Monday, March 18, 2024

Rest in Peace Tom Janney

Tom Janney who was my mentor in the first couple of years of my blog on aerial wildland firefighting died on March 9, 2024. Tom, may you rest in peace and fly in favorable winds, My prayers are with your wife Debbie and all of your many friends in the wildland firefighting community and elsewhere loved you. 

I want to take some time in today’s post to share about how Tom mentored me and other ways he helped me.

As some of you know, I first got interested in wildland firefighting in late summer of 2008 and I began to learn on my own about wildland firefighting. Since I had this blog at this time, I began to share what I was learning about wildland firefighting. I knew that if I was to continue to blog on aerial wildand firefighting that I would need some help, so At some point in early 2009 I went to a couple of now defunct wildland firefighting forums on the web sharing about my interest in wildland firefighting and my blog. That is how I first met Tom Janney, who at the time I knew as TL Stein. Tom told me that he used to be a pilot who flew fires in California for what was then known as the California Department of Forestry, now known as CAL FIRE. He told me that he was an aviation historian and offered to help me learn about the world of aerial wildland firefighting. I jumped at his offer to teach and mentor me about aerial wildland firefighting. 

While he had not flown as a pilot in a few years when I met him online in 2009, I knew right away that he was very knowledgeable about aerial wildland firefighting.Tom’s mentorship, especially in the first months after I started to blog on aerial wildland firefighting, was crucial. Over the last couple of days since I learned that Tom had passed, I realized that I could not have made the transition to blogging about aerial wildland firefighting and related issues without Tom’s help. Early on he suggested that I write about some of the different aircraft that were flying fires at the time and he taught me about the use of retardant. He was the one who helped to guide me to reliable websites where I could learn about the aircraft flying fires at that time and just as important he taught both through our correspondence ad  reliable sites some of the basics about aviation that are important.

Tom also facilitated introductions to wildland firefighting pilots that he knew who helped me as I continued to learn, some of these conversations (on and off the record) were the basis for some blog articles on the aircraft they flew. He also encouraged me to reach out to other pilots and those who provide ground support, these contacts were and continue to be very helpful, especially in the first couple of years of my blog.

I mentioned that Tom was an aviation historian, so in the few years that I was doing my blog on aerial wildland firefighting, we discussed aviation history as pertains to wildland firefighting but we also discussed other aspects of aviation history. He referred me to a couple of books and tapes that I purchased as well as referring me to some websites focusing on aviation history in general. His knowledge of aviation history has been very helpful to me not only as I was first learning about aerial wildland firefighting but as I continued to write my blog, I wanted to know more aerial wildland firefighting history.

Perhaps one of the more important things that Tom did for me in addition to his mentoring was to help me be right sized and not write beyond my abilities. That is, while I believe that he recognized and had respect for my research abilities, he knew that I was not any type of wildland firefighter on the ground or in the air. Moreover, he knew that I was not a pilot. He gently explained to me that what I can do on my blog is limited because I am not in the wildland firefighting business. While sometimes difficult, We talked about my being right sized and not writing beyond my abilities. I owe Tom a debt of gratitude for his gentle guidance that helped me to be right sized. He was the first to encourage me to write within my abilities but not the only one.

On a more personal note, as I navigated my way through learning something about general aviation through sitting in on FAA ground school and came to the hard to accept realization that I can never be a licensed pilot, he listened and supported me with understanding. One day as I was especially discouraged over not having a pilots license, I encountered a Red Tailed Hawk sitting on a utility pole and I felt comforted in a way that was hard to explain. I told Tom about this when I got home, he told me that the Hawk was releasing me into their world. That meant a lot to me. We chatted about other aviation related things. 

As time went on and I had been writing the blog for a couple of years, I had more confidence and I was doing more on my own with Tom sitting by quietly. As the years went on, we gradually lost touch, that happens sometimes. We would chat every so often on social media and I saw in one social media platform that we both used how much he was respected and loved by many in the wildland firefighting community and friends.

Tom, I miss you already. However, I know that in your own way that you continue to be with me as I continue to blog about aerial wildland firefighting. You gave me a couple of aviation related tokens that I treasure even more now that you are gone. May you rest in peace and fly in favorable winds. 

Friday, March 15, 2024

2024 New Jersey Wildfire Season: Prescribed Burns and Spring Fire Season

 Direct link to video from Eyewitness News ABC7NY on YouTube

As we enter the spring wildfire season in New Jersey today, I am reminded that last years wildfire season in New Jersey was the worse in at least ten years. According to the report, data from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection reveals that 1,194 wildfires burned approximately 18,000 acres in 2023. If you watch this short video, under two minutes, you will learn from NJ Forest Fire Service officials about the important role that prescribed burns have in reducing wildfire risk.

After some recent rains in New Jersey, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service conducted prescribed burns on March 12th through 14th across New Jersey.




Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Women in Aviation: The Ninety-Nines

I have known about The Ninety-Nines for about 13 years or so from a couple of female pilots who may have been members of The Ninety-Nines. I knew from these women that The Ninety-Nines advocated for and promoted women in aviation. Around the same time, I read or reread books by or about Amelia Earhart mentioning that The Ninety-Nines were founded by 99 women pilots in the late 1920s or early 1930s.  Looking at the history of The Ninety-Nines I see that they were founded in 1929 and Amelia Earhart was their first president. I know that they do a lot of good work supporting women in aviation and if I were a pilot, which I am not, I would have become a member. The following description about The Ninety-Nines is from The Ninety-Nines main webpage:

OUR MISSION — The NINETY-NINES® INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION OF WOMEN PILOTS® promotes advancement of aviation through education, scholarships, and mutual support while honoring our unique history and sharing our passion for flight.

Established in 1929 by 99 women pilots, the members of The Ninety-Nines, Inc.®, International Organization of Women Pilots®, are represented in all areas of aviation today. And, to quote Amelia, fly "for the fun of it!"

 The Ninety-Nines have a nice YouTube channel chock full of some wonderful videos highlighting women in aviation, past and present. Here is a video that they uploaded a couple of months ago highlighting women in aviation in 2023. The video is under four minutes, enjoy.


Direct Link to Video from The Ninety-Nines on YouTube

Monday, March 11, 2024

Celebrating Women in Aviation (three days late)

I knew that this past Friday, March 8, 2024 was International Women's Day. I have no excuse for not paying attention to the increased role of women in aviation. I am not a pilot but I do endeavor to support women in aviation in the way that I can. So I come here to share two videos with you celebrating women in aviation.

The first video is about an all women's crew taking off from Newark Liberty International Airport on International Women's Day.

Direct link to video from PIX11 News on YouTube


The second video, from Air Link International Aviation College celebrates women in aviation.


Direct link to video from Air Link International Aviation College on YouTube

Friday, March 08, 2024

Friday Fun: Chinook Helicopters working wildfires in California

 For today's Friday Fun I offer a five minute 2023 video from Coulson Aviation of their Chinook Helicopters working wildfire in California.


Direct link to video from Coulson Aviation on YouTube

Wednesday, March 06, 2024

2024 Wildfire Season: Texas Panhandle Fires ( March 6th Update)

Direct link to video from KHOU11 on YouTube (reported early morning of March 6th)

I continue to follow the fires in the Texas panhandle. Referring to todays report (March 6th) update on Inciweb, progress is being made on all three fires with increases in containment.  Of note is that containment of the Smokehouse Fire has increased to 37 percent from 15 percent two days ago. Aerial resources continue to be available to help wildland firefighters on the ground. 


obtained from Inciweb on March 6, 2024 at 2 PM EST







Monday, March 04, 2024

2024 Wildfire Season: Wildfires in Texas Panhandle


Direct link to video from CBS Texas on YouTube

Thanks to my friends at the NJ Forest Fire Service Section B10 website who shared the video that I embedded above, I learned about the Roughneck Fire which I believe was first reported on Sunday, March 4th. I did find some information about this fire on the Texas A&M Forest Service Incident Viewer (accessed March 4 at 1:50 PM); they say that the fire has burned 300 acres in Hutchinson County (in the Texas Panhandle) and is at 50 percent containment. 

In the meantime, here is a report from Fox4 Dallas-Fort Worth on folk pitching in to help those devastated by the wildfires in the Texas Panhandle.


Direct link to video from Fox4 Dallas-Fort Worth on YouTube

Some news media coverage of the wildfires in the Texas Panhandle (thanks to Mike Archer of Wildfire News of the Day), most include photos.

Lastly, but by no means least, here is todays report on the larger wildfires burning in the Texas Panhandle. I am especially interested in all the air resources available to the wildfires in the Texas Panhandle: 3 large airtankers, 2 scoopers, 2 lead airplanes, 6 SEATs, 2 Chinook helicopters, 1 Blackhawk helicopters and 1 Type 3 helicopter.

Obtained from Inciweb on March 4 at 1:30 PM


Friday, March 01, 2024

2024 Wildfire Season: Skellytown TX (Carson Cnty Tx) and the Smokehouse Fire

I was talking to a friend from Texas yesterday, whom I will refer to as S, we were chatting about the Smokehouse Fire. At the time he thought that it had decimated Skellytown, the town where some of ancestors were from, one of his parents was born in Skellytown. Skellytown is in Carson County in the Texas panhandle. S was not born in Skellytown but lived for a few years as a boy.  S told me a couple of hours later that he was mistaken when he said that Skellytown was decimated; saying it was not decimated that Skellytown still stands. He told me a little about Skellytown telling me that in its hay day, the town was an oil town and suggested that I look at the Skellytown webpage in the Texas Almanac to learn more about the town. As soon as I heard from my friend S about his family’s association with Skellytown and the few years he spent there as a boy, I knew that I had to write about Skellytown. S, this post is for you and your family. As an FYI my friend S lives over 500 miles from Skellytown. Before moving on, I want to share a map of the area that I obtained about noon on March 1st from the FIRMS US/CANADA (Fire Resource Management System US/Canada webpage. I went to their "fire map link", zoomed in and capture my screen in a jpeg file to share with you. The small red arrow in the jpeg file is pointing to Skellytown.

obtained from FIRMS US/CANADA on March 1, 2024 at 12:00 PM


I hope you take a few minutes read the Skellytown webpage in the Texas Almanac, it is a quick read and you will learn about Skellytown. Briefly, the town was named for the Skelly Oil Company who had bought up oilfields in and around what later became Skellytown in the 1920s. By 1927 a rail line was in place to the near by town of White Deer (to the south). The town lost some population in the early 1930s declining to 154 before growing again by the mid 1940s with a population of 650. The town was incorporated in 1958, later building sewer and water infrastructure. But the early 1980s there was an elementary school, a fire station, town hall, baseball field, a library and four churches and ten businesses.

I think that the Skellytown Fire Department did great work fighting the fire at Skellytown and I expect that they may still be involved with the fire in someway. I want to point out that S’s Dad served as a volunteer for the Skellytown Fire Department when they were living there in the mid to late 50s and the early 60s, he still has his Dad’s badge. I will let you read what Chief Jacob Clifton (embedded below) had to say in his Facebook post on February 29th. He thanks a lot of first responders who helped along with the Texas Forest Service and many volunteers who donated food and otherwise supported the Skellytown fire firefighters. Please expand the post so you can read it and look at the pictures.




I have the greatest respect and admiration for the Skellytown Fire Department and the local volunteers who assisted them with food and other support services while they were working the fire. Kudos to all.

From looking at the map that I shared from FIRMS, note the fire perimeter in the map is just to the north of Skellytown, also see this map from the Texas A&M Forest Service shared by the Skellytown Fire Department on Facebook.  Hopefully the Smokehouse fire does not burn into Skellytown. At the time that I write this post, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service  (accessed at 1 PM on March 1st) the Smokehouse Fire is at 1,078,086 acres and is at 15 percent containment. 





2024 NJFFS Prescribed Burns: March 1st update


I am writing this post with some information from the NJ Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) on a change in their prescribed burning a couple of days later than intended as I was following the Smokehouse Fire in the panhandle of Texas (more on that in a later post). Anyway, in 2024 the NJFFS has increased their prescribed burning program to hopefully to prescribed burns on 25,000 acres, up from 21,900 acres. This increase is in response, at least partially, to the 2023 wildfire season in NJ where 14 major wildfires (100+ acres) burned approximately 18,000 acres in New Jersey. This made 2023 the worst wildfire season in 20 years. Prescribed burns can benefit the health of the ecosystem as well as safeguarding nearby towns.

The NJFFS conducts prescribed burns on public and privately owned lands. 

The NJFFS issued a new press release on February 27th about their prescribed program which may be found here. Perhaps being aware of this press release from the NJFFS, New Jersey Advance Media has a nice February 27th article referencing this information and other information about the benefits of the prescribed burn program. The spring wildfire season in New Jersey starts on March 15th.

Both the New York City and the Philadelphia local CBS stations carried reports on the importance of the NJFFS prescribed burn program. I embed both of these videos here. I think the importance of these two report is to get the word out to both northern and southern New Jersey. In addition, if you watch both videos you will see prescribed burns in two different ecosystems.


Direct link to video from CBS New York on Youtube


Direct link to video from CBS Philadelphia on YouTube

Thursday, February 29, 2024

2024 Wildfire Season: Smokehouse Fire (Texas Panhandle) and Oklahoma Fires Feb 29th update

Direct link to video from Fox Weather on YouTube

I write today following up on the post I wrote on February 28th on the wildfires in the Texas panhandle and northwest Oklahoma. At the time that I am writing this update on the Smokehouse Fire, currently burning in the Texas panhandle with a portion burning in northwest Oklahoma, has burned 1,075,000 acres and is at 3 percent containment. Evacuations and closures in Canadian, Texas have been lifted. Kelly Robinson of Wildfire Today wrote in a post on the afternoon of February 28th that

"Officials are warning those who evacuated from the town of Fritch ahead of the Smokehouse Creek Fire that destruction there is considerable. 'People who live in the Fritch area are probably not going to be prepared for what they’re going to see as they pull into town,' said Deidra Thomas with the Hutchinson County Emergency Management. 'There are still homes that are on fire.' The main road into the south side of Fritch is still closed.  'Right now, we can’t let you in,” she said. “It is not safe to do that.'"

In a post today, February 29th, Kelly Anderson shares some drone footage, a satellite image of the fires in Oklahoma and Texas. He also reports on a prior prescribed burn, "Officials with Borger’s Office of Emergency Management said the prescribed burn prevented a fire flank from spreading into the southern parts of the town, including the Meadowlark, Country Club, and Bunavista areas."

Thanks to my friends at the New Jersey Forest Fire Service Section B10 who shared this video on their website today about the destruction caused by the wildfires in western Oklahoma.


Direct link to video from News9 on YouTube



Wednesday, February 28, 2024

2024 Wildfire Season: Texas Panhandle and NW Oklahoma


Direct link to video from ABC News on YouTube


Direct link to video from News9 on YouTube


When I was checking my newsfeed on my devices this morning I noted an article in the top portion of the feed on wildfires in the Panhandle of Texas. The article I saw is from USA Today, Texas wildfire becomes second largest in state history, burning 500,000 acres (February 28th), I noted that Gov. Abbot declared a disaster in 60 Texas counties, that evacuations are in place with residences being destroyed. The largest wildfire, the Smokehouse Fire (Inciweb) started on Monday, February 26th and has burned 500,000 acres, evacuation are in place and there are road closures in the area. 

Seeing the USA Today article on the wildfires in the Texas Panhandle prominently placed in my newsfeed, I went to newspapers that I subscribe to and noted this February 28th New York Times article (gifted for 10 days) on wildfires in the Texas Panhandle and Northwestern Oklahoma with a short video and a smoke forecast map and a report on a hospital in Canadian, Texas (Hemphill County) being evacuated Tuesday afternoon. 

I then checked the Washington Post which has updates (dated February 28th) on the wildfires in the Texas Panhandle, that may be found here (gifted for 10 days). Among other things reporting that some evacuations have been lifted and the Pantex Plant which was closed on Tuesday has reopened Wednesday morning.

The NY Times articles references some wildfires in adjoining areas of Oklahoma, this got me curious about what is happening in the adjoining area of Oklahoma, so I found a nice article on The Oklahoman (which I hope has no paywall) that has some information about the wildfires currently burning in Oklahoma along with photos and a nice map that you can access showing wildfires in Oklahoma, Texas, and nearby states. The map I saw was updated on Feb 28th at about 10 AM local time. The Oklahoman reports that a portion of the Smokehouse Fire has crossed into adjoining northwest Oklahoma.

I'd like to thank my friends at the NJ Forest Fire Service Section B10 who shared the two videos that I embedded at the beginning of this post on their website on February 28th

Note: on the gifted articles from the New York Times and the Washington Post, hopefully the links do give you free access for ten days from February 28th, with free access stopping on or about March 9th.