Eagle Trail Wildland Fire: Tanacross, AK
Well it's been a busy couple weeks for me, so I'm behind on sharing my photos, and since that's one of the biggest motivators for TAKING photos for me, I'm taking a moment to get caught up at least a little bit on DGrin. 
I went out for a couple days two weeks ago to drive a wildland engine our department leased out to the D.O.F. on the Eagle Trail Fire near Tanacross, Alaska, and spent some time on the fireline, which is just an all-around awesome place to be. I was limited by a photo gig that week though, so I didn't get to stay nearly as long as I'd have liked, but I came home with a little taste of firefighting to share.
I won't lie, our assignment as an engine crew is straight up one of the easiest out there. When I worked a season on a crew, we hated these guys, sitting around all lazy in their air conditioned cabs and only getting out every now and then to leisurely put out a little heat with a hose and unlimited water. The crews spend their sixteen hour shifts outside on their feet carrying 45 pound packs, plus whatever tools, chainsaws, and 50-pound "cubies" - a cubic foot of drinking water - they need, and generally do all of the grunt work of firefighting. Looking at it from the engine driver's side of the table now, I still understand the jealous hatred of the crews, and it really is entirely justified, but I still wouldn't necessarily WANT to go back to their more respectable work. :rofl
Our assignment was cleaning up some heat on one edge of the fire that was already pretty well under control, while the front continued in another direction away from any roads and therefore difficult to get a handle on. Here's a part of our little section of "the black".
Aerial retardant drops are dyed red, largely so the pilots can see where they've already dropped. This lone birch was standing tall on the edge of the dozerline we patrolled, waiting for a bit of rain to turn it back to the shiny white it's supposed to be.
We drove our department's newest brush truck back and forth along a fireline plowed through the woods by bulldozers and made sure there was nothing left smoking close to the edge during the days we were there. Here's Danny working at extinguishing some deep heat in a pile of debris from the dozer.
Jess takes her turn at the nozzle, hydro-mining with the water stream to dig into the mud and cool down the heated logs buried by the bulldozer.
After a couple days our heat was mostly cooled off, so we spent our hours driving back and forth trying to spot smokes within a hoselength of the line, and watching the enormous column as the other side of the fire erupted into action during the midday heat.
One portion of our dozerline drove us straight through the black, which as I've said is one of the most beautiful places out there. Here's a 360 pano of this section of line with Danny and Jess dropping some water on a small hotspot in a manner perfectly in stereotype to drive the crews crazy with jealousy. :rofl
After my few days was up, I was replaced and headed home while the fire reached about 14,000 acres. After another week, when our engine was sent home, it had burned almost 20,000 acres and was pretty much under control. I got this one just before taking off, while putting out a bit of heat under some partially burnt spruce trees. This is it for this fire, so I hope you've all thoroughly enjoyed the shots!
I went out for a couple days two weeks ago to drive a wildland engine our department leased out to the D.O.F. on the Eagle Trail Fire near Tanacross, Alaska, and spent some time on the fireline, which is just an all-around awesome place to be. I was limited by a photo gig that week though, so I didn't get to stay nearly as long as I'd have liked, but I came home with a little taste of firefighting to share.I won't lie, our assignment as an engine crew is straight up one of the easiest out there. When I worked a season on a crew, we hated these guys, sitting around all lazy in their air conditioned cabs and only getting out every now and then to leisurely put out a little heat with a hose and unlimited water. The crews spend their sixteen hour shifts outside on their feet carrying 45 pound packs, plus whatever tools, chainsaws, and 50-pound "cubies" - a cubic foot of drinking water - they need, and generally do all of the grunt work of firefighting. Looking at it from the engine driver's side of the table now, I still understand the jealous hatred of the crews, and it really is entirely justified, but I still wouldn't necessarily WANT to go back to their more respectable work. :rofl
Our assignment was cleaning up some heat on one edge of the fire that was already pretty well under control, while the front continued in another direction away from any roads and therefore difficult to get a handle on. Here's a part of our little section of "the black".
Aerial retardant drops are dyed red, largely so the pilots can see where they've already dropped. This lone birch was standing tall on the edge of the dozerline we patrolled, waiting for a bit of rain to turn it back to the shiny white it's supposed to be.
We drove our department's newest brush truck back and forth along a fireline plowed through the woods by bulldozers and made sure there was nothing left smoking close to the edge during the days we were there. Here's Danny working at extinguishing some deep heat in a pile of debris from the dozer.
Jess takes her turn at the nozzle, hydro-mining with the water stream to dig into the mud and cool down the heated logs buried by the bulldozer.
After a couple days our heat was mostly cooled off, so we spent our hours driving back and forth trying to spot smokes within a hoselength of the line, and watching the enormous column as the other side of the fire erupted into action during the midday heat.
One portion of our dozerline drove us straight through the black, which as I've said is one of the most beautiful places out there. Here's a 360 pano of this section of line with Danny and Jess dropping some water on a small hotspot in a manner perfectly in stereotype to drive the crews crazy with jealousy. :rofl
After my few days was up, I was replaced and headed home while the fire reached about 14,000 acres. After another week, when our engine was sent home, it had burned almost 20,000 acres and was pretty much under control. I got this one just before taking off, while putting out a bit of heat under some partially burnt spruce trees. This is it for this fire, so I hope you've all thoroughly enjoyed the shots!
John Borland
www.morffed.com
www.morffed.com
0
Comments
On my return a few years later, the fire zone was still recognizable as a place fire visited but then so much of the forest floor was new growth. The lesson taught was that as devastating as fire is, it brings a new beginning which isn't all that bad a thing.