Salmon River

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. ...

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...