Fire

[BeatCJ]

The NWCC 7 Day Significant Fir Potential Outlook is showing it's first "Brown" day of the season next Wednesday, for the mid to upper Columbia River Basin. The forecaster says much of the eastside may be affected by the weather and in nearly the same condition.
7 Day Outlook

 

[madhatte]

88 over the weekend?!? I'm gonna be busy, I think.

 

[BeatCJ]

Yup. Nomex pants and Red Button boots to the office this weekend. They are calling for 90's over the weekend in the Portland Heat Island.

 

[_RJ_]

I bet 4th of July is crazy busy huh?

 

[BeatCJ]

It depends on where you are. The Vancouver metro get's crazy, it's an all hands on deck kind of thing. Out in the rural areas it's less so. Gotta say, with it being a weekend this year, and the way the fine fuel moistures are expected to be, I am concerned. I won't be taking a day off, that's for sure. Most holidays I get on a different day, anyway.

I am one of the few fire administrators I know that don't profess to hate the day, though.

 

[Metals406]

We're supposed to get the same temps as y'all, which will probably come close to recordbreaking for this time of year.

 

[madhatte]

I almost feel like I should get back into the habit of bringing my radio home over the weekends. That way I have a bit of a heads-up if I'm gonna get the call.

 

[BeatCJ]

Should? I carry 3 radios pretty much all the time. My daily use 800 radio, a VHF Kenwood and a BK. I also have a spare BK and an extension mag mount antenna in my briefcase. Turn one on at 5:30, turn it off when I go to bed. I consider it a vacation day to leave them off...

My wife has come to loath the sound of static crackling, but she gets to leave hers at work...

 

[slowp]

It is quite humid today. Almost Mideast like.

 

[Gologit]

Highs in the 60s, wind NW at 10, RH 60%, sunshine. Sorry folks, just had to say that.

 

[Metals406]

Highs in the 60s, wind NW at 10, RH 60%, sunshine. Sorry folks, just had to say that.

Braggart! ;0)

 

[slowp]

Tomatoes.

 

[Gologit]

Five dollar tomatoes?

 

[slowp]

With this early hot weather, and 3 blooms on two plants already, maybe one dollar tomatoes. I also just put in some onions. The weather forecast sounds good for east sidish plantings.

 

[2dogs]

I can't say it rained today but it was misting heavily enough around noon that I had to stop spray painting a tool in the driveway.

 

[Metals406]

Growing season is jacked here this year. We got grass seeding out already, vegetables seeding out. Waaay early for any of that. That also means we'll probably brown-out early too.

 

[BeatCJ]

Yup. We have been eating lettuce, kale and a few pea pods for almost a month. Several farmers have put hay in already, and it's usually after the 4th for a lot of people.

 

[_RJ_]

We've already finished one cutting. Garden is plumb stuffed with berries. Even our cherry trees are ripe.

 

[Gologit]

Another argument for keeping the tankers private? The contractors already have the experience and the people. The FS seems to be running as hard as they can and losing ground with every step.

http://fireaviation.com/2015/06/08/we-dont-know-what-we-dont-know-2/

 

[BeatCJ]

I can see both sides of the argument. It's a huge investment to purchase the planes, and there isn't much off season work for a purpose built air tanker. I think a combination of a government owned contractor operated model and longer term private contracts makes the most sense to me. I think that it would make a lot of sense for a military agency to help the USFS set up the program.

Maybe they need to study it some more...