The fire started within 600 feet of state protected land and the initial ground response was by the Oregon Department of Forestry. Tanker 62 was used initially because of a lack of immediately available Federal resources. T62 was released under the current joint use policy when additional Federal resources were on the way. For example, T17 eventually arrived from Moses Lake.
Jim Hansen, Klamath Falls Air Attack, took a series of aerial photos of the Miranda Fire, including tanker operations. These photographs are used here with his permission. Larry added some annotations to these photos that to go along his commentary of the fire. I found that these photos along with Larry's commentary and annotations provided me with an excellent up close and personal look of air tanker operations.
Referring to the photo above, Larry begins by setting the stage:
I had to start the drop a bit early because we had a strong tailwind and they wanted to be sure to tie into the road with retardant to make an anchor point.
He added some annotations so that you can follow along:
Red Arrow: This is the road that I was instructed to be sure to tie into to act as an anchor point.
Greenish Arrow: This is a second road. This drop carried almost to the road with the tailwind.Tanker 17 was to extend this drop and try to start around the head in a right turn. It isn't readily apparent in these pictures,but the terrain rose in the direction of the drops,so a right turn was used for the exit. This picture shows Tanker 62 closely following the leadplane.
Moving on to the second photo, Larry continues:
Red Arrow: This points to the anchor point road from first picture.
Green Arrow: This is the second road that figures in the Tanker 17 drop pictures.
Yellow Circle: This is the leadplane starting his right turn to avoid the rising terrain.
Looking at the third picture, Larry goes on to explain:
Red Arrow: This points to the anchor point road at the beginning of T62's first drop.
Yellow Line: This line shows T62's first drop on the Left Flank of the fire.
Green Line: This line shows T62's retardant line from the second load which anchored to the same road as the first load,but on the Right Flank of the fire.
We end with the fourth and last picture of the series. Tanker 62 had been released from the fire by the time Tanker 17 arrived. Larry says that
This picture shows Tanker 17's second load. This was after I'd been released from the fire, so I can only give an educated guess, which follows:
T17's first load extended T62's first load and this picture shows T17 extending his first load (which had extended T62's first load).
Red Arrow: This is the second road from the first and second pictures. Tanker 62's first drop ended just short of this road.
Yellow Line: This retardant is from T17's first load.There was also a SEAT working on the fire (T845), so any stray retardant that runs at odd angles to the main line is likely from his attempts to fill in or strengthen weak spots in the line.The wind made exact tie-ins difficult.
Green Circle: This is Tanker 17.
Orange Circle: This is the Leadplane.
He wraps by saying that "the parts involving Tanker 62 should be completely accurate. Those on Tanker 17 are probably 95% accurate."
There is not much else I can add to Jim's photos and Larry's wonderful commentary and annotations. He has given us an up close and personal look at tanker operations on the Miranda Fire. I don't know about you, but I found that these pictures and commentary have made tanker operations at a wildfire come alive. Thank-you Larry and Jim!
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