Fires
The Elk Meadows fire between Pinewood Springs and Estes Park in Colorado was not more than a mile from where I work most days and burned just 4500 acres. It started from nothing, no lightning I mean. It was obviously set. There were black helicopters in the area just after the fire started. I was on my way to work when it started. My brother was in his quarry and gave this account from a bird’s eye view. Luckily the wind was blowing an impossible direction, it never blows from the NE in this mountain terrain. There are a lot of rocks in the area, so it didn’t burn long. The one mishap is interesting.
The plane that went down and killed two people was almost a staged event. 3 hours before it happened, less than 1 mile away, this event happened. The plane was dropping fire retardant on the fire and banked right into the quarry. The pilot was on drugs or something because my brother could have thrown a stone and hit the plane. It was sputtering badly. It shook the whole quarry and was obviously in trouble. My brother was running for his life. It is lucky that we have the only quarry in the world that tunnels into the mountain. 3 hours later, and just one minute after he was traveling down the same road, it crashes, just after he went through the area, on the road. He had 2 wake up calls.
The engine’s sprinklers were not activated. The engine was on fire when the plane’s wing fell off. The gas tank was intact according to my brother. No people or houses were ever in danger as this area is totally inaccessible. One possibility for the crash is that the plane was just carrying too much fire retardant for it to hold, bu t it had already dropped its load, I think. I’m not sure about this. It was a 4 engine plane and most of the planes used are 2 engine because of the terrain. The same company lost a plane in June in California doing the same thing.
He has a large loader so during all this, he offers his support to the firefighters. They tell him he is not needed just as the donuts are running out. The truth about forest firefighting comes to light as his nephew tells it anyway. 90% of the time, they sit around drinking coffee and eating donuts. The other 10% they fill in trenches. Most of the time, they watch and wait for the fire to out. They get $1000/day to do this. The nephew has gained 30# in this way.
A lot about this fire stinks.
1. Why was it set there in the first place. This is a big rock area and nothing much will burn for long. I agree that the whole area is a tinder box and will go up at the drop of a hat, though. The drought is easily the worst I’ve seen in 50 years.
2. Why was the wind blowing from the NE. It never blows this way. The winds always come from Longs Peak down the roadway like a funnel.
3. Why was there a rainstorm after 3 days bad enough to drench the fire completely. It only rains lightly each day normally from 3-4 in the afternoon. You can set your watch by it, but not this year.
4. Why were the pilots acting like they were on drugs? Is careening into mountains a normal activity. This was not a buzz of a farm field, they were in trouble.
5. Why wasn’t the plane properly maintained after it was sputtering? The company has been doing this for 40 years. Why after the June crash with the same type of plane would a company let the pilots overload their plane.
6. Why were the fuel tanks intact with a major fire right above them. 5 or 6 seconds is all it takes for a fire in an engine to rupture these tanks in the wing.
6. Why did the plane crash on the road? Did they want the road closed? What are they hiding?
7. Why were the sprinklers not activated? I thought this was automatic. Were they turned off by a crazed pilot?
8. Why wouldn’t they let my brother help fight the fire. Had the fire not accomplished its goal yet?
9. What were black helicopters doing in the area. There was a white one right next to it that I assumed was a news helicopter. I had a newsman call me up the next day for a photo because there is an Internet company doing dirty deeds and they wanted my opinion. Anyway, the photo journalist commented on the fire and how they bought the pictures of the fire from an ordinary person in the area who called in with photos. No one else had a helicopter in the area. So the white helicopter is also suspect, as are the photos. Why were the news people so graciously accepting photos when the area is only a short while from Denver and only accessible by plane or helicopter? This was a front page story.
The plane that went down and killed two people was almost a staged event. 3 hours before it happened, less than 1 mile away, this event happened. The plane was dropping fire retardant on the fire and banked right into the quarry. The pilot was on drugs or something because my brother could have thrown a stone and hit the plane. It was sputtering badly. It shook the whole quarry and was obviously in trouble. My brother was running for his life. It is lucky that we have the only quarry in the world that tunnels into the mountain. 3 hours later, and just one minute after he was traveling down the same road, it crashes, just after he went through the area, on the road. He had 2 wake up calls.
The engine’s sprinklers were not activated. The engine was on fire when the plane’s wing fell off. The gas tank was intact according to my brother. No people or houses were ever in danger as this area is totally inaccessible. One possibility for the crash is that the plane was just carrying too much fire retardant for it to hold, bu t it had already dropped its load, I think. I’m not sure about this. It was a 4 engine plane and most of the planes used are 2 engine because of the terrain. The same company lost a plane in June in California doing the same thing.
He has a large loader so during all this, he offers his support to the firefighters. They tell him he is not needed just as the donuts are running out. The truth about forest firefighting comes to light as his nephew tells it anyway. 90% of the time, they sit around drinking coffee and eating donuts. The other 10% they fill in trenches. Most of the time, they watch and wait for the fire to out. They get $1000/day to do this. The nephew has gained 30# in this way.
A lot about this fire stinks.
1. Why was it set there in the first place. This is a big rock area and nothing much will burn for long. I agree that the whole area is a tinder box and will go up at the drop of a hat, though. The drought is easily the worst I’ve seen in 50 years.
2. Why was the wind blowing from the NE. It never blows this way. The winds always come from Longs Peak down the roadway like a funnel.
3. Why was there a rainstorm after 3 days bad enough to drench the fire completely. It only rains lightly each day normally from 3-4 in the afternoon. You can set your watch by it, but not this year.
4. Why were the pilots acting like they were on drugs? Is careening into mountains a normal activity. This was not a buzz of a farm field, they were in trouble.
5. Why wasn’t the plane properly maintained after it was sputtering? The company has been doing this for 40 years. Why after the June crash with the same type of plane would a company let the pilots overload their plane.
6. Why were the fuel tanks intact with a major fire right above them. 5 or 6 seconds is all it takes for a fire in an engine to rupture these tanks in the wing.
6. Why did the plane crash on the road? Did they want the road closed? What are they hiding?
7. Why were the sprinklers not activated? I thought this was automatic. Were they turned off by a crazed pilot?
8. Why wouldn’t they let my brother help fight the fire. Had the fire not accomplished its goal yet?
9. What were black helicopters doing in the area. There was a white one right next to it that I assumed was a news helicopter. I had a newsman call me up the next day for a photo because there is an Internet company doing dirty deeds and they wanted my opinion. Anyway, the photo journalist commented on the fire and how they bought the pictures of the fire from an ordinary person in the area who called in with photos. No one else had a helicopter in the area. So the white helicopter is also suspect, as are the photos. Why were the news people so graciously accepting photos when the area is only a short while from Denver and only accessible by plane or helicopter? This was a front page story.
posted by Mike Liesveld @ 5:04 PM
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