October 12, 7:05 AM
I saw this wildfire alert from the NJ Forest Fire Service last night. I have no other information. The NJ Forest Fire Service will be posting an update later this morning, stay tuned and I will update this post.
October 12, 1:30 PM
The NJ Forest Fire Service reports that the wildfire in Medford Township, Burlington County is at 100% containment and no structures are threatened. Nice job.
I have seen a video on various Florida media sites on YouTube of a hurricane hunter aircraft flying into Hurricane Milton the day before Milton made landfall near Siesta Key on the Gulf Coast of Florida at about 8:30 PM on October 9th. I spent some time looking at different versions of this video from media sites before settling on the one that I am embedding below because it shows the turbulence experienced as they were flying into Milton and some shots from the cockpit. The YouTube video is from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. The first couple of minutes of the video where they are showing the effect of some turbulence gave me a look into what the crews of the hurricane hunters go through as they fly hurricanes to provide information for the National Hurricane Center's hurricane forecasts and related information.
First Energy is my electric supplier. Thank-you First Energy for helping out with electricity restoration in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
I am happy that the NJ Forest Fire Service has sent a chainsaw crew to help with Hurricane Helene recovery. The NJ Forest Fire Service honors all of us in New Jersey by helping out with this recovery. Thank-you to the chainsaw crew for helping out.
I have a great deal of respect for the good work that hurricane hunter aircraft and their crew do flying into hurricanes to get information on tropical storms and hurricanes to help with hurricane forecast, information that can only be gotten from a hurricane hunter aircraft. I posted two articles on hurricane hunter aircrafts early in the hurricane season, one on June 3rd and the second on July 8th. After reading about Hurricane Milton that is currently churning in the Gulf of Mexico I wanted to find some videos to share with you about the work that hurricane hunters do. I want to thank the crews of the hurricane hunter aircraft for their dangerous work of flying into hurricanes in order that those in the path of a hurricane may take appropriate action to be safe.
I begin by sharing a Facebook post by the National Hurricane Center posted about 9:30 AM on October 7th.
Here are two videos, the first is a short video of a hurricane hunter flying into the eye of Helene. The second video is from The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (2019) that is a rerun so to speak
Direct link to video from WFLA News Channel 6 on YouTube
Direct link to video from The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum on YouTube
I enjoyed this video from the NJ Dept of Environmental Protection - Forest Fire Service highlighting the May 2024 four day workshop in the Pinelands. I always learn a lot from videos like this one. I appreciate what the New Jersey Forest Fire Service does to keep us safe as well as their partnership in this and other Fire Camps.
I am sure that many States are sending emergency workers and first responders to towns and states impacted by Hurricane Helene including but not limited to National Guard troops.
I know that the New York Army National Guard has deployed 17 soldiers and three CH47-Chinook Helicopters to support recovery efforts in North and South Carolina, see this September 29th press release from NY Governor Kathy Hochul for more information. Emergency workers and first responders from the Delaware Valley (Delaware, southern NJ, and southeast Pennsylvania) have been deployed to areas affected by Helene including first responders and utility workers, see this report from CBS news .
I want to share Facebook links from two groups of first responders from New Jersey who have deployed to areas affected by Helene; the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management and the New Jersey State Police Task Force 1. When you see these images, I am sure that they reflect what first responders from other states are doing to help communities affected by Helene.
Thanks to all the emergency workers and first responders including but not limited to Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York for your service. Stay safe.
Direct link to video from Safran on YouTube
Direct link to video from Prop Clear on YouTube
I got interested in the Airbus A400M, a large tactical airlift aircraft that is used in a few European countries after reading the July-August 2024 edition of Aerial Fire. Airbus has a webpage for the A400M with specifications that may be found on this webpage. The Aerial Fire article may be found here (I am not sure how long this link will be active). In addition to its use as a tactical aircraft, air to air refueling, medical evacuation, and carrying paratroopers, the aircraft can be used to fight wildfires with the addition of a modular tanking system similar to that used by MAFFS in the United States. The A400M drop tank, possibly still in the testing phase in Europe, can drop about 20,000 liters or 5,000 gallons. According to the July-August 2024 Aerial Fire article on the C130 and A400M
Many European Air Powers have selected the Airbus A400M as a replacement for their C-130 and other medium-lift tactical transport aircraft. Some of them including France and Spain suffer from massive wildfires annually, thus they intend to use their A400Ms in the way the MAFFS program utilizes them for the Forest Service in the US. An A400M can carry 81,570 lbs of maximum payload while this is 47,399 lbs for C-130J/J-30. This made it necessary for Airbus to design and develop a new firefighting module capable of carrying larger amounts of water and retardant to meet the needs of air forces already operating A400Ms.
With the growing need for firefighting capability of medium-lift cargo aircraft of the world’s air forces and as MAFFS II was integrated into Embraer C-390A Millennium for use by the Brazilian Air Force, Airbus decided to design and develop a special roll-in/roll-out module for installation on A400M. This not only could help some of its current customers and operators such as Spanish, German, and French Air Forces to utilize these aircraft for firefighting operations but also help marketing and selling it in the market.
I think the AirBus A400 can play an important role in aerial firefighting in Europe and other countries where the A400 is being used. I look forward to learning more about the A400.
While catching up on my reading yesterday I read in the May- June 2024 edition of Aerial Fire that the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) is in the process of upgrading their fleet. This year they will be getting delivery of two Dash 8-Q400AT and two Dash 8-Q400MRE aircraft, for more information see this April 23, 2024 News release from the SPSA. The Q400AT is configured for wildland firefighting while the Q400MRE is designed for multiple roles such as air evacuations, hauling cargo and being configured for wildland firefighting. I believe that both aircraft are from Conair Aerial Firefighting who supplies air tankers to Canada and other countries. Conair's specification page for the Q400AT may be found here. Conair has a specifcation page for the Q400MRE. The maximum tank capacity for the Q400MRE is 9,274 litres or 2,450 US gallons. The Q400AT has a slightly larger maximum tank capacity of 10,000 litres or 2,640 US gallons.
I wanted to find a video to share with you of the Dash 8-Q400 series and was in luck when I found a video of water bomber training in the spring of 2024 at Bendigo Airport (Victoria?). You will see a Dash 8-Q400 and an Avro RJ85. The video is about nine minutes long. Enjoy.
Direct link to video from CBS Evening News on YouTube
While the video I shared above is shot in California, I think that the report has good information that applies across the United States and elsewhere. I want to thank my friends at the New Jersey Forest Fire Service Section B10 Webpage for sharing this video on their webpage the other day. They post a few videos daily and I try to go and look at them at each day. As the folk behind the NJFFS Section B10 webpage are wildland firefighters and I am not, I always consider that the videos they share have reliable information.
I am aware that there are misconceptions and myths about prescribed burns and this video report addresses some of the myths. For example, while accidents can happen, Governments do not start prescribed burns to start wildfires.
I suspect that the exact specifics of when and what agencies conduct prescribed burns in your area will vary from the what you see in the video report in northern California. The US Forest Service has a page describing their prescribed fires (aka burns), they say in part: "Did you know fire can be good for people and the land? After many years of fire exclusion, an ecosystem that needs periodic fire becomes unhealthy. Trees are stressed by overcrowding; fire-dependent species disappear; and flammable fuels build up and become hazardous."
In New Jersey, prescribed burns are conducted between October 1 and March 31, with many prescribed burns conducted in late winter and early spring. The NJ Forest Fire Service has a nice webpage that may be found here where they discuss what prescribed burns are:
What is a prescribed burn? Technically, a prescribed burn is: "the skillful application of fire under exacting conditions of weather and fuel in a predetermined area, for a specific purpose to achieve specific results."
Since 1928, the Fire Service has used fire as a tool to protect the lives and property of our residents living near the forestlands of New Jersey. We do this by setting fires under exacting conditions to reduce the underbrush (the "fuel" for a fire), in areas that are prone to fire, or that may be located in a position where we feel we can defend against an oncoming wildfire. The use of fire in this way requires a level of skill and competence that we encourage through extensive, ongoing training.
The primary purpose of prescribed burning in New Jersey is to reduce the hazardous accumulations of forest fuels. This aids in the prevention of wildfires, reduces the intensity of the fires, and also provides a foundation for safer, more effective fire suppression and protection operations.
They then go on to give a short history, and discuss the steps they follow in conducting a prescribed burn: planning, preparation, execution, and smoke management. I believe that the information on the NJFFS prescribed burn webpage is inline with prescribed fires conducted by the US Forest Service.
Prescribed burns are an important tool to reduce the risk of wildfires. Thanks to all the wildland firefighters whether they are on the ground or in the air doing prescribed burns.
I became aware of the wildfires in Portugal a few days ago through Mike Archers Wildfire News of the Day newsletter and other newsfeeds. These wildfires are a reminder that wildfires are an international problem. Late last week that were as many as 100 wildfires burning about 37,000 acres in Portugal with at least three wildland firefighters perishing and four others who died in the fire. Many residences have been destroyed. Aerial resources from Portugal and surrounding countries are helping the wildland firefighters on the ground. France 24 has a nice 2 minute video report (dated on or about September 20th) covering the wildfires in Portugalat this France 24 site. I found a slightly different version of France 24's video report on the fire on YouTube which I am embedding below.
Direct link to video from France 24 on YouTube
For additional information see two reports from BBC News, a September 19th report with a short video of fire footage and an earlier September 17th report. Finally here is a September 19th report from from NPR.
