Fire and Water

Fire burned area.
"Incident Base"
Helecopter Base
Sideroll irrigations

There are lots of fires going on here in the West due to the lack of rain. Chuck and Mary Garber said it sounds like a train coming when the fires come down over the mountain. They said the trees “explode” because of the heat. This sounds scary. I have read that when a fire gets large enough, it takes on its own identity. Things just explode into flames because of the heat. This is called “firestorm”. I think in house fires – something like 1300 degrees causes many things to catch on fire just because of the heat. I think tissue paper is around 300 degrees. People used to think of fires as catastrophic to the forest. Now they are beginning to realize it is a process of nature. In Yellowstone, a naturally caused fire is now allowed to burn out on its own. There are still times when the fire should be put out. Every year there are fires that need to be fought. The “Incident Bases” as they are called are somber to pass by (see picture). There seem to be general incident bases and then the air bases where the helicopters fly out of. We also saw two very large planes scoop up the water on the go to take and apply where needed. I’ve been told that the “tree huggers” (conservationist beyond reason) fight any logging in the mountains and have succeeded in some areas to do so. Consequently when a fire does occur it is fueled by wood that wouldn’t be there if it were logged. Ironic, isn’t it. It seems wasteful to me that rather than log the land and use the timber, they wait for a fire to ultimately waste it. This is new and interesting to us.
There are many irrigation systems here in MT. Without them the grass is brown. It is interesting and very pretty to round a bend of a mountain from brown plants to a lush green valley – always irrigated. The water is regulated and divided by an extensive canal system. It is interesting to see. Mostly the ranchers use the sideroll irrigations (pictured above) due to lower purchasing cost and flexibility. There are many irregular shaped fields because of the mountains and rivers and the farmer simply disconnects unneeded lengths when an obstacle presents itself. There are some center pivots, but not many. Farmers say flood irrigation is a thing of the past.