Extremely High Temperatures in Wolfskin

That is yesterday's high here in Wolfskin, and it is to remind you that we are experiencing extremely high temperatures, and that without rain in the last few weeks things are a mite combustible. Yesterday's high in Wolfskin was 105.8 degF, and today is expected to be hotter. Today will be the fourth consecutive day of 110-year reoord breaking temperatures, and tomorrow will almost certainly be the fifth such day.

We discussed these matters and more at training, where, by the way one of our crew related that at least one 50-foot bored well in the area has gone dry. Elsewhere I predicted this, based on noting that our small creek at the 600-foot elevation level has run dry along half its length for the first time in 22 years.

Last night's pageout for the training came at 5:30pm, and although I didn't monitor 911 pageouts as scrupulously as usual, did note that there were no pageouts for training for the other fire departments in the county - usually there are half a dozen such. So the four of us were smug about that, with references to mad dogs, Englishmen, and Wolfskin.

Training was light, though. We pulled out the supertanker and tested out our new 3000 gallon drop tank, filling it with a full tank of water. The Unknown Firefighter disappeared briefly, and then returned in shorts with an air mattress and paddled around in the pool for a half hour or so. It is entirely appropriate for him to have anointed the much larger tank, since he did the lion's share of the work in acquiring it, to replace the somewhat damaged 2500 gallon one that we received when the truck arrived in 2006.

Note: water in tanker no longer potable ;-) .

--Wayne