Burn baby, burn! (DIAL-UP WARNING!)

[DemoTex]

Most of these photos are of the Hole-in-the-Ground Rx burn today (unit 13). The smoke had a good dark background and the sun was behind the thick clouds, so I had some good photo ops. I'm still working on the through-the-firescope genre.

We did have a couple of real live fires today. Several crews are still on a fire over near the Deschutes River - mopping up, as they say.

Three weeks from tomorrow is closing day at the lookout. As part of my mopping-up process, I will soon post my favorite photos from this season and last in a poll. That should be fun! Meanwhile, enjoy these photos.

mac


Taken with the old Nikon D-70 (half-frame, and half the weight of my Canon EOS 5D-MII). This burn is 29 miles away.


The Hole-in-the-Ground Rx burn - 29 miles to my southwest (209-degree azimuth)


The "Horse Haven" burns to my northeast today. These were "private" burns. Some farmer spent a fortune on kero!


The Hole-in-the-Ground burn from inside the lookout tower. Don't ask - don't dare ask! It is plastic fer goodnessake.


View through the fire-finder.


The catwalk setup and view.


Hole-in-the-Ground in T25S R13E S18

[Jamastiene]

1. Is a Hole-in-the-Ground Rx burn like a controlled burn?

I love the pictures. I sure have enjoyed you posting the pictures through the season.

K&R

[DemoTex]

3. They used to call them "controlled burns."

Then they lost controll of a few, so they now call them "Prescribed Burns" or "Rx Burns."

[Warpy]

4. Yeah, they haven't called them controlled burns around here

since some yahoo forgot to check the weather report and ended up burning down a good portion of the town of Los Alamos.

It looks like your last few weeks aren't as dull as you thought they were going to be.

[DemoTex]

5. 10-4!

I have lightning flashing in three quadrants, and Nick is quaking so he must hear the thunder. I might too, but I have "Night on Bald Mountain" on the CD player at max volume!

It is pitch-black dark here. If the lightning gets closer, I'll pull out the EOS 5D-MII. For now, It is too far away and I am way too tiered.

[tabatha]

6. Why do they do them?

[DemoTex]

10. Rx burn: the intentional use of fire to reduce wildfire.

"Prescribed Fire is used to approximate the natural vegetative disturbance of periodic fire occurrence. This vegetative management tool is used to maintain fire dependent ecosystems and restore those outside their natural balance." Read the rest here:

http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/fireuse/rxfire/rx_index.html



(USFS Photos)

The Opine Unit Rx burn last May (my photo)

[dionysus]

2. once again, thx for teh awesome pics.

:patriot:

[Chulanowa]

7. "Big Hole Butte"?

That's gotta be a great opener at parties.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

8. thanks again for the great pics.

Rx burns. good to know.

:patriot:

[malaise]

9. Wow!

Thanks for your hard work and the great pics.

[LWolf]

11. I was thinking about you while driving home from work one day last week.

I don't remember which day it was.

It was about 5:30 in the evening; I was driving West, from a little North of Redmond.

There was a heavy cloud bank building in the west. To the north, there was some sky between the mountain tops and the clouds. To the south, the clouds were lower. The sun, at that time of day, was just behind the clouds, and the light was spilling out underneath them, over the tops of the mountains. In the north, it was a clear, bright, yellow-white light. Directly west, it was flaming, with reds, oranges, and pinks in the most spectacular sunset display I've seen in decades.

In addition to the light, there was a spot in the west where I could see the clouds letting down a veil of rain, and a spot just to the south of that where I could see black smoke rising to meet the clouds. I thought it was maybe from a lightning strike.

The whole thing was just BREATHTAKING. I wondered if you could see it from where you were, and if you were getting any shots of it.

The light lasted a long time. When I got home, it was raining lightly, with some thunder in the distance. That incredible gold/pink/red glow was hitting the water on my deck and reflecting it back in through the windows. We did have a mild thunderstorm move in closer, as the light was leaving, and last awhile.

Nothing like last night's cracks, hailstorm, and gusher.

I think it was Wednesday or Thursday evening; did you see it?