Pictures from Missoula Helitack, MT DNRC

2009 Fire Season

Above:  Keith K., on a flight home to Missoula from the Davis Creek fire.

    For the 2009 fire season I decided to remain in Missoula for one last season with the DNRC helitack crew.  I had a few other offers from other places around the nation, but the opportunity to stay in Missoula for one more summer was too much to pass up.  The crew changed a bit from last year, with a few old faces leaving to forge new paths in new places, and new faces replacing them.  Overall the balance, though changed, was good, and we had a great time as we taught the new folks the SWLO helitack routine.

    The season got off to a slow start, as it had the year before.  We started off by helping out the Anaconda Unit with a prescribed burn in May, and then had a bit of a lull before our training sessions started.  Actually, it was a bit more than a lull, to be truthful... After our RX burn, our next fire didn't happen until July 18th, almost 2 months later.  It was the first time in many years that the helitack crew went without a fire in the month of June.  Sadly, things didn't really improve much over the course of the season.  We had several long stretches of hot and dry weather, but only one decent lightning bust.  Unfortunately the storm also came with rain, and only resulted in a handful of fires.  After the Missoula area experienced record-breaking rain in early August, the season came to an abrupt halt.  The last fire we flew on was on August 3rd, and most of the seasonals were laid off at the end of the month.  Myself and one other were lucky enough to stay on for another two weeks after that, but still didn't see much for activity.

    The only thing that saved me from a long and poor winter was a two week assignment to the Umpqua NF in southwestern Oregon as a helicopter manager.  Well, I tried to make it two weeks, but due to rain in that area as well I only made it for 10 days.  Still, I had a great time as I had never been to Oregon before, and I met a lot of people that I either knew, or had some connection to.  The helicopter I managed was also pretty neat, as it was the first time I'd worked with the Boeing Vertol 107, which is a pretty interesting aircraft.  Even more interesting is that 74D, one of the 3 Columbia Helicopters Vertols assigned to the fire, is the highest-time Vertol in the world with over 74,000 flight hours... Amazing.  Of course there's very little on the aircraft that hasn't been replaced at least once, but it's still a neat thing to have worked with a helicopter that unique.

Without further dialogue, here are some photos from the summer...

Getting ready for the Maxville Canyon RX	Me lighting on the Maxville Canyon RX	Helicopter training for the Corvallis/Darby VFDs held at Corvallis	88M and the Bitterroot Mtns.
Small group of folks... just the way we like it	Headed home to Missoula from Corvallis	En route to the Bielenburg fire on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge NF	Bielenburg burning in beetle-kill lodgepole pine
Yep... it's big	Junior and Steve, making phone calls in the wind at the Bielenburg helispot	Torching on our recon flight with the local FMO	More torching
View out the door on the recon	Loading up 88M for an IA on the Lincoln Unit	Refueling near Ovando after an IA at Lincoln	Flying home, near Clearwater Junction
Another sunset shot	On the flight home from Lincoln	88M at the Bearmouth helispot	Helitacking at its best... finding shade where we can
Our leader, in photo-op mode	Steve in disguise on a fire at Clearwater Unit	Steve loading cargo on a middle-of-the-road helispot	Steve in late '70s mode
The latest addition to the DNRC engine fleet	Another look at the "parade engine"	Paperwork, DNRC-style on the Davis Creek fire (Next few photos by Mark Nanke)	Inbound!
Looking up after digging some line	Digging line	Crew on the top of the hill at Davis Creek	Wet line courtesy of 88M
Happy JV on the Davis Creek fire	88M dropping on the Davis Creek fire	Missoula Unit engine bosses having fun with mopup, Davis Creek fire (end of Nanke's pics)	Randy and Mark headed home after Davis Creek
Hellgate Canyon, Jumbo and Sentinel	UM and the "M"	Mark and 88M after the Davis Creek fire	N6674D, the Vertol I managed in Oregon.  Pic courtesy of the 74D crew

Previous Gallery - Missoula Helitack 2008

Next Gallery - Scenery

"Trust your hunches.... Hunches are usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level."  – Dr. Joyce Brothers