darcy and our grain cart driver we're
just on the radio i guess there's a
really big fire east of here i can
definitely see flames definitely burning
one of our fields it is already past
equally this is a huge crisis and we
might have to move fields right now
yikes that's bad
[Music]
there's been fire truck driving out to
it it's
i'm headed west right now so when i turn
around i'll be able to see and maybe
show you that looks like a pretty big
fire burning right there you can see the
smoke something bad is happening i
really hope whatever it is that it's
going to be okay and that no one's going
to get hurt or any loss of crops there
is definitely fire trucks headed out
there and all we could do is hope for
the best i'll keep you updated as i hear
more there's the fire uncle chris just
said he's going to
he's going to go get the disc and help
our neighbors
are really really nice neighbors we
think it's on their property so we want
to do everything we can to help and that
would mean taking the disc over there
it's across the coulee which means it's
actually farther than it looks but it's
really moving quickly into the coulee
and it's getting so much bigger just
since i turn this corner so let's hope
for the best
i really hope everything's going to be
okay that's about the worst thing you
can have happen at harvest time and boy
is the smoke just billowing up that is
absolutely crazy oh my gosh the fire is
already in our field my uncle just said
that is scary
wow it's passed through the coulee i can
see the flames
oh my gosh
wow that's scary
oh no
this is so scary look at that fire
this is the worst part of harvest i am
super nervous i can definitely see
flames definitely burning one of our
fields it is already past the coulee
this is a huge crisis and we might have
to move fields right now chris has got
the disc oh my gosh this is scary i know
my dad's probably completely freaking
out right now i'm gonna stop the combine
and get out once i finish this wheat
swath we've got the disc headed over and
i think oh gosh i cannot believe how
that escalated so quickly i'm getting
out of the combine right now to see
what's going on
yikes that's bad right pick it up quick
i mean i'm not getting in front of that
with this old water truck i mean you
ain't stopping now
[Music]
i saw flames from the combine grandpa i
saw the fire
i saw flames from the combine
what does he want did he say anything on
the radio
[Music]
there isn't any good places to hide the
combines here unless we want to pull
these ends here
and disc in front of it you know yikes
well we could pull them up there across
the road
the other
wow that gets over there
oh yikes
yeah i was in the cab right there and i
could i could see him too okay
oh yikes
well they're in the summer follow up
there or no not not in jerry's or not
maybe it's on summer fall right now
i mean this water truck's a thousand
gallons he's got a hell of a fire going
on
if we caught it in the summer fall
i don't know whose it is it don't matter
whose it is
taking a summer fall if they can get in
front of it
in a summer fall field they can catch
this
oh wow
yeah they better catch it in that summer
fall
yeah i wouldn't get into that and see
that that
that stuff with the straw rose and i'd
stay out trying to
i see two discs right now
what are you gonna do about it
i just get on the top side of that
inside
and cut it off and then i'd work to
get in there
that's what's too much fire look at that
that fire nato
like a tornado with fire
this is the scariest thing i've ever
seen
no
oh wow
it's all through there too
okay well i don't want to be four miles
away from these combines that this thing
is getting down
we're two miles in here now that's
burning pretty hot heavy there i'd cut
it off on this end and then you can go
work on the other because the wind is
switching you know north south
and it's blowing down too
maybe we should go get my pick up
[Music]
do you know whose field that is
those are two water trucks
yeah and they're out of water i'm sure
are we moving the combines
if it gets here that'll be bad
i'm going to go and try and set this
combine because we can't use it i'm not
uh i mean i could sit around here
i could go park in there that's the
place to park right there okay
where the green lights are
well no but you know i don't know what's
going on chris is going well i can run
that combat and i said i i need to set
it it ain't even been in wheat we don't
know
might have bearings out do you want me
to keep going around how chris said just
move out of there and you take my yeah
but just go like i was
yes i wonder if we should go get my
pickup so i have i don't have a radio
just in case yeah
well i want a radio
let's go get it
now we're getting my dad's pickup so we
have
extra things to burn yeah extra things
to burn down
we've now got campbell's spray airplane
going through
to
try and help put this fire out which is
so kind what was that that
mike campbell just went over his
airplane
well he'd get in and dump some on stuff
that
people have a hard time getting to
yeah again
wow that's a bad fire
my dad just said on the radio it looks
like it's picking up again fires are so
volatile i mean you have no idea what
they're going to do ever it's pretty
scary
wow this fire is bad i really hope it
doesn't burn into the weed if it burns
in that we everything is going to be
burned off their campbell spray plane
goes by again it's probably going to get
more water
the fire's not looking good at all as
you can see all of the neighbors are
coming in to try and help tons of disks
are over there and fire trucks and my
grandpa and i drove down with my dad on
that road and we went right up to it
that field right over there is actually
one of ours and if it gets to this wheat
here we won't be able to stop it here's
the combine with duels on running this
is my dad's new combine
there's my downtown combine with duels
running
and yes it is a lot better it feels like
it's not going by so slow my dad just
asked me if it's better to have a
friend in the field meaning another
combine and it's so much better because
these swaths go by a lot faster the
combine cap reeks of field fire smoke
right now i don't know why we're
continuing to combine but it looks like
the people in the field next to us are
too and
we want to
just get this off the ground just in
case it comes over here
my uncle chris was
we're parking for dinner right now
there's my dog with his new combine with
the duals on it there's the green cart
and the fire looks to be going down
considerably they've got a lot of discs
over there and my uncle chris is still
over there
there's my dad's new combine going by
a disc broke and then it catches on one
of those springy wipers so
i have to remove the viper before the
test will turn again
uncle chris is still trying to help put
out the fire and he accidentally broke
an arm of the disc and the disc
we might even have an disc for that
and i do have the new wiper things and
arms and everything so
the sun is really well for now we just
removed the wipers so we can use the
desk to inspire
the sun is very beautiful
our cart driver accidentally forgot to
dump after two loads from the combine
that's where i'm gonna go so i'm sitting
here waiting because my dad was the
third dump and then the car driver had
to go and dump and my dad already made
it all the way around so i think i'm
going to have to back up and pull into
this picked up part of the field because
my dad's going to make it over here
before the car driver even comes to dump
oh no a tire on darcy's trailer is flat
it's not loaded with green though so
that's good was it that one tire darty i
didn't do that you had that bad
tire or was it that one yeah
dean just drove this tandem in and look
at the size of my dad's auger that is
just super long i cannot believe it
i'm here with dad and we had a really
good egg dad tate's eggs dad yes
and we had a really really big field
fire so
what is your kind of thoughts that were
going through your head that day that
they weren't going to stop it luckily
the wind switched and there were a
couple discs around and it was a wind
switching that really saved everything
cake you know because it just didn't
push the fire into the stuff that they
couldn't have gotten it out in you know
it burned some wheat down there though
and five fire departments came out yeah
so it was crazy it's the first field
fire i've ever seen and a really big one
at that dad's got his milky ways what
field fires do you remember growing up
just they happen every year kate you
know you just hope it ain't happening in
your field to you yeah because it can
get really expensive some people charge
for straw and you know if you you know
it's just expensive
wing dangerous is what it is yes very
dangerous i think there was at least
five discs and five water trucks out
there but water trucks aren't much help
when you're trying to put out a fire
that big how would you put it out with
the disc well you got to slow it down
you disc in front of it and then it gets
to a place it can't burn that fast and
then the water trucks come in and get it
out you know once in a while you can get
them out if you catch them early and
wind is a real killer for it you know
yes and it was windy that day yeah but
it switched you know and then it slowed
it down and they got in front of it and
got it out and it did burn some of our
summer follow yes it did but you know
and lots of other people's as well
yeah probably we're just lucky it didn't
come across the road burn the crops the
combines everything well that's why we i
wanted to go back to the combines that
you know i just gotten this thing in the
field i hadn't cut anything my dad just
got his new combine that exact day and
he was right when the fire started i
just pulled in so i had to stop and
reassess reassess yeah yes exactly but
then when we couldn't help much we just
went back to cutting because that's what
we do with combines how did you make the
decision because we were only what would
you say a mile away from that fire less
than that not even yeah in the combines
how did you make the decision to keep
cutting and pick up that wheat and why
did you make that decision well
in case it jumped the road which it
would have had it like in that video you
have if the wind would have pushed it at
that rate kate it would have jumped the
road and gotten to the field we were in
we would have had to run with the
combines to hide somewhere drive to the
river and park in the river
okay i'm gonna go cutting cake thank you
dad okay bye
bye
here you can see where the fire burned
in the coulee and why it was so hard to
put out we were able to put out the fire
on the farming land but it continued to
burn in the coulee for three more days
until we finally stopped it i'm here
with grandpa and we had a really really
big field fire it was crazy the first
one i've ever seen how many field fires
have you seen grandpa a lot oh i've seen
a lot of them we usually have a bunch
every year the combines the bearings get
hot start a fire before the covergirl
guys even know it yes was this one of
the big ones you've seen oh no they have
a lot bigger ones some of them are real
small if you see them real quick but uh
they're pretty dangerous they are very
dangerous we didn't i don't think they
burned up much wheat this year though i
think it just burned up stubble that was
a scary day wasn't it grandpa yeah i
didn't drive all the way down there
there was a lot of flames i could see
them from the combine it's pretty bad if
it gets going you get a win with it you
can't hardly get close enough to it to
fight it and we did have wind that day i
think there was five fire departments
that came out and there was an airplane
yes there was also a spray plane gamble
aviation was great water because it was
in the cooley and the fires are very
hard to put out when they're in the
cooley because you can't take fire
trucks and the water trucks that the
farmers have although the farmers are
the first people to get out to the field
and try and put these fires out it takes
a little while to get all the fire
departments out
well most farmers have a disc and a
water truck with them i think there were
at least five discs out there that day
yeah there was that many and at least
not many water trucks but they come from
all over everybody's got to usually a
disc or a water truck out in the field
during harvest time yes which is very
common in montana you always have your
disc with you just because of how dry it
is here and common field fires are we've
had a lot this year just because of how
dry it is and we had the drought so
there's just been no moisture i don't
think we have ever started a
stubble fire i don't think we ever have
i don't remember if it's doing it
if if they don't see it
what happens is if if it's on the
combine the combine part of this straw
and shaft on the combine will keep
dropping it off and people unless he
sees it and stops yes but we have had
field fires burn
our fields for example this last big one
really burned some of our summer follow
have we had any field fires that have
burned crop i don't think so i don't
remember i remember the neighbor one
time i burned
so we've been pretty lucky with fires oh
yeah we've been real lucky with players
we haven't had any i don't recall of us
starting any players we have had fires
in the combine but we've caught them
early enough to not start a big fire
yeah and that's really how these fires
start is a bearing goes out which is one
of the moving parts in the combine and
then it's just metal rubbing on metal
and it starts a fire oh yeah that's
mostly how it starts is from the
machines in the field bearing goes out
you know a lot of these bearings you
can't see if they're once in a while
burn up a combine yes did you ever see
that picture in the shop of that big
tractor burning up oh no i didn't in the
office in the shop i'll have to look at
that there's a great big uh it's a big
bud it's all full of flames wow they can
be quite frightening oh yeah you can't
you can win with it yeah you got to be
careful you get a tractor or something
like that in there and you can't get out
of it you might burn up your equipment
too you know yeah thank you very much
for the interview grandpa okay try me
again sometime yes i will
this fire probably burned around a
thousand acres it even burned some of
our neighbor's wheat which is really sad
but it also burned our neighbors summer
follow and our summer follow this grain
bin is actually ours and it's on
our field that was partially burned by
this fire my uncle chris disked all
around it to make sure that the fire
didn't burn the grain bin down
you so much for watching today's video
it was very scary and super scary in the
moment when i was in the combine
watching the flames and also driving
right by the fire but make sure to like
and subscribe to see more really
exciting videos like this one and also
follow kate sage on instagram k-a-t-e-s
underscore a g and on facebook pinterest
and tick tock you can also visit the
k-tig website to purchase a k-tank topig
k-a-t-e-s-a-g.com
well that was a very scary fire thank
you so much for watching bye
so
[Music]
you