This summer's fire season has been abnormally slow as far as things go on the Clear/Nez Zone. There has been just a small handful of fires so far with most of our crew getting on at least one fire. Some of our crew have been sent off forest on assignments to California, Colorado, and Texas as Helicopter Crewmembers and Helicopter Managers.
Our helicopter, N767H, started its contract on July 11th as usual. It's missions have included helping staff Black Mountain Lookout on the North Fork District and Bear Mountain Lookout on the Powell District. We've helped in the repair of one of the zones many radio repeaters, put up a Remote Automated Weather System(RAWS) on Doris Butte on the Lochsa District and conducted a search-and-rescue mission near Old Man Creek. We also staffed the "Fire Pit" fire with our helitack personnel.
The slow season has made it possible for us to get some things done around the work center. We've completed building roofs over the gas pumps, some landscaping improvements, repainted the backboard on the basketball net, and rebuilt the fire pit area and fire pit furniture.
On August 1st, we took our helicopter to the Cascade Fire on the Custer National Forest near Red Lodge, Montana. We spent 7 days assigned to that fire while helping out on the Tumble Fire nearby. After that we were reassigned to the Tumble Fire and flew a few missions and were made available for Initial Attack in case any new fires were discovered on the forest. From there we moved to the Flathead National Forest near Kalispell, MT. There we supported the forest with their initial attack operations. We staffed a number of fires and ended up station out of the Condon Work Center in Condon, MT. We also were lucky enough to put 3 people on a fire start in Glacier National Park. That fire wasn't much, but the flight there was a treat. We flew up the Going-to-the-Sun road to Logan Pass, over the pass, then down the other side to St. Mary lake. The fire was right on the lake. Engine crews were on-scene when we arrived and we put the fire out in just about an hour or so. The flight was truly amazing!
The 2007 fire season was a bit slower for us than typical fire seasons. We did fly a fair amount of hours this year, considering that our contract was nine days shorter than what it was in the past. We also got crewmembers out on several fires as well, though not as many as we'd like. Watch the video.
Our contract was shared this year with R-3’s Santa Fe Helitack, making our start date July 11th; almost two weeks later than normal for this crew.
2007 was the first of a 5 year contract that was awarded to Hillcrest Aircraft Co. of Lewiston, ID. Hillcrest has a long history here on the Clear/Nez Zone and we were glad to have them back (We do miss 6148U. Panhandle Helicopters got the contract for their Bell 407 on the Kootenai N.F. with Kootenai Helitack). N767H was our helicopter; a Bell 206 L4 and we flew it just over 217 hours. All of those hours were flown locally on the Clear/Nez Zone.
