HeliBase at Eaton's... Rana Creek Air Attack Base...

July 10, 2008, about 9:15 am...

The forces at Eaton's pasture have been building up, and it look's like mini-Spike Camp this morning! Happily, the air is a bit cleaner, prior to the heat of the day. Red Flag Alert is on through tomorrow morning.

  

A bit farther down the road, at Rana Creek Ranch, there is an Air Attack Base. This is the place where the helicopters come to load up with water or retardant to use in the air assault against the fire.

Why here?

Well, there's sufficient water available to supply the two large tanks on site - one of which contains water and the other a retardant mix.

I stopped by the base and chatted with a very informative gentleman by the name of Guy, who is an employee of the company that makes the retardant, known as Phos-Chek. As the name implies, the material is phophorus-based and it's contained in the white "bales" you see in this picture.

The retardant is the "red stuff" dropped from the aircraft we've seen on the job, and it is environmentally friendly. 

From the Phos-Chek website:

"(The products) consist of fertilizer type salts, a coloring agent, corrosion inhibitors, and flow conditioners. The salts, when heated by the approaching fire, react with the woody material, grass and other organic matter rendering it unburnable, thus retarding the fire spread." 

Here's the view this morning from my favorite picture spot, looking toward Elephant/Uncle Sam. Clearer than yesterday!