Fires torch 22,000 acres

Giant helicopters were among the massive resources brought to fight the fire. Special to the Avalanche

By last weekend, the Texas Forest Service, which coordinated the firefighting efforts, had eight planes, two huge helicopters, 10 bulldozers and 100 firefighters battling the tricky blaze.

"We've depleted the ranchers' stock tanks, so now we're sending out tankers to replenish them," Santry said Saturday afternoon. "The fire is controlled, for now. We want to make sure it doesn't get out of the canyons and into the pasturelands."

If the fire had jumped to the pastures Saturday, the high winds would have made for a dangerous situation, he said.

Sunday's cold, wet weather obviously helped firefighters, helped in some ways, hurt in others.

Two massive Sikorsky helicopters arrived from Big Spring on Friday to help fight the fire. The helicopters, which each carry about 1,000 gallons of water, were flying out of Alpine's airport.

One helicopter, under the command of chief pilot Paul Rudinsky and Doug Mohr, belonged to the Croman Corp., which is one of the major U.S. companies specializing in, among other things, fighting fires with the Forest Service.

Rudinsky lives in Battleground, Wash., when not bombing fires. Depending on the season, though, he's often away from for weeks, even months at a time. He said he's fought fires from Florida to California to Alaska to Montana to Texas.

Firefighting from a helicopter is serious business, says Rudinsky, but "it's a blast. There's nothing like it."

I asked Rudinksy about the accuracy of dropping a load of water out of a moving machine, 400 to 2,000 feet in the air.

"Well," he said, "you could be standing on that spot (he was pointing to an 'X' on the runway) and from 400 feet I could hit you flat on top of the head."

Even in this wind (it was gusting to 25 mph or so)?

"Yep."

The big Corman helicopter has its 1,000-water tank inside the massive cabin. Below the tank is a smaller tank that has a thick fluid that mixes with the water to create a foam-like substance. Sometimes they drop water, sometimes they drop foam, sometimes they drop the red fire retardant you see in CNN film footage.

The helicopters cruise at about 120 knots, Rudinsky said, and can be in the air up to eight hours.

"Originally, [this helicopter] was a submarine chaser for the Navy," he said. "It was built in 1965."

The helicopter crews -- two pilots, two mechanics and a tank-truck driver -- are based wherever the need is greatest. For now, they are based in Big Spring. Next month? It could be here or anywhere in the country.

On Sunday, firefighters continued to contain and mop up fire lines on the south and east sides of the blaze. However, firefighters were not able to do the burnout operations scheduled for that day due to higher relative humidity but continued to build and reinforce a line on the west and north sides of the fire in preparation for Monday's planned burnout. Sunday's light drizzle really never affected the burn area, Santry said.

This lightning fire is very inaccessible, the Forest Service said, and is being suppressed by four SEATS; four air tankers; three heavy helicopters; one air attack, one six-person and three 20-person hand crews; six bulldozers; and six engines, for a total of 126 personnel.

The Texas Department of Transportation assisted operations by restocking cattle watering tanks with water for helicopters. A swing shift for late afternoon and evening operations continued Monday.

Monday morning, Forest Service officials said the size of fire area was about 17,500 acres with 45 percent containment. One structure was evacuated and two additional structures threatened.

If the Forest Service had not fought and controlled the fire, Santry said, it simply would have spread through the town of Marathon.