2. 2007

Chimney Complex Fire - Waha, ID

55,000 acres burned in Hell's Canyon, and they stuck Alaskans into the inferno.
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Michael Mulcahy takes a torch refill, keeping the burners constantly supplied with full drip torches.
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Michael Mulcahy takes a torch refill, keeping the burners constantly supplied with full drip torches.

IdahoFirefightingChimney ComplexMichael Mulcahy2007

  • Adam Webber and Michael Mulcahy put out some heat.
  • A helicopter bucket drop moves into position one afternoon as the fire makes a run toward the main camp.
  • The Chinook can carry a lot of water, but not enough to stop this fire on its own.
  • Several helitack crews went to work, as well as all available firefighters on the fireline, stopping this advancement before it took out our incident command center.
  • Mal Smyth and Sarah Quimby check out some photos while waiting for the fire to advance closer.
  • Sarah Quimby
  • One of our better assignments was a two-day backburn of the last unsecured flank of the fire. Here the crew holds the green while trees torch off just behind them.
  • A few drops of torch fuel leave the forest in flames.
  • Smoke gets thick and impairs the holding crew's ability to see spot fires starting up on the wrong side of the fireline.
  • A map of the fire during its later stages. At this point we were working Division G, the last unsecured flank.
  • Ryan Keough suffered an injured ankle during our Hell's Canyon burn operation. He crawled himself to the bottom of the canyon where he met a jetboat and got a ride out to a truck that could take him to medical facilities.
  • Jeremy Mothershead enjoys his only moments of peace, sipping coffee over breakfast.
  • Crew Boss Josh Leutzinger, ready for the day.
  • We were helped on our backburn by a logging skidder turned fire engine, called a "skidgine" on the fireline. This equipment saved us a lot of work by pushing whole trees out of our fireline for us.
  • A lone member of the holding crew keeps an eye on the green during the burn operation.
  • The view from the fireline as the forest becomes completely involved. From where I stood, the fire was too hot to expose any skin to for more than a few seconds.
  • Flames leap skyward from the treetops as the burn operation continues.
  • Michael Mulcahy takes a torch refill, keeping the burners constantly supplied with full drip torches.
  • Saba spins a weather, checking the temperature and relative humidity.
  • We worked late into the night, trying to keep the crew organized by the light from headlights filtering through the smoke.
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