Something interesting...

[layla]

There's a firefighter helicopter (we assume) dipping water from the pond in the gravel pit with a bucket. It's done a few trips now; it takes about 3-5 minutes to do a round trip, which means that wherever it's taking the water is rather alarmingly close. It's possible that they're just practicing for an actual emergency, though.




Circling around to get a good angle on the pond.




Lowering the bucket into the pond (which is behind a gravel pile) -- I didn't want to get any closer because I don't want them to feel like they can't maneuver due to rubberneckers. They go straight down, hover for a minute while the bucket fills, then it's up and away.




Taking off and flying back up into the hills.


It's a surprisingly tiny bucket, although I guess you can only carry so much weight with a smallish flying machine. You can actually SEE the difference in the way the helicopter maneuvers when it's empty and when it's full.

Comments

[acoustic-rob.livejournal.com]

If there were actually a fire that close, you'd probably see the smoke, so I'm guessing it's a training exercise. Still a little alarming, though. It's like when I'm driving home and see helicopters hovering over the highway up ahead...a single helicopter doesn't necessarily mean anything, but multiple choppers means I'm in for a *long* commute.

[laylalawlor.livejournal.com]

It's also possible that it was a small brush fire ... according to the paper today, there have been quite a few of those lately, but they haven't gotten out of hand. People burning trash and accidentally setting their yards on fire, that sort of thing. (Although the helicopter seems a bit extreme...)

[polarbee.livejournal.com]

From the photo, that looks like it's probably a bambi bucket. Maybe a 350 gallon one? They make them up to around 2500 gallons, but if you think about it, 350 gallons of water does weight 2800 pounds. I think the larger versions are only usable by the heavy duty helicopters like the chinooks.

[laylalawlor.livejournal.com]

Bambi bucket, eh? Why are they called that? *curious*

[polarbee.livejournal.com]

Per Thadd: Because the inventor's last name was Bambi.
Now see, I was picturing some early mishap between a deer and a bucket, but I guess it's not quite that interesting. :)
Oh, and apparently a boiler exploded somewhere in Fox. That's what they were putting out.

[laylalawlor.livejournal.com]

Now, see, I would have pictured some sort of horrible accident involving a deer and a helicopter and ... yeah. On the other hand, I guess the name Bambi must have originated with some family of human beings originally.

Oh, and apparently a boiler exploded somewhere in Fox.

Somehow this does not surprise me.