Montana Outdoors

August 31, 2017

Sheep Gap Fire at night

Filed under: wildfire — Tags: , , — montucky @ 12:05 am

Sheep Gap Fire at night

38 Comments »

  1. It appears that there have been more fires in your area this year.

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    Comment by centralohionature — August 31, 2017 @ 4:16 am

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    • I haven’t seen any good statistics, but I’d guess about ten times normal.

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      Comment by montucky — August 31, 2017 @ 7:38 am

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  2. Yikes. Stay safe.

    Liked by 1 person

    Comment by lmachayes — August 31, 2017 @ 4:42 am

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  3. How far away from you? 😦

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    Comment by Mama's Empty Nest — August 31, 2017 @ 5:54 am

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    • Five air miles. This morning the is a lot of ash on my roof and cars.

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      Comment by montucky — August 31, 2017 @ 7:39 am

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  4. Astounding photos–beauty and destruction. Stay safe!

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    Comment by jpostol — August 31, 2017 @ 7:01 am

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  5. Terrifying! Be safe.

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    Comment by Pat — August 31, 2017 @ 7:09 am

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    • The fire lay down after midnight as they usually do. I wonder what today will bring.

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      Comment by montucky — August 31, 2017 @ 7:41 am

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      • What is “lay down” and why do fires do that?

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        Comment by Pat — August 31, 2017 @ 8:21 am

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        • Usually the winds die down at night, especially on the high ridges and the air cools, the humidity goes up a little creating less favorable fire conditions. That lets the tall flames die down and and the fire will not usually travel very far during the night. I visited the spot from which I took the photo this morning and there in nothing to see but some low smoke, smoldering on the ground. No trees torching. It looks tame. It will be a completely different story when the temperature rises during the day and the winds pick up. I am about 5 air miles from the fire and last night the winds brought the smoke over m house (very high) and this morning there is lots of ash on my cars and roof. The danger here during the day will be from big sparks and burning fire brands that are carried on the wind. They can start new fires a mile (or several miles) an cause new fire starts.

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          Comment by montucky — August 31, 2017 @ 8:48 am

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          • Don’t know if you believe in God, not sure I do, but I’m praying for you.

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            Comment by Pat — August 31, 2017 @ 10:13 am

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  6. OMG! That’s too close for comfort. The photo is amazing. Great shot! But the real life situation is scary. I know you’ll do what you need to do to stay safe. Maybe hose down your roof? Have your emergency kit packed and your important things ready to load if you have to leave in a hurry. Hope the firefighters are managing to control that fire.

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    Comment by wordsfromanneli — August 31, 2017 @ 10:06 am

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    • The fire isn’t an imminent threat to me and my home is in good shape safety wise. The danger now for me will be from airborne sparks or fire brands and I will just have to watch for them. If it crosses the river though the nature of the situation will change. Who knows what a fire will do?

      Liked by 1 person

      Comment by montucky — August 31, 2017 @ 11:51 am

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  7. It looks really scary to me.
    Hope the best for you, Montucky!!!

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    Comment by Hanna — August 31, 2017 @ 12:58 pm

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  8. I’d have a hard time getting to sleep with that view out my window.

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    Comment by New Hampshire Garden Solutions — August 31, 2017 @ 2:58 pm

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    • I can’t see it from my window, but the photo was take from a half mile to the west of here. The mountain is obscured by smoke today but the wind is picking up.

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      Comment by montucky — August 31, 2017 @ 3:07 pm

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  9. Terry:

    Please be careful, safe, and ready to water. My thoughts are with you.

    Chad

    Liked by 1 person

    Comment by Anonymous — August 31, 2017 @ 3:41 pm

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    • Thanks Chad! The fire got a lot larger today and is burning hot tonight. Also tonight I became part of the fire fighting effort again with Rural Fire, at least until the fire season is over.

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      Comment by montucky — August 31, 2017 @ 11:20 pm

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  10. Scary stuff!

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    Comment by de Wets Wild — August 31, 2017 @ 8:21 pm

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    • It makes one uncomfortable until the winter snows come. You never get to fully relax when the fires are burning and there is a good chance for more.

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      Comment by montucky — August 31, 2017 @ 11:21 pm

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  11. Looks a bit too close for comfort. Keep safe and I really do hope you don’t have to evacuate.

    Liked by 1 person

    Comment by Vicki — September 1, 2017 @ 2:11 am

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    • There will not be a problem from the fire here unless the wind shifts and picks up. That could bring new fire starts to this side of the river and then everything could change.

      Liked by 1 person

      Comment by montucky — September 1, 2017 @ 9:05 am

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  12. Clearly, “fire season” has some parallels to “hurricane season.” We never really relax until the waters in the Gulf drop below the threshold for storm formation. October 1 is about it for us, although the season officially ends in November.

    That five air miles makes me more nervous than the twenty miles you’d mentioned. I see ash travels there, too.

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    Comment by shoreacres — September 1, 2017 @ 6:39 am

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    • This fire is developing very rapidly and a shift in the winds is spreading it in another direction which will put more people in jeopardy. Yesterday I made a phone call to the chief of the Rural Fire department here in the Plains area to see if I could be of help and half an hour later I was putting on wild fire gear. I spent about 5 hours after that in a staging area about 2 miles in front of the fire with a crew of about 15 with three engines and a water tender, ready in case we would have to protect the road that would be the evacuation route for those who would have to evacuate immediately. The fire stayed put though and when it died down for the night at about 10 we were released.

      One of good things in a small rural area like this is that we have the chance to go out and actually do something about situations like this. It was good to see several guys who retired from the department when I left it about four years ago also in their fire gear and ready to go to work. Lots of experience and skill there!

      Life will be different for me again for at least the next several months, being on 24 hour call during the rest of the fire season. I remember those days well!

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      Comment by montucky — September 1, 2017 @ 9:23 am

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  13. Be careful out there !!!

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    Comment by Bernie Kasper — September 1, 2017 @ 10:55 am

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  14. Scary. Stay safe.

    Liked by 1 person

    Comment by Candace — September 1, 2017 @ 1:26 pm

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    • It takes away that really comfortable feeling, but so far it is no danger to me.

      Liked by 1 person

      Comment by montucky — September 1, 2017 @ 1:51 pm

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  15. 5 miles sounds way too close ..

    Liked by 1 person

    Comment by Julie@frogpondfarm — September 1, 2017 @ 1:45 pm

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  16. […] via Sheep Gap Fire at night — Montana Outdoors […]

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