On the fire line: Buffalo Lake Rd. Fire (WA, 2012)

Last September I embedded a video by Steve Konrad showing Footage of ground pounders working a wildfire in OR, go here to see the video. Steve recently contacted me, sharing that he had just completed and posted to youtube, a video showing a crew off wildland firefighters (aka ground pounders) working the Buffalo Lake Rd. Fire in WA not too long ago. Steve's video fits right in with what I wanted to write about today, so I am sharing it here.

As you watch this video, please consider three things. First, that air tankers of various sizes along with helicopters, lead planes, and aerial supervision modules are working to support the crews on the ground.

Second, that these crews from around the U.S. and from Canada. Regarding our friends in Canada, the Northwest Compact -- as explained in this article from  NCWTV crews from the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Sasjatcgewan, Alberta, the Yukon, and the Northwest Territories are in agreement with Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Montana provided resources in the form of ground crews, equipment, and aerial resources to help out compact members in times of need. The State of Washington called upon the compact a couple of months ago for help in fighting wildfires burning in Washington. And our friends in Canada responded by sending WA ground crews.

Finally, you will get an idea of the very important and demanding work that wildland fire crews do to bring a fire under control.

Thank-you crews for what you do as you work wildfires. What you do is dangerous and there are things that you do to safe. And you do this to keep us safe.

Wildfires burning in WA: Okanogan-Wenatche National Forest

As I was listening to news reports on the radio over the weekend, I heard at least one report about the wildfires that are currently burning in the Okanogan-Wenatche National Forest in Washington. When I went to the inci web page for the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest (WA) I saw listings for five wildfires/complexes. Rather then try to complicate matters by summarizing the five incidents, some of which are complexes of a few wildfires, I will list each of the five incidents (with acreage as of 11 AM EDT on Sept. 24, 2012) with links to their individual inciweb page:

• Okanogan Complex (5,931 acres)
• Goat Fire (6,110 acres)
• Table Mountain Fire (35,965 acres)
• Wenatchee Complex (42,508 acres)
• Yakima Complex (2,300 acres)

Here are two reports from local media dated Sept. 23 with updates on the wildfires:

• Seattle Times update on Washington wildfires
• Yakima Herald update on Washington wildfires

I found a couple of videos that you might be interested in. The video below is a short video showing a couple of Washington National Guard Helos that worked the Wenatchee Complex Fires (direct link to youtube video.

Thank-you Wildland Firefighters (Waldo Canyon Fire)

I was just wondering the internet and came upon a video (the first video embedded below)  of a Colorado community thanking the wildland firefighters who fought the Waldo Canyon Fire that burned 18,247 acres in Colorado in June 2012. However, I think that the thanks and tributes expressed here apply to the good work all of you who are wildland firefighters on the ground, in the air, and the various support staff.

Thank-you wildland firefighters and stay safe!






Note: in the second tribute video, you will see a photo of an Aero Union P-3, T-00. At the time I write this, Aero Union's P-3's have not flown fires since the US Forest Service cancelled the P-3 contracts in 2011 and was not flying the Waldo Canyon Fire. However, the photo of T-00 is a tribute to the work that all tankers do on wildfires in support of ground troops!

Wyoming Wildfires

I was away from the internet last week in rural Vermont, but I did hear some reports on public radio about wildfires that were then burning out west. I am reasonably certain that one of the states that were mentioned in these news reports was Wyoming. I don't believe that I have touched on wildfires in Wyoming yet so I am doing so here. I went to Inciweb (see links below for each fire) just now to read about some of the larger (15,000 acres plus) fires that are still burning or were burning last week in Wyoming. The fire size and other information listed in the parentheses come from the latest inciweb report for each fire that I accessed at about 1:30 PM EDT on September 19, 2012.

Sheep Herder Hill Fire (15,556 acres, 100% containment started on Sept. 9, 2012, cause under investigation). Inciweb -- Sheep Herder Hill.

• According to an Inciweb news release on Sept. 16, 37 residences and 23 outbuildings were destroyed.  
• Wildfire Today's latest report on the Sheep Herder Hill Fire may be found here, where he mentions that helicopters and SEATs were assigned to the fire. 
• A report from the Billings Gazette dated Sept 14, 2012 on the Sheep Herder Hill fire may be found here.

Fontenelle Fire (64,220 acres, 96% containment, started on June 24, 2012, cause under investigation). Inciweb -- Fontenelle.

North Buffalo Fire (25,000 acres, Probable human cause on Aug. 24, 2012). Inciweb -- North Buffalo.

Alpine Lake Fire (40,361 acres, Lightning on Aug. 7, 2012). One of the DC-10 tankers and some SEATs made retardant drops on Sept. 15/16. Inciweb -- Alpine Lake.

• Wildfire Today on Alpine Lake Fire including links to videos
• County10 (Sept 17, 2012) reporting on the Alpine Lake Fire.

Scotts Fire Air Attack

I am done with the project that I was involved with last week, and am still catching up with myself. Enjoy the video from Photo One Productions (Copyright 2012 Photo One Productions).  For more information and a list of the tankers you will see in this video go here.

For more information about the Scotts Fire (Lake County CA), which I believe is 100% contained (4,618 acres), see this Final update on the Scotts Fire from CAL FIRE.

NJFFS Prescribed Burn near Old Bridge NJ (Feb 26, 2012)

Here is a short (just under 4 minute) video of NJ Forest Fire Service conducting a prescribed burn in the Runyon Watershed, Old Bridge NJ on Feb, 26, 2012. A direct link to the video may be found here.

S-2T tankers out of Santa Clara CA (2009)

A video from photo1productions dated June 2009 of aerial operations out of Santa Clara CA, a direct link to the video may be found here. Nice audio with footage of S-2-T's making retardant drops. Allow about 8 to 9 minutes to watch the video.

Hemet Ryan AAB - Buck Fire - June 28, 2012

I'll be involved with some projects the next few days, so I'll be sharing some videos with with you. I begin with the this longer video from Nick Mitchell (the Enenomator1) of Air Operations at Hemet Ryan Air Attack Base in Riverside County, CA. The video was shot on June 28, 2012 showing aerial operations at Ryan for the Bucks Fire that burned in Sage CA. A direct link to this video on youtube may be found here where Nick lists the aircraft that flew this fire. I believe that the helicopter that you see in the beginning of the video is a Army National Guard UH-72 Lakota (see the videos info section on the direct link to the video on youtube that I just posted), a command ship in support of MAFFS C-130s that were flying this fire but reloading out of another tanker base. You will also a number of CAL FIRE's S-2T's. Finally, I believe that you will see one of the DC-10 tankers flying at the end of the video. Allow about 15 minutes to watch the video.

SEATs working small fires

I want to take a moment to pause and acknowledge the all important work that aerial firefighters do making drops on fires that are under five acres. You might be a SEAT, a helo with a bucket, a CAL FIRE S-2, or another type of tanker. It might be only be one drop. It doesn't matter. I know you are there. You work in support of the ground troops and together you have kept the fire small before it can grow into something larger.

I know you are there, even if I don't read any reports about your work on small fires. I caught a break today as I was looking for articles about small fires, hopefully where either an airtanker or a helo had worked the fire. I found two articles about small fires in Colorado on the Michael Archer's Firebombers Publications Blog.

He linked to an article from The SummitDaily (9/5/12) in his September 6 post about a SEAT working a fire in the Big Thompson Canyon, estimated at three to five acres.

On September 7, he linked to an article from The Gazette in Colorado Springs (9/6/12) where a SEAT dropped on a small fire in the area of Pike's Peak in Colorado.

Both articles happened to be referring to SEATs making a drop. But you could of just as easily been a helo with a bucket or another type of tanker. I know you are there.

A small wildland fire in a remote corner of Mt. Mansfield (VT)

I have been writing about some of the large wildland fires that have been burning in western areas of the U.S. last week. I turn today to a very small wildland fire that burned approximately two acres of dry mossy land in a steep and remote section of Mt. Mansfield in VT. The key words being remote and steep.

The fire burned near a ledge a short distance from the Taylor Lodge. The Taylor Lodge is off of the Long Trail in Nebraska Notch a couple of miles from Underhill Center, VT.

Here is a direct link (WCAX, Burlington VT) to the video that I have (hopefully) embedded below. The story may be found here

WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-


I called up the Green Mountain Club in Vermont for help in marking an approximate location of the Taylor Lodge on Google Earth. Please note, that I make no claims that this is the exact location of Taylor Lodge. However, the image below will give you an idea of where the fire was (not far from Taylor Lodge) and the remoteness of the area. I believe, but am not certain that they used Lake Mansfield as a water source. In the upper left corner of the image, I have marked Stevensville Rd. in Underhill Center for you.

Revised on October 12, 2015 to remove a dead link.

Canadian Airtankers in action

I am pretty sure that I may have posted this video a year ago as a way of thanking our friends in Canada for the loan of their tankers last year. On this labor day, or I should say a day when I am not laboring, I wanted to embed a video for you to watch. This came across so to speak. I love the video and the music.