North Idaho Today - Wildfire

[funnelfan]

I went up to Sandpoint today and caught wind of a wildfire north of Naples that had trains stopped. Here is a train sneaking by the fire that was started next to BNSF tracks and was quickly climbing a hillside there. They were using a helicopter and three crop dusters to fight the fire. This is the first time I've seen them use a crop duster to fight fires (these planes were specificly modified to fight fires). But the planes were well suited to fighting the fire in the narrow canyon.

[funnelfan]

5. The Z-SSECHC along lake Cocolalla. I was surprised to still be getting a tinge of nose light at 10:30 am for a eastbound. The track in this area is mostly north-south, with only a handful of places to shoot eastbounds during the mid-day hours.

6. The Coeur d'Alene local heading east on the Funnel near the stateline.

7. "Triple Aces" CEFX 111 leads the MEDHK at Sandpoint.

8. MHKETB coming out of Dover and heading toward Sandpoint.

[funnelfan]

By midday, smoke from several fires including ones near Yakima, Omak, Davenport, and Fairfield were starting to murky the skies.

9. The M-LAUPAS on the move again after a meet.

10. H-PASTUL cruising along between Ramsey and Athol.

11. Meeting the M-LAUPAS at Athol.