Copters keep watchful eye on other potential hot spots

Friday, July 19, 2002 | 9:38 a.m.

As fire crews appear to have the bulk of the Lost Cabin Fire under control, officials are watching for lightning strikes and conditions that could set off a similar blaze elsewhere.

Spotters and helicopter crews, battling tough weather and terrain, have been watching the Spring Mountains for potential hot spots. Air crews planned to fly the Spring Mountains today looking for trouble.

Lightning strikes from dry thunderstorms have been forecast through today, and fire officials want to be prepared for any danger. The 4,300-acre Lost Cabin Fire started last weekend with a lightning strike, officials said.

An air crew on Thursday night found a small fire about 10 miles east of the Lost Cabin Fire on Mount Potosi. The fire apparently started from a lightning strike.

A four-person helicopter crew spotted a single flaming pinyon pine tree that had toppled, about a third of the way from the top of the mountain, igniting the parched landscape filled with juniper and pinyon trees. The fire was estimated at less than one acre.

Because of the terrain, the helicopter crew couldn't land, but a crew on truck drove to the mountain this morning and was putting out the small fire.

For air crews, word of the crash of a four-engine air tanker in Colorado Thursday sent a chill through their command post.

But air team members refuse to fly with fear. "There's no room for that," said Marty Woods of Las Vegas Helitack.

Chinook pilot Joe Macci of Eureka, Calif., has been a pilot for three years and emphasizes the safety of the flight crew as well as firefighters or civilians on the ground.

"Even today (Thursday) we saw people on the ground and we had to stop a drop," Macci, 29, said.

When helicopter squad leader Sean Whelan flew a half-hour flight over Lovell Canyon on Sunday, it was a precaution. He was looking for flames. There had been lightning strikes in the Spring Mountains early Sunday morning.

The Lost Cabin fire was discovered about 2:30 p.m. on Sunday and was less than 10 acres, Whelan said. But the flames were too erratic and the weather too unstable for any firefighters to jump onto the mountain top and stop it.

"Everybody gets mad at us for not dropping on it, but weather dictates what we do," Whelan said.

Three helicopters were parked at a landing pad near Pahrump, 60 miles west of Las Vegas, included a a small Las Vegas Helicopter spotter chopper that can carry two people and 140 gallons of water, the Bell 204 that can handle nine passengers and haul 420 gallons of water and a Boeing 234 Chinook which can deliver up to 3,000 gallons.