Sorry for the quality of these. I photographed them from the Friday and Saturday Monterey County Herald Newspaper. You have to be in awe of the professional and volunteer firefighters, and our military who are out in these unbelievable conditions, working 12 plus hour days.
Friday July 11, 08 Herald: "A military C-130 air tanker drops retardant on advancing flames off Tassajara Road at the Basin Complex Fire in Carmel Valley." Orville Myers photo
July 11th, 08 Herald: "A helicopter dumps water against a backdrop of smoke on Tassajara Road." Orville Myers photo. (I am not sure you can make it out in this size of the photo, but the water bucket is in the clear spot between the two smaller smoke billows in the front of the picture.--John--Note: A few people have asked about the two vertical lines in the smoke cloud, I did not notice them when taking the picture and since they are parallel, I am thinking they might have been where the newspaper was folded.)
July 12, 08 Herald "National Forest Service firefighter Jose Ribera sets a backfire near the Oliver Observing Station on Chews Ridge on Friday." Vern Fisher photo
July 12th, 08 Herald: "Flames more than 100 feet high crest a ridge near the Oliver Observing Station on Chews RIdge in Tassajara Road area on Friday." Vern Fisher Photo
FLIR CAMERAS USED TO VIEW HIDDEN WILDFIRES
Now this site is really interesting. FlIR is using their Infrared Cameras to view the fire lines hidden behind smoke clouds. It is a very welcome tool to the firefighters, giving on site views, making it easier to make decisions on fighting the fire, and safer for the firefighters.
http://www.flir.com/news/californiafires/
This was taken on the afternoon of Sept 24th, on Highway one, near Ben Lomond, this copter was working with several ground crews mopping up hot spots from the large wild fire they had earlier in the week. The camera is a Kodak EasyShare Z612, using auto focus, and the telephoto lens. (The background photo is the helicopter filling his bucket not more than a couple of hundred yards from the highway, and low and behold, I noticed a rodent peeking from a rock!! Okay, I fess up, I added the rodent because my friend, who will go nameless for modesty's sake, was noticing that no one chose the word Rodent, a perfectly wonderful word, as their "R' theme!)