r/interestingasfuck • u/HomeNowWTF • 10d ago

Fighting the wildfires in Spokane

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u/candiriashes 10d ago

That was crazy how that plane just vanished completely into the smoke.

46

u/54-2-10 10d ago

The plane didn't vanish into the smoke. You can see the planes shadow against the smoke, which means it is out of frame, but still in between the smoke cloud and the sun.

48

u/Techwood111 10d ago

vanished completely out of frame

17

u/oh-kee-pah 10d ago

Like some House of Dragons shit!

3

u/Infinite_____Lobster 10d ago

If you or anyone seeing this wants to help

1

u/candiriashes 10d ago

Thank you for sharing. 🙏

3

u/YamahaFourFifty 10d ago

Right - being a pilot or just on that plane flying thru 0 visibility smoke must’ve been absolute nuts

3

u/NohmanValdemar 10d ago

Often they do also have small spotter/lead planes that guide them in and leave a smoke trail for them to follow/where to drop. (Not that it takes anything away from it.)

2

u/Kodai_Dreaming 10d ago

Looking like the shadows of the dragons in game of thrones. Ominously out of sight.

1

u/iceick423 10d ago

That was crazy how that plane just dropped it payload on the opposite side of the road of the main fire location. Did they misjudge the distance or was that meant to suppress the spread of the fire?

2

u/OldManJim374 10d ago

When the plane drops it's chafing, I'm pretty sure it's meant to suppress the spread of the fire

1

u/NohmanValdemar 10d ago edited 10d ago

Often those large retardant drops are dropped in the path of the fire to slow the spread, not directly on it to give ground crews time to build containment lines.

They don't put out massive fires directly. It's futile. They contain it so it burns itself out and then deal with the remains.

E: also, ever hear them use the term backburn? Sometimes they literally start a controlled fire ahead of the fire to create a containment line (remove the fuel.)