
residents of an evacuation order as smoke towers in the
background Wednesday afternoon.
Explosive fire conditions fueled yet
another blowup at the Jungle fire Wednesday, prompting hundreds
of new evacuations in Park and Sweet Grass counties. The blaze 15
miles southwest of Livingston roared to about 20,000 acres by
Wednesday night - an aggressive leap from the previous day's
estimate of 5,500 acres. Down-canyon winds, heavy timbers, and
hot, dry weather combined to drive the expansion to the north
and east. The fire was heading toward the Boulder River
drainage in Sweet Grass County. Crews were pulled off the
western flank of the Derby Mountain fire to assist with
structure-protection efforts in the Main Boulder River drainage.
Wednesday's wind also pushed the
Derby Mountain fire onto itself. "We had westerly winds
all day today, and that's a good thing for us, but it's not a
good thing for the Jungle fire," said fire information officer
Nancy Guerrero. The fire has covered about 208,000 acres and is
80 percent contained. A total of 615 people were on the blaze.
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