Wildfire Tidbits (1/30/15)

Whatever I am blogging about, I do try to keep up with what is going regarding wildland fires and news in the tanker biz. I’m not even going to try to play “catch-up” in all that has been going on over the last five weeks in this one article. Rather, I’ll touch on some tidbits from the last few days.

• The Florida Forest Service has been doing prescribed fires this week (and perhaps earlier?) They posted information on prescribed burns larger than 700 acres on January 27 and January 28. Not included in the list for January 27th was a 12,300 acre prescribed fire in Goethe State Forest in Levy County, FL .
• Wildfires burned this week in Oklahoma in Okfuskee County, near the Tulsa OK metropolitan region, and Mannford.
• A 60-acre wildfire in Pacifica CA that caused some evacuations earlier this week (Contracostatimes article and Wildfire Today (1/26/15) with pictures)
• Wildfires near the Buffalo National River in Arkansas burned some 1,700 acres last week. The National Park Service reopened the Buffallo National River on or about January 26th .

If I do nothing else, at the very least I check out Bill Gabbert’s Wildfire Today and Fire Aviation blogs along with Michael Archer’s Wildfire News of the Day where you can subscribe to his 6-day a week e-mail newsletter here.

Images of the Blizzard that hit southern New England and Long Island

The recent snow storm of Jan 26-7 left me with about 3.5 inches, not complaining. But some of the slop froze on the side of my driveway so I had to work to get it off. Thanks to the sun and some calcium chloride got rid of the last of the snow a couple of hours ago. In time for perhaps more snow later this weekend. Anyway, I did spend about 3 hours working on chipping ice off my driveway so I'm a little tired.

But I do sometimes post about weather events and I thought that some of you might be interested in a couple of satellite images of the storm. These two images are both taken from the Suomi NPP Satellite (National Polar-orbiting Partnership). Pretty cool images, don't you think?

from 

NOAA Satellite Twitter feed

from Suomi NPP, extent of snowfall from 1/26-7 blizzard, taken 1/28/15 @ 1:50 PM

 from
NOAA Satellite Twitter Feed

Suomi NPP captures Blizzard near peak intensity, 1/27/15 @ 1:45 AM EST

Finally,  a short video of the cloud cover from the Blizzard. The video shows some color images captured by Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) East and West. The images were taken from January 25th to 27th.



direct link to video from NOAA Satellites

What I’ve been doing - weather

I thought I’d write a little about some of things that I’ve been thinking about and doing the last four to five weeks.

As a non-pilot aviation enthusiast, I have also gotten more and more interested in meteorology. So, I have been doing some reading and spending some time with a couple of sources on the internet. Not quite sure where this lead in terms of blog articles.

What I can offer is that I learn a lot by following my local National Weather Service Office, NWS Philadelphia/Mt Holly, and reading their various products including but not limited to their forecast discussion (for an example go here. I read the discussion and check out highlighted terms I don’t know in their glossary by clicking on the highlighted term. If you aren’t familiar with these forecast discussions, they can be a little daunting at first. It took me several months of reading them, coupled with reading a couple of meteorology books to get a very basic understanding of what they are talking about. I also follow NWS Mt Holly on their Facebook site where I have learned a great deal. Most other NWS offices have a presence on Facebook so check out yours if you haven’t already done so, they are publicly available but you have to have a Facebook account to make a comment.

One other resource that I use a lot is the National Weather Service’s Jetstream - Online School for Weather. The JetStream is great and easy to understand, at least I think it is easy to understand. Another site that I’ve spent some time with is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Education Resources Page (the NWS is under NOAA).

On the more technical end, with many of the modules being designed for meteorologists and related professionals is Comet MetEd. It is free but you have to register. There are oddles of modules to choose from which you can take online or download and read on your computer. I should warn you that many of these modules are on the technical side and there are some that I have read through where I have to skim over the parts that I don’t understand. Fortunately, where I have had to do so, I have been able to get something out of the modules. There is an exam at the end of each module, I’ve only taken a couple of exams in the more basic modules.

Edited on January 27, 2015 to add:

When I wrote this article yesterday, I was intending to write more reflections on my interest in meteorology. Instead, I have decided to not write anything further on my interest in meteology, at least not in the forseeable future.

But I do want to conclude by sharing two books focusing on Weather on the United States, both by Jack Williams:

The Weather Book: an Easy-to-Understand Guide to the USA's Weather, second edition (1997), by Jack Williams.

The AMS Weather Book: The Ultimate Guide to America's Weather (2009), by Jack Williams, co-published by the American Meteorology Society.

Finally, I have a "meteorology text book", Meteorology Today, ninth edition (2009) by C. Donald Ahrens. These types of text books, with an online component that I did not purchase, are often revisied every three years. The latest edition is Meteorology Today, twelfth edition (2019) by C. Donald Ahrens and Robert Henson. This book is a lot more expensive new copies can range from $125 to $175.

Malawi Floods - update # 2

When I first wrote about the recent flooding in Malawi on January 21, 2015, I wrote that I had spent two weeks in Malawi in 2007. I had the privilege of traveling with some wonderful people, most of whom were from California, who were doing work with HIV (through an organization known as GAIA) and I was interested at the time in issues around the provision of clean water.  I have since lost touch with the wonderful people who were my travel companions, and I think of them often. My life has taken a very different direction since my trip to Malawi in 2007, but what I saw in Malawi changed me.

One of the districts in Malawi that has been among the most severely affected districts is a district in southern Malawi known as Chikwawa (map of Malawi highlighting districts affected by the 2015 floods). We spent part of a day in the Chikwawa district, by far the most remote and among the poorest areas that we visited in Malawi. I write about traveling on as remote and rutted dirt road in the Chikwawa district, a village (Mindanti) we visited and a drive to Father Patrick’s (Anglican) Church here. I was interested in a water well that was then under construction in the Mindanti. The day we drove that road (during the dry season), it was lightly raining but many of the rivers and streams we crossed over were dry. Prior to going to Malawi, I had heard that the road we were on is impassable during a normally rainy season, this was confirmed by our driver. I could see why.

I wonder how the people in Mindanti and Father Patrick's Church made out during the floods.

I feel wholly inadequate writing that my thoughts and prayers are with the people of Southeastern Africa (Malawi, Mozambique, and Madagascar) that have been affected by flooding, see this report and map dated January 23 for a summary of information from each country.  Malawi often sees a lot of rain during this time of year, its rainy season. As I understand it, this is the worst flooding that Malawi has seen in some 30 years. And as it is still relatively early in the rainy season in Malawi, more heavy rains may make recovery efforts difficult.

One website that I have been to that has a good summary of some of the current conditions and some of the ongoing relief efforts is from ReliefWeb. As I write this ReliefWeb has a nice page summarizing focusing on Malawi with links to information about the recent floods that may be found here, however if you are accessing this page sometime after these floods, the information on this page may change.

The government of Malawi has a preliminary response plan for the 2015 floods where they report that:

• an estimated 638,00 people have been affected,
• an estimated 174,000 people have been displaced from their homes and are living at various displacement sites,
• 62 people are dead, and
• 153 are missing.

Included among the international relief agencies currently working in Malawi are World Food Programme, Doctors without Borders, and Gift of the Givers (Gift of the Givers photo gallery of destruction). I am certain that there are many other relief organizations working in Malawi that I am not mentioning here. I did find a link to a South Africa media site (includes TV and radio) known as SABC. I did notice, through searching on their website for "Malawi flood" some stories on the recent floods in Malawi, for example this one dated January 20th reports on difficult access.

Edited on January 24, 2015 to add link to Gift of the Givers and SABC website.

Flooding in Malawi

Some of you may or may not know that in June 2007 I spent two weeks in Malawi. It was only yesterday that I learned of the recent floods that have devastated southern Malawi. I wrote about my trip to Malawi here in this blog starting on June 14, 2007. Among the districts flooded in Malawi (see this map from Relief Web) are three districts where I spent at least night: Salima (Stayed in Carolina's Beach Resort in Salima), Blantyre, and Zomba. At least 173 are dead. I've seen reports of 20,000 to as much as 70,000 people being displaced or cutoff due to the flooding.

It feels only appropriate that I take a time out from my usual postings and write a post or two about the flooding in Malawi.

For more information on the flooding in Malawi

CNN report on Malawi
Reliefweb on Malawi (1/14/15 report)
Gift of the Givers 1/17/15 FB post on Malawi Flooding

video report from Washington Post TV (Reuters) 

direct link to video from AFP News Agency

Updated on May 2, 2016 to remove dead links.

More Marine Helos working San Diego County Wildfires (May 2014)

Following up on my post of January 14 where I shared a 6 minute video showing various Marine Helos (and perhaps a Navy Helo?) working the wildfires that burned in San Diego County in May 2014, here is a 16 1/2 minute video where you will see Helicopters from the Marine Medium Helicopter Training Squadron (HMMT) 164, Marine Aircraft Group (MAG) 39, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (MAW), from Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton working the Tomahawk Fire. The video is by Cpl. Megan Scullin, 3D Marine Aircraft Wing Combat Camera.

I believe that much of the footage involves a Boeing Veritol CH-46 Sea Knight. You will see external shots as well as internal shots. There are also shots of the bucket being hooked up and deploying the bucket. I enjoyed the chance to see the CH-46 more up close and personal. Nice Video Cpl. Scullin.

Enjoy!


direct link to video

Rim Fire - largest fire in California history

I got caught up in some technical difficulties connecting to the internet which are now resolved. My intention was to share another video about Marine helicopters (up close and personal) used in the May 2014 wildfires that burned in San Diego County, California. This will have to wait until next Monday.

In the meantime, here is a very nice video from Yosemite National Park about the Rim Fire that burned in 2013. This is, to date, the largest wildfire in California history. They talk about things to think about regarding wildland fire management.



direct link to video

Marine Helos fighting (May 2014) San Diego County Wildfires

I ran across a nice video the other day of Marine Helicopters working the May 2014 wildfires in San Diego County, California (see my May 15, 2014 article and Bill Gabbert's May 18, 2014 article). I really liked this video because I got to see a variety of military helicopters that I don't normally get to see.

I wanted some help to confirm the type of helicopter that you see in the opening shots of the video, so I asked a good friend who worked with helicopters to help. He is busy, but took a few moments to watch the video. Thank-you!! As I suspected, my friend told me that the helicopter that you see in the opening shots of this video is a Boeing Vertol CH-46 Sea Knight, the civilian version is the Boeing-Vertol 107 IIs. In 2009, I wrote a couple of articles on the Boeing Vertol 107.

My friend went on to offer his best identification of some of the other helicopters in the video (I am not sure where in the video you see them): Bell Super Cobra, Bell Twin Huey, and Sikorsky CH-53 Super Stallion. The links that I included here are the best that I could do to offer some information (from wikipedia) on what could be these three helicopters.

In any event, I enjoyed watching all the helicopters in the video. You will also see hot reloading of fuel at Camp Pendleton, where I believe that fuel is reloaded while the engine is running.


direct link to video

Type 2 Initial Attack Wildfire Crew - Alaska Delta 2 (2008)

Here is a nice video of a Type 2 Initial Attack from Alaska, Delta Type 2 Intial Attack Crew 1, fighting fires in Alaska in 2008. Included in this eight minute video is a short tribute to those who died at the Iron Mountain Complex.


direct link to video

________________________

Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today has written extensively about the crash of the Carson Helicopter at the Iron Mountain Complex that killed 7 firefighters, the pilot-in-command and a USFS check pilot here. Two former Carson employees pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the crash (see Bill Gabbert's Nov. 24 2014 post.

Type 2 Initial Attack Wildfire Crew - Delaware 2012 season

Before and after the holidays, I've been sharing videos about different types of wildland fire crews. Today I am embedding a video from the Delaware Type 2 Initial Attack Wildfire Crew's 2012 season.


direct link to video

Grangeville Smokejumpers

I continue with smokejumpers by embedding a video showing the Grangeville Smokejumpers. Enjoy!

direct link to video

Smokejumpers - McCall

I continue embedding videos about various wildland firefighting crews. Today and again this Wednesday (January 7), I will be embedding videos about smokejumpers. Today, you will watch a video from the  McCall Smokejumpers. You will  learn what goes into being a smokejumper and what they do, thanks to some great footage of the McCall Smokejumpers 2012 season. The McCall Smokejumpers have been around since 1943.


direct link to video

More wildland firefighting footage

Continuing where I left off before the holidays, here is some nice footage showing the Sho-Pai Fire Season from the Shoshone Paitute Tribes.



direct link to video