Busy last leg over the Trout Fire. Tankers ran until last light continuing to build retardant line to support ground resources. The fire has continued to make a solid easterly push and is well established in multiple drainages.

Our last few turns over the Trout Fire this evening before starting our long flight back to our base. The Trout Fire remained very active into the evening with strong winds pushing it. Ground resources have their work cut out for them in some very challenging terrain.

Another busy day over in New Mexico today. The Trout and Buck Fires have the Silver City Tanker Base running nonstop. Multiple aircraft supporting both incidents coming in to load and fuel.

Trout Fire making a pretty good push this afternoon. Just a couple shots from the tanker base and flying by on our way to the Buck Fire.

The Buck Fire stayed active again today. Ground resources continued to make good progress burning off road systems in the area while aviation worked to corral problematic areas with retardant until additional resources could work in and pick it up direct.

8 hours in the air fighting fire, coordinating airspace, and supporting the ground resources makes for a long day. The long flight back to base this evening provided a beautiful close to a very busy day.

Heading to Alaska this morning! Taking a break from flying for a bit and putting the boots back on for a ground assignment as an Ops Chief. Orders came in last night and with Alaska in PL4 there should be plenty of fire to go around. It’ll be interesting, stay tuned..

Made it out to Anderson, AK. I will be boosting the Alaska CIMT on this roll doing Field Ops. The Team has been delegated management of the Bear Creek and St. George Fires. Both seem to be active and both are treating homes and infrastructure.

Most of the access to the Bear Creek Fire is well off the main roads and ATV/ITV access only. It has made for some amazing rides through some big country to check on backcountry homes and cabins as well as tie in with all the firefighters.

The St. George Fire has remained very active. It’s a fly in fly out only fire with no road access. Plumas Helitack, Vista Grande, and misc overhead and support members have been inserted to provide structure protection the the community of Gold King.

Bear Creek active again today. Crews are working to keep fire out of multiple isolated communities along the Park’s Highway utilizing retardant and buckets. It’s nice to be out of the plane and on the ground watching the retardant fly from below for a change.

West side of Bear Creek from my operations recon flight. Fire is being pushed by the wind and available fuels and has continued to move out to the west in Div D but poses no threat to any communities or infrastructure.

Making sure observe the moments each day to enjoy the wildlife and how amazing and special Alaska really is. The Moose all have babies with them right and it’s fun to watch these young animals find their legs and try so hard to not be so awkward 😆

Back up in Fairbanks today. Moving up to join the other Alaska CIMT to help with Ops. Looks like I’ll be on the Bonanza Fire on Nenana Ridge Fire.

Coming off a couple of really wet days on the Nenana Ridge Fire. 1.3 inches of rain has moderated fire behavior a bit but there is a week of drying ahead. Alaska’s fire season isn’t ready to give up yet. Our makeshift camp with all of this water in it is a different story…

After 30 days doing Ops, my time in Alaska has come to an end. Heading back to the lower 48 to reset and head out for an assignment with my IMT to the Orleans Complex in North Ops. Alaska is always an amazing experience of beauty and harshness, it never disappoints on either.

Working with the folks on the Tahoe NF doing Duty Officer. Lots of lighting over the past 24 hours. Hit 2 new starts on the forest hard yesterday and kept them parked and small. Photos are of the Haskell Fire. Excellent response from Tahoe and Plumas working together seamlessly.