Boise on fire

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mbaird

mbaird

mbaird
Joined
Dec 10, 2005
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Location
Boise, Id
I woke up this morning at 5:30 ( hockey habit ) and smelled smoke in the air . Checked my phone and it turns out the fire is within 3 miles of my house !
I had to run some errands then go to work at noon . Now the fire is within 2 miles.
Here is a pic 1 block from my house looking accross rhe river

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Imagine my surprise in '85 while coming home to Garden Valley with slash piles burning to my surprise not knowing WTF.

Best of luck ! & prayers for you.
 
Yikes. No bueno! Hopefully you get a pass on this one!
 
Have they got water tankers in the air? If not why not? Hopefully it gets handled before it gets to your house....
 
mbaird said:
I woke up this morning at 5:30 ( hockey habit ) and smelled smoke in the air . Checked my phone and it turns out the fire is within 3 miles of my house !
I had to run some errands then go to work at noon . Now the fire is within 2 miles.
Here is a pic 1 block from my house looking accross rhe river

View attachment 1716311724
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Is that the Valley fire?

Made quite a run for starting today, already listed at over 7,800 acres. Just FYI, for those in fire country there's a really great at called "Watch Duty". It updates with information on pretty much every fire, will send you notifications for fires in your area, has mapping when they do the infrared flights, will show pictures from any fire cameras in the area, will show evacuation areas and shelters, etc. That's just the free version. I use it as a firefighter and it frequently updates faster than you can get information even through official channels. Not always, but it's a great resource for anyone especially if you don't have scanners/radios or official access.

I don't have any connection to it, I have a bunch of apps and resources I use and it's just one of the more helpful. I probably use it just as much at home as I do on duty, since I live in a wildland fire area. They have subscription plans of course with more features, but it's run by a non-profit.

Watch Duty - Wildfire Maps & Alerts

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mbaird said:
It’s freakin October !
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Doesn't matter. Until you get a good 1/2 to 1" of rain it will all burn. If anything, October can be the worst because the fuel has had longer to dry. The worst part of fire season can easily be the week before winter sets in. This is Idaho currently- every little flame icon is a fire. Obviously with the scale of the map some of those icons are much larger in area on the map than the fires they represent, but you get the idea. Looks like you guys are still waiting for winter to show up, and if the long range forecasts are worth anything there's at least a couple more weeks of high temperatures. Red flag warning areas too (in pink)


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Idaho was lucky this year . As many fires as we have had it could have been much worse ! Super dry .. luckkly we had a few good storms in mtns about 3-4 weeks ago which quelled many of the fires . But nothing since . Late Sept and October should be rain and snow in the high country . Spent many an archery hunt in snow late September. Valley has gotten maybe 3 days of rain in thhe last 4 months .
The last pics show the fire heading into Robbie Creek which has many (about 100) cabins and homes. You can see a big black plum in one pic that I image is a structure going up in flames . My son was a wildland firefighter and said they used to talk about how logistically impossible it would be to defend that area . He was based in Idaho city which is about. 10 miles away .
 
Cost effectiveness might be an issue . I heard they used to use dog food soaked in water but that may have been a wives tale or my active imagination. Lol

Turn around time for tankers/helicopters is vital so scooping water out of a nearby lake or river is a time saver . Pretty amazing to watch !
 
We still have a fire going to the north east. They were using the guys from Canada that have the tankers that land on a lake, scoop up water then fly off. Only land-for fuel. The have a real quick turn around unlike the DC10 which has to land to fill up with fuel and retardant.
 
dart4forte said:
We still have a fire going to the north east. They were using the guys from Canada that have the tankers that land on a lake, scoop up water then fly off. Only land-for fuel. The have a real quick turn around unlike the DC10 which has to land to fill up with fuel and retardant.
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Also remember living in Yakima WA when fire season would hit. The smell of burning sage. Before we move south the summers would be constantly smoky from the Canadian fires. Constant smell of a campfire.
 
Have you ever burned sage in a campfire ? Holy cow! It burns hot and fast ! Must have a lot of oil in t . First time I did it made me realize how careful I have to be while camping in it .
 
I knew something wasn't right when I got to work in Boise and the sky and sun were orange. Then we saw the smoke.
It got big fast!!!
 
Is it under control yet?

3 mi is WAY too close.
 
Currently showing 9,412 acres and 0% containment.

That said, looking at the cameras in the area it doesn’t appear to be ripping like it was yesterday. Controlled and contained are different things, but it definitely looks better than yesterday.
 
I wish you the best. We have been lucky up here in the N end this year, and not even that much smoke from "out of the area."
 
mbaird said:
Have you ever burned sage in a campfire ? Holy cow! It burns hot and fast ! Must have a lot of oil in t . First time I did it made me realize how careful I have to be while camping in it .
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Yup! Pine and juniper as well, especially when it's dry and hot.
And sagebrush stinks like no other when it burns too. Worse than burning cow ****. And if you get any of that sage smoke on your clothes... Hoo boy! People really avoid you, lol.
 
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Junior340 said:
mbaird you doing ok?
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Yeah … it burned down to the homes accross the river then the wind shifted and it went up and over the mountains. Nothing left to burn in the foothills. The night time pics were of it burning backside of the ridge . Sad because I know that area from dirtbiking and hunting and can visualize the areas burning . Wont recover for 50 yrs!
 
mbaird said:
Yeah … it burned down to the homes accross the river then the wind shifted and it went up and over the mountains. Nothing left to burn in the foothills. The night time pics were of it burning backside of the ridge . Sad because I know that area from dirtbiking and hunting and can visualize the areas burning . Wont recover for 50 yrs!
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Stay safe please
 
mbaird said:
Yeah … it burned down to the homes accross the river then the wind shifted and it went up and over the mountains. Nothing left to burn in the foothills. The night time pics were of it burning backside of the ridge . Sad because I know that area from dirtbiking and hunting and can visualize the areas burning . Wont recover for 50 yrs!
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I dirtbike allot too so understand that. Thanks for updates.
 
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