Friday, October 23, 2009

kudos to initial attackers

A few months ago I wrote this post that I called Reflections on S-2T's, SEAT's and Initial Attack. I was speaking to the important work that CAL Fire's S-2T's and SEAT's on National or State/local contracts do to aid ground crews in putting out fires during the first hours after the fire is reported (aka initial attack). I need to add that helicopters, both those with buckets and well as type II helicopters with fixed tanks play an important roll in fighting fires in the initial attack phase.

I have written about specific large fires including campaign fires such as the Station Fire, but have not written much about these two to ten acres fires. So, I have been on the lookout for video footage of a such a fire, one that was contained within the first two to three hours. Earlier this week, there was a 10 acre brush fire in San Marcos, CA just north of San Diego (of unknown origin) that seemed to have been "knocked out" in under two hours. Helicopters and CAL FIRE S-2T's added ground crews in these efforts. I found out about this fire here, following the supplied link to this video footage shot from a San Diego's CBS8 news helicopter.

The video is just over 16 minutes. You will see several water/foam drops from what appears to be a fixed-tank type II helicopter. I saw a shot of a CAL Fire S-2T, tanker 88 fly by but did not see the drop (although I could of missed something). There are also shots of ground crews and engines working the fire.


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