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Royal Gorge

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The photo of the paddler above is the Editor's wife, Susun McCulla, in front of our AIRE Lynx II as we approach the head of Cronks Canyon in 2010. Last May 31, 2012, in honor of this photo, we thought we would take time to talk a little bit about the intriguing area of Cronks Canyon, also known as The Royal Gorge of Idaho.  While that's a tad bit of hyperbole, some folks think the label fits.  In our opinion it's little too short, shallow and small to receive such the grandiose title of a Royal Gorge. The canyon is named for James Cronk, an early day cattleman who ranched in the area.  Many local creeks, rocks, canyons and other places received their enduring names from whoever settled or ranched there first. Such was the case with Cronks Canyon. As everyone knows, the geology of The Upper Salmon River covers a lot of bases.  The majority of the upper river's ramparts are mostly volcanic in origin and many a story can be told or invented about the "where, when, why...
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The Lodgepole Helicopter Fleet

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The Helibase for The Lodgepole Fire is a busy place.   The Air Operations Branch is managed by Whalen's Type 2 IMT. The Branch is overseen by the NIMO Operations Section Chief, Curtis Heaton. Here are the Staff currently assigned to Air Ops from Team Whalen: - Air Ops Branch Director - Bill Hayes - Air Tactical Supervisor - Ted Mason and Josh Fulton - Air Support Supervisor - Eric Taplin -Helibase Manager - Lee Stwart Here is the Interagency Helicopter Operations Guide:  http://www.nwcg.gov/pms/pubs/pms510/index.htm Nine helicopters are assigned to the fire as of the first week in August.  The helicopters are classified as Type 1, Type 2, or Type 3.  The Type 1 helicopters are the heavy lifters of the fleet and often see near continuous daily duty duty carrying the most water to the fire line. Helicopters are classified according to minimum standards for payload or water-carrying capacity.  Here is a chart that shows the minimum for each category. ...
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The 2013 Lodgepole Fire IMET

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Patrick Gilchrist, NOAA/NWS IMET on duty serving incident managers at The Lodgepole Fire. An Incident Management Team (IMT) is a group of highly skilled professionals working to keep fire fighters safe, well supplied and successful in bringing containment and control to a wild land fire incident. In addition to the Incident Commander, Safety Officer, Operations Staff, Division Supervisors, Air Ops and Helibase managers, Resource Unit Leaders, mapping specialists, and many other vital support staff, a key member of most IMTs is the IMET—the Incident Meteorologist. There are currently 85 certified National Weather Service IMETs available to deploy at a moment’s notice to assist in wildfire suppression efforts. Patrick Gilchrist (shown in photo) is the IMET serving on Team Adell's Type 2 IMT. Gilchrist is the Lead Forecaster for the Glasgow, Montana, NWS Office. He has served as an IMET for 9 years and worked as a professional meteorologist for 12 years.  “I li...
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