Fires in Bastrop

[1sum41]

Tupac I'm up here in Georgetown. And all of the firefighting helicopters are using our airport as a base.

[CAP1]

Because everything burns. Its not just trees.

Grass, bushes, everything.

 he's kinda right though. i think that cutting a line....as in diging up anything/everything that can burn to stop the fire is(or at least used to be) a tactic. i seem to recall reading of controlled burns, in order to burn out an area before the fire gets there, thus hoping to stop the fire.

[branch37]

he's kinda right though. i think that cutting a line....as in diging up anything/everything that can burn to stop the fire is(or at least used to be) a tactic. i seem to recall reading of controlled burns, in order to burn out an area before the fire gets there, thus hoping to stop the fire.

They still do this sometimes.  It wouldn't be very practical down near Austin and south Texas since the areas that are burning are so thickly wooded that setting any kind of secondary fire would more than likley just make the fire bigger.  Now up where I live, it actually works quite well.  Most of the ranches that catch fire up here are mainly grassland or pasture, thus being easier to control a smaller fire.  But, with the winds like they have been, setting any kind of fire is just a crazily irresponsible thought.

[Shuffler]

What has been odd is that there werent many wildfires at all, and then when I got back from my ttrip it sounded like the entire state is on fire.

<sigh> We need rain really bad.

Texas has had fires burning for 295 days. Not the same fires but constant wildfires for that long.

120000 acres just this past week.

[AHTbolt]

Yall are missing the point about fires, in high winds, the main fire moves fast but the sparks and embers move faster. There were winds up to 45mph and new fires were being started a half mile away. My moms house and sisters house are just out of the fire zone so it was close to home for me. Now blowing up the trees would not stop the fire, you havent done anything the fuel is still there and they have dozers working to push roads for the fire crews to get trucks into. The land is rolling hills with steep gullies and the flat areas have alot of homes close by. A quarter size chunk of C4 was used to heat c-rations and it will explode if you stomp on it with your boot instead of kicking dirt over it.

[saggs]

he's kinda right though. i think that cutting a line....as in diging up anything/everything that can burn to stop the fire is(or at least used to be) a tactic. i seem to recall reading of controlled burns, in order to burn out an area before the fire gets there, thus hoping to stop the fire.

Cutting fire lines is still is a very common wildfire fighting tactic, and if they have water nearby they will set soaker hoses in the line they cut as well.  Setting "backfires" inside those fire lines is also very common (I've seen them do it dropping fire bombs out of a Jetranger) so F22 isn't as nuts as you all seem to think, wildland firefighters can and do often literally fight fire with fire.

[Shuffler]

Firelines and back burns.

We have a small 10 acre fire about a mile down the road. Just across hwy 225 from the Shell plant.

One of our drivers just came in and reported it.

[Tupac]

Big one near Camp Bullis now. I saw the 2 converted firefighting crop-dusters from Fredericksburg heading that way.

[Seanaldinho]

The "Medal of Honor" run is required if it doesn't fuse and detonate properly.  Then the "volunteer" has to go and start the timed fuse. Mad respect for the ones that do it though.

Thats what i was referring to. 

[1pLUs44]

Whenever I was in Austin, I saw an old prop plane going in to fight the fires painted orange and white. Anyone have any clue what old planes they still use for firefighting?

[saggs]

Whenever I was in Austin, I saw an old prop plane going in to fight the fires painted orange and white. Anyone have any clue what old planes they still use for firefighting?

Possibly a Lockheed P-2 Neptune.



Neptune aviation out of Missoula, MT still runs them as fire-bombers all over the west.

They are a pretty neat design, they run Wright 3350 radials, and  Westinghouse J34 turbojets.  They'll use the jets for climb, and when they need them, but normally shut them down and just cruise on the radials.

[branch37]

Theres 2 of these sitting on the tarmac at Abliene Regional Airport painted yellow and white.

[Slash27]

Cutting fire lines is still is a very common wildfire fighting tactic, and if they have water nearby they will set soaker hoses in the line they cut as well.  Setting "backfires" inside those fire lines is also very common (I've seen them do it dropping fire bombs out of a Jetranger) so F22 isn't as nuts as you all seem to think, wildland firefighters can and do often literally fight fire with fire.

When it's jumping lakes it's a different ballgame.

[1pLUs44]

Possibly a Lockheed P-2 Neptune.

(Image removed from quote.)

Neptune aviation out of Missoula, MT still runs them as fire-bombers all over the west.

They are a pretty neat design, they run Wright 3350 radials, and  Westinghouse J34 turbojets.  They'll use the jets for climb, and when they need them, but normally shut them down and just cruise on the radials.

possibly, it wasn't going very fast at all. it was just crawling along over towards the fire.