Roaring Lion fire

I ran up to Missoula today, passing the area in question where there was no visible smoke or fire. On the way back, the entire Roaring Lion canyon was filled with smoke with a major plume heading up and east. An hour later, heading in to Darby, the smoke plume had exploded. OhMyGosh!!!

I turned on my amateur radio and began monitoring fire service traffic… and watching this develop. This is a bad one. Close friends may be losing resources of inestimable value.

One forest service official said, “This is the one we didn’t want to have happen”.

This 2-minute time-lapse video shows the power and speed of the Roaring Lion fire, and the threat it presents.

I have been listening on my amateur radio for quite a bit of the afternoon. They had helicopters on it mid-day and air tankers as quick as they could get the resources applied. Four heavy tankers are scheduled for the morning.

This one simply BLEW UP. As I warned May 8th, this will not be a normal fire season. http://www.bitterrootbugle.com/2016/05/08/alberta-fires-highly-irregular/ Listening to the fire manager talk to other resources, this fire is “behaving” badly, to say the least.

Many homes will be destroyed in the next couple of days.

NO, “they” did not waste time getting resources on this one. To say that, or spread that rumor would be not only incorrect, but a real disservice to the people who fight these fires.

Meanwhile, the lesson here is that no matter how good your location and preparation to stay there is, SOMETHING can come along and give you cause to bug out. Never, never, ever eliminate your versatility, and your ability to
– just – move – on.