Helitak Daze

Helitak Daze - Chapter 2

In only a month, the whole area went from excessive rain to record highs and drought conditions. The lush, extra foliage that had grown, in April and May, was now drying up and turning brown. The animals were looking for food in the campgrounds. Although nice for the tourists, it was a nightmare for the park staff. Cute little animals paved the way for larger more aggressive beasts and they all posed attack threats.

June 14:  The Storm Creek fire started well north of the park in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness.

Cody Daniels, the Fire Management Officer, was already marking the location on the map when Katlin walked into the office that morning. “We’ve got smoke reported up in Absaroka. Call came in a few minutes ago. The BLM (Bureau of Land Management) wants us to take a look.”

“Sure thing, boss.” Katlin replied, “I saw Stark pulling in a minute ago and Andrew should be right behind him. Did they say how much smoke? What size crew do I need?”

“Nothing useful, a tourist mentioned it during breakfast in Cooke and the owner called it in. All we know is that it is in the back country out past the lake.”

 David Stark, pilot for the Alouete III helicopter used by the team, walked in on queue. “Mornin’, Kat. How’s my favorite forewoman? What’s the flight plan for today?”

“Watch those sexist remarks or I might go cougar on you.” Kat laughed.

“In my dreams.” He replied. He watched her walk away. Thinking ‘In my dreams’.

She’d first met Stark in the Warrant Officer Entry Course, at Fort Rucker. She had been almost 19 and struggling to find herself. He was an easy-going, 23 year old, that was her first friend in the platoon. David was 6’4” blond hair, blue eyes and could still fill out his flight suit in a way that made all the girls mouths water. They had dated and fooled around some, but ended up just being friends. A decade later when she joined the Helitak team, David had picked her up in a big hug and once again became her best friend and confidant.

A few minutes later, she walked back in with Andrew and Randy, a second crewman. “Stark, get your bird pre-flighted, full fuel load. We’re heading up to the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness. Randy and I will join you as soon as we get into our gear.”

Less than an hour later, the Helitak crew was outfitted and loading the helicopter. Standard gear, even in the 90 degree heat, was Nomex pants, long sleeve shirts and gloves, leather boots and a full web belt. They each carried about 60 lbs of equipment for firefighting, which included saws and axes for clearing anything from brush to trees. On their web gear, they carried enough food and water to last three days, a first-aid kit and an emergency fire shelter. Each individual was fully self-sufficient and considered the elite in the fire fighting community.

Stark pulled the collective up and headed north. It was a fairly long trip, as Absaroka was actually north of the Yellowstone border. The smoke was easy to find on such a clear beautiful day. The fire was about 2 acres when they got there. Flying around, it appeared to have been started by a lightning strike, as most fires were. Kat had him fly east to survey the area. So far, the fire appeared to be with in the prescribed limits, meaning they could let it burn out naturally. There was a lot of brush in the rocky terrain, but she decided the three of them could handle cutting a fire line themselves.