A sad bit of business, for sure.

[Seascamp]

Yesterday we lost three fire fighters near Walker, Ca. This is the next little burg just south of us and across the state line. Our Valley (Carson Valley) is home to the Forrest Service borate bombers so anytime there is a burn we see the bombers coming and going all day long. Yesterday a converted C-130 didn?t come back and the crew was lost. From the video clip, it looked like the C-130 wings just fell off and the rest just went in from low level. I don?t know what happened but I presume metal fatigue and structural failure. The fires out here are usually in canyons and such so those bombers take a heck of a pounding when making their borate runs so maybe that?s the cause of the loss of wings, I don?t know. Those are not Forrest service bombers but are hired contractors. Even so, a loss is a loss. Fighting the same fire were the Pickle Meadow Marines but the fire was so radical and moving so fast that wiser minds prevailed and the Marines were pulled out. Good thing I thinking. I?ve never been a fan of using military people in direct roles when fighting a Sierra wild fire. Those fires are just too unpredictable and fast to work through a chain of command when haul buns time comes.

I remember the C-130s from VN war days but never thought I would know of one coming apart while trying to unload some borate. Those are tough birds. Sad story.

Bill