July 4th 2013

I hope everybody had a great Independence Day. It happens to be my favorite holiday - no cards, no gifts, no drama or pressure. For us, it's just gathering with friends and family, good food and fireworks.

Not everyone around here enjoyed the day as much as I did. Some of my friends were busy yesterday - very busy.

The B.C. was busy, he was herding cats until the Fire Marshall showed up to give him a hand.

 

The engine crews were busy. They had to tool up and hoof it into the fire. It looked as if hand tool work would be able to hold it. The arrival of the westerly wind altered that plan.

 

Helitack 301was busy. They choppered in and went to work on the left flank. It was hand tools for them as well.

After the crew was off-loaded, Helicopter 301 got busy, it went to work slowing down the right flank. They were using a pond at a local golf course for a water supply, their turn-around time was a little over three minutes.

The Division Supervisors were busy. This one had the left flank, from the gazebo west. Several hand crews, several engine companies and the supporting water tenders kept his hands full.

 

The PIO was busy. Several print and television outlets were requesting his services.

The inmate hand crews were busy, they always are. The amount of work these guys do is amazing, they are the ones who usually end up completing the control line around the fire. A few minutes after this photo was taken, the fire intensified and they had to back off from the direct attack until things calmed a bit.

Tanker 73 was busy for a few minutes. It put some pink line down between the fire and some buildings. I was hoping for a better shot, but the smoke would not cooperate.

This engineer was busy, finding a yard hydrant and using the monitor to take care of some issues over the perimeter wall. I could have had some real fun with this, but the spray was going to wreak havoc with my gear, so I opted for the safe shot.

Me? I wasn't all that busy. I snapped a few pics, then left my former comrades and headed home for some grilling, cocktails and a fireworks show. The folks were a little miffed that I was late getting back to the crib, but I'm guessin' they'll get over it. Or they won't.

Either way, it was a pretty golly gosh darn good day. I turned the radio on after we got home from the fireworks show, it sounded like the whole city was hopping. There were still resources committed to the Sycamore Incident, the usual calls were still going on and the partying and fireworks were adding to the din.

I unloaded the truck, went to bed and slept like a baby. I thought about the poor bastards overhauling the fire, but not for long.

Thanks for reading,

Schmoe