I have lost track of how many consecutive days this has been going on but I’m ready for it to end. Really disappointing to watch years of growth burn up in minutes. We are all wore out and needing rest.

Great Fire Boss pictures. I retired 8 days ago so I can't help you but my thoughts are with you.

Those float planes dropping water are pretty cool. They can refill as they slide along a lake then get airborne and go drop. They hang out in Fairbanks during our summer fire season.
Not sure of what the aftermath is of fire in Ok. but it is rejuvenating here and can improve hunting and trapping.

Those scoopers are the same planes they use for ag work. They are an AT-802 with floats designed by Whip Air out of Minneapolis. 800 gallons and in this country 4-6 minute turn make them pretty effective, especially when use in pairs.

Never thought of Oklahoma as a place for forest fires!

I'm currently south of Seattle, there has been no rain here since about the middle of July. Even though Washington has had one of the lowest fire seasons in years, the west (wet) side of the State is setting some sort of record for fires this fall. The air quality in Seattle and the surrounding area is literally the worst in the world today.

There have been two fires burning about 40 miles northeast of Seattle, they have been burning for over a month, nearly 20,000 acres and less than 30% contained. Probably burn until it starts raining; maybe in a couple of days.

Lots of other fires burning in the State right now too.

Here's a link to am interesting interactive USA fire map some might find interesting.

https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/

We have one burning about 40 miles north of us(actually a complex of several fires). I haven't been able to breathe for a couple of months. The smoke seems to affect the hens also it seems that most local chickens egg production has been cut by 2/3. We are forecast to get some rain this weekend, I sure hope so.

We currently have two Fire Bosses and two wheeled 802’s. The Fire Bosses can usually make three to one drops compared to the wheeled planes that have to fill up at airports. Pretty impressive to see all of them working a fire.

The Air Tractors dropping LC will have a do more long term good but the Fire Boos in light, flashy fuel will do more good for you.

The very SE corner of Oklahoma is timber country. We are on the northwestern edge of loblolly pine range. Our fires aren’t the long lasting 30-60 day fires they have out west, we try to get ours under control by nightfall, sometimes it takes a little longer.

We've got a 130,000 acre forest fire near some of my best mushroom picking areas. Air quality has been terrible for a long time. Rain predicted for the weekend should help. It's very dry out there.

Our spotter plane detected a fire a couple weeks ago at around 8:00am. I was the first one there on the ground and started requesting resources. We thought we had it contained a couple of times but around 1:00 pm it blew up and we lost it. I stayed on the lines all day and around 5:00 pm learned my house was in the evacuation zone. At around 8:00 pm the humidity came up some and the winds died down. It ran over 3 miles during that time. We caught it within 1/2 mile of my house.

I liked doing control burns, but do not miss the wild fires one bit. Best wishes to you and all wild fire fighters.

Thank you for keeping us up to speed. I noticed Washington state seemed to be fairly dry.

Y'all be careful down there.

Mike

Mike great picture. What is the name of the mountain in the background?

Stay safe OKforester! Hope the good Lord sends ya'll some relief!

I'm seriously thinking of selling out and moving to SE Oklahoma.

Here’s a pic looking southeast (if I remember right) from the Honobia area.

Edit: no idea how to rotate the pic…..

Chancey, for Texas to be such a great state for some reason every single person there wants to move to Oklahoma….