These are so sad. I’ve been in hurricanes and typhoons before, but nothing activates the pucker factor and gets the sweat pumps online as these do.
Grim, to say the least, Steve. Structures can be replaced but lives is a quite different matter. I have been to many woodland fires but nothing on the scale you get over there. Fallen firefighters always in my thoughts.
Firefighters Wheeler, Zajac, and Zbyszewski, thank you for your service to the citizens of the United States.
The air is so bad here that it smells like a campfire whenever I go outside. I’m struggling a bit with asthma. No fires close by though. Yet.
I can’t imagine being active, fighting fire, and trying to breathe this crap.
Steve,
Firefighting is for the young people among us. We stay at home and run our trains.
two more years and i will join you.
Saw it on the new here last night. Some of our blokes are going up there to assist.
Stay safe everyone
Yes Bob thank you to your countrymen and those from New Zealand as well as Canada that are coming to aid in our fires. We simply do not have enough man power. They are even training civilians to fight the fires.
BTW do you know how to properly spell Canada… C eh, N eh, D eh. Sorry old joke but came to mind.
Terrible thing, so big I can’t imagine how they will control it. Smoke is even blown here to Nebraska.
I should look for my pics of the Station Fire in the hills near my home. Those pics were epicly frighteningly scary for us as it looked so close, glad nothing that bad has happened since.
You guys are getting hit hard with those fires. Lets hope for some rain. Jersey sent a few crews out their as well.
Shawn Viggiano said:
You guys are getting hit hard with those fires. Lets hope for some rain. Jersey sent a few crews out their as well.
And we appreciate them, too, as well as the one from other states and nations, even as far away as New Zealand and Australia. They’ve even put out a call for civilian volunteers.
Steve, I have not heard if have any rail structures been burned on abandoned or currently used lines. Have you heard? I know that Oroville and Grand Forks near the border have former BN lines and the fires are close to them on the US side; I have also not heard if the abandoned Kettle Valley right of way bridges or structures have been damaged or destroyed from the fires on the Canadian side from the Rock Creek fire…Any news about that?
Myron
Myron Claridge said:
Steve, I have not heard if have any rail structures been burned on abandoned or currently used lines. Have you heard? I know that Oroville and Grand Forks near the border have former BN lines and the fires are close to them on the US side; I have also not heard if the abandoned Kettle Valley right of way bridges or structures have been damaged or destroyed from the fires on the Canadian side from the Rock Creek fire…Any news about that?
Myron
Myron, I haven’'t heard anything concrete, but there was a mention on the radio this morning about railroad ties smoking, somewhere in the Okanagan Complex Fire. The announcer was not very specific, though. That fire has now consumed over 400 square miles, makeing it the biggest fire in Washington State history.
Here is a youtube video of a BNSF fire train, taken on July 15, 2015. Interesting.
Nice video Steve. That train must be stored along the Columbia River someplace. The one stored in Spokane has different tanks and a green caboose.
Out here in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho the smoke is so thick that you can’t see Canfield mountain that is less then a 1/2 mile to the east of my house. Not to mention the haze that is cast over my layout and yard. It’s really making breathing a little harder. We are praying for rain for this entire region.
BNSF had a fire train stationed at Wishram for a while, so that video might be of that train. I recall seeing a couple of water cars stored in Lester, WA on the Stampede sub years ago.
Smoke here in the West Kootenay area of BC is no better. Visibility is less than 1 KM. (5/8 of a mile for those who don’t do metric.). We are less than 80 KM from the big fire south of Grand Forks.
Devon: that may be an old joke, but it is also a bad joke and I find it somewhat offensive.
Ron Spencer
No relief in sight. Its so smoky here in beautiful Deer Park that trees just twenty yards away appear cloaked in mist. The sun is just barely visible at 10:20 AM. and is colored a deep red.
I went outside to work on the railroad, and immediately started sneezing.
Pray for rain.
Wednesday, 26 AUG 2015
Thursday, 27 Aug 2015
These fires will not be put out completely until late winter. That is if we get any snow or rain.
I read today on a friends Face book page that we had 2 more fires start in the
mountains just East of us on Fernan Saddle in the last couple of days. The
forest service people they ran into at a check point said the forest service is
going to close the forest down with a level Stage 3 alert this Saturday. Fish
and Game has also cancelled Elk hunting season this year in certain areas
because of the fires. It’s not looking good out there.