My ranch shares a little over 3 miles of boundary with the Triangle Ranch (200,000 + acres). In 2011, a fire was started by a lightning strike on the Triangle. It burned for 13 days. They would get it under control by nightfall, only to have it flare up again the next day.

The river separates me from the Triangle. at 100 to 120 ft wide, it's not a narrow river. One day, these flames were jumping it with little difficulty. It was damn close at times, but luckily, I escaped without loosing anything ... barely.

I had the opportunity to watch the fight with the spotting scope one day. It was an eye opening experience to watch what went in to fighting this fire.

The money spent trying to contain this fire must have been incredible. From what I saw, there was always a plane or chopper in the sky depending on the situation. (These are stock photos of what I believe to be the correct planes):

2 helicopters working through the daylight hours. Dropping water on hot spots. (Stock Photo)



1 King Air - The "conductor" (Stock Photo)




Not sure how many of the high wing red and white planes were used, but quite a few I am sure. (Stock Photo)



Then there was the bog boy. A DC 10 out of Austin. Impressive to say the least. (Stock Photo)



Cool picture of the King Air conducting the drops and the DC 10. (Stock Photo)



This information is mostly secondhand from the fire chief. I trust he knows what he is talking about, but there could have been some details lost, so I may stand corrected on some of the fine points.

The King Air will fly the drop "lines" and transmit the coordinates to the drop planes on the way. They do not have to search for the right line to drop, they already have the info from the King Air.

This King Air Pilot is incredible, actually, all these guys are. But to watch the King Air work, you know this boy is dead tired at the end of the day. He will fly this King Air like a cropduster, steep banks and tight turns. He is 1000 to 1500 ft above ground, but from what I saw, he was always pulling some G's. Damn impressive work.

The Choppers seemed to work non-stop from daylight to dark. I am sure they changed pilots at some point, but not sure when. They seemed to be on the job the entire time.

When things get out of hand, they call in the DC 10 from Austin. He will make one trip a day to help get things under control.

I do not have any photos of any of the actual fight, but here are some fire photos.

Not a great photo, but the only one I have in the daylight. Those are my Bluffs overlooking the river. The fire had jumped the river and was burning on my neighbors place. Headed toward me.



The same shot at night.



One day the fire got way out of control and was headed my way fast. I drove from home to the ranch ... in record time ... even with the two stops by TX DPS. (Thanks for not giving me a ticket guys!)

After the DC 10 dropped two huge loads and got the fire under control, this is what remained.











My thanks goes out to the all the men on dozers, on the ground and in the sky. Quick work by the DC 10, dozers and fire crews saved my ranch from burning from one end to the other. I would have lost all the game, the houses, fence ... everything. It would have been devastating.

Even today I can see where the fire burned. I am not sure what effect it had on the wildlife, what kind of losses they had, but I know it changed the landscape on the other side of the river.

Damn!

Hell on earth!!

Son of a B#%tch!!!!

That is some incredible work though!


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