While Utah has had some incredibly big wildfires this year (one single wildfire burned over 530 SQUARE MILES before gotten under control), we now have one thats hitting close to home (figuratively anyway).

The Salt Creek fire is burning incredibly close to the ground my parents own, this is where I get my trailcamera pictures of elk and do alot of hunting. We drove down yesterday to check on things and it seemed like the fire is still 7-8 miles away as the crow flys. Unfortunately the fire has already traveled at least 15 miles and is growing in size.

I am optimistic and give it low odds of actually burning through, however the small town on the OTHER side of the propery is on EVAC ALERT status, which means "get your important stuff in the car and be ready to move out on a moments notice. The 30,000 acre property between the fire and my parents property was evacuated over the weekend.

Its going to be interesting. Rain is expected this week but its so dry not much is falling and the lightning is starting even more fires. Spooky!

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19913198/

www.utahfireinfo.gov/f..._07_07.htm


-DallanC

There's one small community up north here that they've had to evacuate, a couple of others are on alert and the weather is mid 30's C (90's F)

I'm sorry to hear that I sure hope it miss's you and yer family Dallan. Keep us posted.
Joe

I've been on alot of those big fires. They are nasty. Hope things go well there.--tr

Hey Dallan.....that ain't good mate. Can the fire get your parent's home or is the house in a safe position on the property?

Our thoughts are with you and your folks mate. Here's hoping that everything turns out okay and your folks are safe and don't have any problems.

Cheers, Vince

Prayer sent for the best to you and your neighbors.
Maybe you will get some rain soon.

Just wished we could send you a couple of the floods we have had this year. I even had water come in the back door and I am not in flood plan. We had the wildfires all over Texas last year and this year you cant even get to the lake ramps because theya re all closed.
Best James

moose2 wrote:

I've been on alot of those big fires. They are nasty. Hope things go well there.--tr

I did a bit of bush fire fighting when I was younger, hate that work. Never get that "sticky" feeling from the smoke off of you. I remember one job me and another guy went down to a lake and just dove in, it was like 80+F and the lake was maybe 5 degrees above freezing, that was a bit of a shock, but I didn't care. One time when I was in mining we had to evacuate the whole town too, weird feeling wondering if you were going home to your house or a burnout because the reporting was....uneven on how bad it was after we left. Fortunately no homes lost that time, the fire made it to about 4 kms from the town.

I'm getting updates from up north, so far only heard of one community that had to evacuate this year. Best of luck with it Dallan

I used to fight fires for the USFS with my brush cat.
Up here in Minnesota it was big timber fires.
Pretty much ruined my back, but the smell of burning timber still get the juices flowing.

My Prayers are with you people Dallan.

Eric

Hope you got some rain and the fires under control. We are on the opposite end of the rainfall this years. Even got some water int he house thru back door because of run off. The lake is Texhoma going over emergency spilway.


Should make a good year if it doesnot dry out and burn off.

Great pics mate. What are the things on the tripods in the deer pics? Are they feeders?

Wish our dam was that full over here. We are down to about 15% capacity now. Not good.

Cheers, Vince

Vince,
Yes the round one is a corn feeder with timer, motor, battery, and solar panel. It is usually set to feed in the morning and in the afternoon. Most people put cages on motors to keep the raccoons for spinning the wheel and emptying the feeder. The deer are eating the corn that is on the ground under the water.

The square feeder is a protein feeder and they are free flow. Protein will stop up and bridge over real easy. Some of the mixes are molasses, cotton seed cake or meal, Milo, maize, oats, wheat, corn alfalfa, mineral etc.

I know a lot of states don’t allow feeders but most everyone has them in Texas. People have to have them to draw deer to a certain area to shoot them. Some of the West Texas land is desert like and you may only have 5 deer in a 2 mile radius. And yes most people sit in a blind and shot out of it. There are areas you can stalk a deer but lot of places you cant because of the open Mesquite brush, cactus country. It is just not Timber County like some states.

Last year was a drought and lakes went dry and lot of cattle land had big wildfire. This year all the lake ramps and road are closed because they are under water?
Hope you finally got enough rainfall to get you out of the drought. What part of Australia are you in?
James

Gidday James, Thanks for the info mate. Thought they might have been feeders, but I wasn't sure.

We still haven't had anywhere near enough rain.....and none since my last post. I am in Brisbane which is in South East Queensland.

Dallan.....any word on how your folks fared in the fire mate?

Chers, Vince