Helilopnik: WA Wildfires Edition

"Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole" (Dukie) 08/28/2015 at 15:01 • Filed to: Planelopnik, Helilopnik, Wildfires, WA

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So, my travels have now got me about 5 miles away from the North Star Fire here in Central WA. I’m living in a van, down by the heliport. Last night, we decided to go watch the firefighting helicopters come back. We missed the Huey’s and KMax landing (that KMax is sweet, btw), and we saw a Bell 212 come in as we were driving up the hill, but the big Sikorsky S61 was a treat to watch. Now, onto the pics!

Rainbow > Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole 08/28/2015 at 15:04

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*Helicopnik

lone_liberal > Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole 08/28/2015 at 15:09

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I hoping that all of the sweet helicopter action will soon come to an end. Obviously the safety of all involved and residents’ homes foremost in this wish but I’d also like to be able to breathe without feeling like I just smoked a full pack of cigs some time in the future

iSureWilll > lone_liberal 08/28/2015 at 15:38

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So... you’re NOT the tokin liberal?

Spaceball-Two > Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole 08/28/2015 at 15:41

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Hopefully the rain for the next 5 days will help. Stay frosty dude.

lone_liberal > iSureWilll 08/28/2015 at 15:43

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Nah, the white boy dreaded stoner types around here tend to be weird pseudo-libertarian conspiracy nuts. I think it’s from spending too much time alone in the forest tending to their “crops”.

Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole > Spaceball-Two 08/28/2015 at 18:08

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No rain over here except for a very light sprinkle that happened for about 45 minutes this morning. Winds are supposed to pick up tonight and into tomorrow. We’ve got our bug out procedures down pretty well.

6Cylinder > Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole 08/28/2015 at 19:18

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I live in western WA and last weekend it looked like Los Angeles smog. The smoke came all the way over the mountains when the air currents changed.

Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole > 6Cylinder 08/28/2015 at 20:07

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Yep, it’s been pretty bad. I got here yesterday and the crew that I replaced said it was the best day they had seen. We have air purifiers in the vehicles, this morning when we got up, they said the air quality was “very good”. After we opened the door to the truck, it immediately went to “very bad”.