Operation Firestorm '94

In August of 1994, elements of the Washington Army National Guard were deployed to Eastern Washington State in support of the U.S. Forest Service efforts to extinguish several forest fires.These are a few of the pics from that rather interesting summer.

August 14th, OH-58A+ 73-21882 at the Whiteface Incident near Mazama. Of course, it might as well have been at the Copper Butte Incident, Thunder Mountain, the Tyee Ranch, Foster Helibase, Goat Peak, or anywhere near Wenatchee. The orange paint on the nose of the aircraft was water-based and made for an interesting trip through a rainshower on the way to the Kent Armory.

This is a really rotten shot of a JetRanger near the Tyee Creek.

Another lousy pic of a C-130 dropping retardant with Mount Rainier in the background. The Air National Guard also dropped a load of this goop on the Spokane Airport, but that's another story.

SPC Eric Bauwman and I near the Copper Butte Incident.