2. 2009

Crazy Mountain Complex Fire - Circle, Alaska

An engine crew assignment on a portion of a 500,000 acre fire complex in Circle, Alaska. We were on this fire for two weeks, total.
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Fire licks hungrily up a spruce tree and spreads through the fluffy tundra typical of the Alaskan wilderness.
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Fire licks hungrily up a spruce tree and spreads through the fluffy tundra typical of the Alaskan wilderness.

CMSFDCrazy Mountain ComplexFirefightingAlaska2009

  • When the smoke gets thick, the sun takes on a more defined shape.
  • Our first day on the fire ended with a broken pump and another trip down the Steese to Fairbanks where we made our own accommodations and found a shop willing to fix our pump first thing in the morning.
  • Fireweed blossoms in ridiculous quantities along the Steese Highway in old burns from the past few years.
  • Fireweed blooms rampant in a 360-degree panorama of the Steese Highway with a pall of smoke tinting half the horizon.
  • This area burned two years ago and has only had time for the fireweed to recover.
  • Scarred remnants of a forested hillside rise up through the bright fireweed blossoms.
  • The end of summer is near as the fireweed blossoms move up the stalk to the top of the plant itself.
  • Division Supervisor JP lines us out with a plan when we finally make it back to the fire.
  • JP's boots are held together with fiber tape, showing the amount of work they've gone through.
  • Our job for much of the fire was maintaining an open road by cutting back the fallen trees and keeping the roadside clear of dangerous snags.
  • Danny Clemons runs the saw to clear the roadside of fallen trees.
  • Fire licks hungrily up a spruce tree and spreads through the fluffy tundra typical of the Alaskan wilderness.
  • Danny Clemons moves through the smoky woods looking for the edges of this uncontained portion of the fire.
  • Faint sunlight struggles through the haze to reach the forest floor as fire burns all around us.
  • A downed spruce provides excellent fuel for the heat, which crawls inside and burns it from within.
  • The faster animals manage to keep ahead of the flames, and sometimes even the trucks moving along the highway. Here, a rabbit runs from my approach.
  • Danny Clemons puts some water on a hotspot in the woods.
  • The ground burns from under us as Danny wets down some heat.
  • Danny Clemons works in the thick woods to extinguish some heat.
  • Thick smoke adds an orange tint to everything as Danny drags his hose through the woods hitting hotspots.
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