Just another update for everyone , I am in montana now , Hardin to be exact , we have been cutting within 1/2 mile of the big wild fire, We got most of the stuff in the path of the fire cut , We moved east of town and started cutting some 130+ bushel and acre barley, I was back at the farmers shop cleaning the air-air and radiator in one of our semi's , when i heard the words " the field is on fire" come over the company radio, i grabbed the guy helping me ,a nd every fire extingusiher in sight , and we set some speed records heading for the field, i got there , and the fire in the field was out , but our combine was still on fire... We exhausted every single fire extingusher we had , and stomped out what we could , then the fire on the combine flared up again, we dumped all the water from our coolers and , sadly , our beer was used to put out the fire. Just a note for anyone who carries fire extingushers in or on their trucks , get another one , or a bigger one , we had 30lb ABC's , and 5 gallon water cannons, on every machine , and in each truck , and it was not enough...

 

Glad no one was hurt. Them field fires can move quick! I've fought a few.

You are not too far from my old stomping grounds. Wish I was there with you. Are you traveling the East or West route? If you end up in the Big Timber/Melville/Rapalje area, let me know. That's home.

Ed

 

It was you wasnt it???

Its pretty dry down there aint it ?

 

SheRod , looks like i am about 2 hours off of your stomping grounds , i was half way there yesterday hauling into the coors elevator.

I wouldn't say no one was hurt, we took a few guys in late last night for smoke inhalation , and the dust from the automatic fire supression system got me when i went up top to put out what was left of the flames when i got there.

It is very dry down here , and no it wasn't me , but my combine was in the field...

 

I remember my sister taking me to the field a few years back and she didn't realize that you can't stay in one place when you're sitting in stubble. The flames started and the truck stalled. The fire department was a 1/2 mile from the field and we emptied all 3 fire extinguishers, but the truck was gone in 10 minutes anyway. The worst part was that insurance had just been dropped since the truck was supposed to be sitting out by the road for sale.

Good to hear no one was seriously hurt. I hope you're still having a ball and rolling in the cash!

bnraodn.

 

We got a replacement combine from New Holland today, A brand new prototype CR 9070 (it will replace the CR 970 if it can hold up to the punishment of a harvest crew , namely me...) The combine even came with a fulltime baby sitting , being a prototype , the tech keeps notes of every little detail about the combine , including our stubble height , ground speed , bushels per acre , throw over , etc. One heck of a neat combine to drive, has a monitor screen equal to the screen on my laptop , and has just as many functions... It is also equipped with GPS , and setup for auto steer, although i have not figured out how to engage it... YET.