Groundpounders and Air Attack

A couple of videos that I had filed away that I thought I'd share with you. For those who partake in Halloween, have a nice and safe one.


COURTNEY FIRE AIR ATTACK from Jeff Aiello on Vimeo.

  Direct link to video from Brittany Jean

NOAA Hurricane Hunter flying the eyewall of Hurricane Patricia

As most of you know, Hurricane Patricia made landfall last Friday in Mexico packing 165 mph winds. Here is video of NOAA Hurricane Hunter NOAA43 flying the eye of Patricia when she was still over the eastern Pacific. The video was shared on Facebook by the NOAA Hurricane Hunters, here is a  direct link to the video on Facebook

Helicopters setting a utility pole (Butte Fire, CA)

Regular followers of my blog know that after we have had a weather event with a lot of power failures that I have gone around armed with my camera and taken photos of utility crews who have restored power. My way of saying thank-you. See for example I posted this article thanking out-of-state utility crews on November 14, 2012, five days after our power was restored after Super Storm Sandy wrecked havoc on New Jersey and environs.

Devastation is devastation whether it be from a weather event like Super Storm Sandy which caused extensive damage to the New Jersey, New York City, and Long Island coastlines or a major wildfires. Houses are damaged, business are damaged. And electric infrastructure along with other infrastructure is damaged.

I have not personally experienced any kind of wildfire so I can speak from personal experience. But it stands to reason that one of the first things that has to happen is to restore electricity to areas affected by a wildfire. Now I have known that helicopters are used for work on electric infrastructure. While I have not personally witnessed a helicopter helping with electric infrastructure I have heard reports of such activity from my friends. One of these days I'll see a helo up close and personal doing electric infrastructure work.

In the short two-minute video (see below) you will see a helicopter bring in a utility pole, assumedly replacing one damaged by the Butte Fire, and the workers on the ground setting the pole. The Butte Fire burned 70,868 acres in Amador and Calaveras Counties in California destroying 475 residences and 343 outbuildings. There were two civilian casualites and one injury. The CAL FIRE incident page, which will be taken down at some point, is available here. I referred to the Butte Fire in this article. The fire which started on September 9th was 100 percent contained sometime in early October of this year.


Direct link to video on Youtube

Nat Guard Blackhawk helos working fires

In memory of my friend Matt who loved all things relating to helicopters, I am sharing these two videos of National Guard Blackhawks working fires (from 2013 and 2014). Matt passed on a little over a year ago. Ever since Matt passed I have a special affinity for helos. Matt, I know that you are flying in favorable tail winds.

The two videos show Blackhawk operations over wildfires from different vantage points. In the first video (published on August 15, 2014), posted by the California Guard, you will see Blackhawk operations from a camera on the belly of the helo. The video starts as the Blackhawk is leaving the dip site and for the next 2 minutes plus you watch the Blackhawk as she flys to the fire. Then she drops and flys back to the dip site to get more water. The five-minute video ends shortly after the second drop.


Direct link to video on Youtube


The second video is shot by Staff Sgt. Robert Harden of a Utah National Guard Blackhawk working fires in 2013 in Utah and Idaho. This video seems to shot from inside the Blackhawk with footage of the fire, and bucket drops. You will hear some radio communications from aircraft over the fire. Allow a little over six minutes for this video.


Direct link to video on Youtube

Enjoy and stay safe everyone.

North Carolina: SEATs and Helos working wildfires

Thanks to my friends at B10 NJ Wildland Fire Page's fire videos of the week for steering me to some videos by Bryan Austin who has uploaded some videos to Youtube that I am sharing here. I plan on sharing some more of Bryan's work in the coming weeks. The two videos (both uploaded on September 25, 2015) that I am sharing here show SEATs and Helos working wildfires in support of wildland firefighters on the ground in North Carolina. In the second video you will some wildfire footage and wildland firefighters on the ground. Both videos are just under four minutes long. Bryan has shared the following disclaimer for both videos:

DISCLAIMER: The NCFS has approved the gopro video footage to be released for public viewing. However, just note they are not NCFS official videos, nor does the NCFS endorse the videos.

Updated on May 2, 2016 (4:20 PM), I am sorry to say that both videos are no longer on youtube. :(

Thank-you North Carolina Wildland Firefighters in the air and on the ground for keeping us safe.

Hidden Pines Fire (Bastrop, TX) Oct 19th update

I want to provide an update on the Hidden Pines Fire in Bastrop County, TX that I wrote about on October 16th. As I write this, the acreage burned remains at 4,582 acres at 60 percent containment. See Inciweb's Hidden Pines incident page (last updated about 2:45 PM EDT. Air resources working currently working the fire, but are not necessarily limited to SEATs, and helicopters with buckets (including National Guard Blackhawks). I know that a DC-10 tanker worked the fire on Friday, I don't know if she is still working the fire.

KXAN, however, is reporting that the fire is 100 percent contained with evacuations still in place see this video (with a report and a map) from KXAN. More than 50 homes have been destroyed according to KXAN.

More information on the Hidden Pines Fire:

• Twitter feed (no account necessary) #HiddenPinesFire (fire photos including photos of tankers and helos, maps, community resources, etc.
• Fire Aviation video of National Guard Helo working fire
• KXAN page on Hidden Pines Fire (not sure how long this link will be up once fire is contained)
• KVUE continues to update their page on the Hidden Pines Fire (pictures and videos, not sure how long this link will be up once fire is contained).

Hidden Pines Fire, Bastrop County TX

I have heard a couple of news reports recently on my local media outlets about the Hidden Pines Fire that has burned 4,582 acres in Bastrop County, Texas. The fire, first reported on Tuesday, October 13th is currently at 25 percent containment and at least nine residences being destroyed according to the most current report from Inciweb on the Hidden Pines Fire (October 16th, 2:45 PM EDT)

As always, Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today has good coverage on the Hidden Pines Fire in an article that he last updated early in the morning of October 16th. Her reports on the difference in figures for the number of residences destroyed in an update written at 1:15 AM CDT on October 16th:

Recent mapping of the Hidden Pines Fire north of Smithville, Texas shows that it grew about 200 acres over the last 24 hours to 4,582, according to the Bastrop County Office of Emergency Management. Today they are saying “approximately 40 structures” burned, but did not specify how many of those were residences. On Thursday local fire officials reported that nine homes had burned. The Southern Area Coordination Center’s Morning Report on Friday, October 16 said nine residences have burned.

This morning I heard a report on National Public Radio as I was driving on the Hidden Pines Fire, reporting that a DC-10 tanker is going to work the fire today. I was glad to read Bill Gabberts article on the Hidden Pines Fire that the DC-10 is supposed to be available today (October 16th) to work the fire.

For those interested, there is a twitter feed (no account necessary) on the Hidden Pines Fire with lots of photos and updated information. There are a couple of nice photographs on the twitter feed of a SEAT and a helicopter and bucket.

Here are two reports from local media on the fire:

• KVUE-ABC (Austin TX) has a nice webpage (not always sure how long links like this are up) with day by day reports and some nice videos available here.
• The CBS Station in Dallas Fort Worth is also covering the fire, here is a report from midday on October 16th reporting that "officials believe that a farming accident may have sparked the fire," go here to read the report.

Fish and Wildlife Officer works very small wildfire in WA

I saw a nice Youtube Video uploaded from Animal Planet about the difference that one Fish and Wildlife Officer made by discovering, reporting, and working on a very small wildfire in Washington State. The Fish and Wildlife Officer that you see in the video is Officer Tyler Bahrenburg. I don't know anything more about the small wildfire discussed in the video. Hopefully the engine and crew that arrived and any additional groundpounders that arrived later were about to contain and control the widlfire while it was still small.

direct link to video on Youtube from Animal Planet

I’d like to thank my friends at the B10 NJ Wildland Fire Page who shared this video on October 9th on their Fire Videos of the Week Page (videos change weekly). 

Indonesian wildfires

I first heard about wildfires in Indonesia last week when I came across an article in International Business Times (October 8th) reporting on wildland fires burning forests and peatland in Indonesia. According to the IBT article — based on drone footage and a press release from Greenpeace — at least 135,000 Indonesians are having respiratory problems from these smokey wildfires. I filed the article away, and decided to try to keep my eyes open for additional reports on these wildfires in Indonesia.

I came across a second article today dated on October 1st from the Jakarta Post reporting on these smokey wildfires with some additional information about the smoke and dry conditions in Indonesia and environs. It doesn't take long to read, and I hope that you take a minute or two to read the article.

Some friends of mine provided more information about these smokey wildfires in Indonesia commenting that New South Wales (NSW) in Australia is planning to loan  Coulson’s T-132 — whom NSW refers to as "Thor" — to Indonesia to help them fight these wildfires. I was curious and wanted to find some more specific information about Thor’s deployment so I found a short press release on the NSW website. According to this press release from the NSW Rural Fire Service NSW is sending the Lockheed C-130 Airtanker (Coulson’s T-132) to Indonesia early this week on a five day deployment. They are also sending a team of firefighters and other personnel to Indonesia.

Thanks to Bill Gabbert’s good reporting on Fire Aviation on October 10th, (link to article) I found more information on this deployment. Gabbert has more information on the deployment from Shane Fitzsimmons, Commissioner of the NSW Rural Fire Service that you will want to read.

I am thankful for the spirit of international cooperation exemplified by the State of New South Wales in Australia helping Indonesia fight these wildfires. I get the impression that the smoke from the wildfires in Indonesia is pretty bad. Thanks New South Wales and anyone else who is helping Indonesia battle these very smokey wildfires.

Victoria, Australia - Lancefield Bushfire (Oct 9th)

The other day (Oct. 8th) I wrote about the Lancefield Bushfire in Victoria Australia. The County Fire Agency (CFA) in Victoria are now reporting having burned about 3,000 hectares. In an updated warning (Oct 9th, 6:57 PM local time) for Lancefield, Rochford, and Cobaw (fire origin, Lancefield):

There is a bushfire burning and is approximately up to 3000 hectares after good work from crews. 

The fire is not yet under control. (obtained on Oct. 9, 2015 at 1:15 PM EDT from http://warnings.cfa.vic.gov.au/#warning=17571210, link may be expired depending on when you are reading this).

Current warnings from CFA Victoria appear to be updated as new information is obtained by officials, a list of current warnings from the CFA Victoria may be found on the CFA Victoria warning page. I have not seen any mention of residences destroyed in the incident reports from CFA Victoria, but I may well be missing something.

According to a report from Skynews Australia (Oct 9th, 4:08 PM local time) five residences have been destroyed by the bushfire, and 22 aircraft including two large Airtankers from New South Wales have been flying the fire supporting the firefighters on the ground. Skynews also reports that about this bushfire has  burned about 3,000 hectares.

The Sydney Morning Herald had an Oct 8th report on this fire including a video.

Meanwhile, according to another report from the Sydney Morning Herald (Oct. 8) the residents in and near the Lancefield Brushfire are frustrated over this brushfire which escaped a prescribed burn last weekend.

Victoria, Australia - Lancefield Bushfire

We are in early fall in the northern hemisphere which means that it is early spring in the southern hemisphere. And with the advent of spring in Australia that means that their bush fire season is underway. So I spent a little time today finding and then bookmarking firefighting agencies in Australia as well as news media sites.

As fate would have it, I was on the website for the Australia Broadcasting Company (ABC), looking around to see what was going in Australia, in particular were any bushfires making the news. Well, lo and behold, I read a story on ABC about the Lancefield bushfire in Victoria, affecting six towns and burning 4,000 hectares so far. That would be the equivalent of 9,884 acres in the United States. At least 300 firefighters on the ground are working the fire aided by heavy equipment including dozers. Aircraft are helping the crews on the ground. The fire began as a prescribed burn last weekend only to jump containment lines. Two residences have been destroyed by this fire which is not yet contained. CFA Victoria does maintain specific incident information for their fires, unfortunately the link that I originally linked to when I first posted this article has expired. Depending on when you are accessing this article, you might still be able to access incident information for this bushfire (Lancefield, Rochford, Cobaw) from CFA Victoria's Emergency Warnings page.

I found a report on ABC dated October 6th with some photographs of the Lancefield bushfire here.

The County Fire Authority (CFA) in Victoria has some webpages that may of interest:

Main page for CFA Victoria

CFA Victoria on Twitter

Emergency Warnings for Victoria including bushfires

Map of incidents and warnings (bushfires) in Victoria (I assume that this map will update with current information so the map you access may have different information depending on when you access the map).

Revised on October 8, 2015

Wildfire in the Siberia region of Russia

Here is a video report from PBS (0ct. 3, 2015) on a wildfire in Russia. Seems like the western United States is not not the only region experiencing hot and dry condtions. The report also speaks to the ecologic affects of this wildfire on this special ecosystem.

USFS announces next gen 2.0 airtanker contract awards

No doubt some of you reading this are already aware that the U.S Forest Service announced yesterday that they have awarded exclusive use contracts to Aero Flite, Neptune Aviation Services, and 10 Tanker Air Carrier starting later this year for seven Next Generation Large Airtankers. This is a five-year exclusive use contract with single-year options for five additional years bringing the total to ten years. According to the U.S. Forest Service Press Release,

The new Exclusive Use contracts for Next Generation Airtankers will go to:

• Aero-Flite, Inc., Spokane, Washington – 2 Avro RJ85s

• Neptune Aviation Services, Inc., Missoula, Montana – 4 BAe-146s

• 10 Tanker Air Carrier, LLC, Albuquerque, New Mexico – 1 DC-10

This will bring the total number of Next Generation Airtankers currently under Exclusive Use contract with the Forest Service to 14. 

An article from the Montana based Missoulian annoucing the award may be found here.

As usual, Bill Gabbert of Fire Aviation provided excellent coverage of this award in an article he posted on October, 1, 2015. I thought that he made an excellent point about past protests of these types of contracts, wondering if this award might be protested, Gabbert says:

Most of the contracts the U.S. Forest Service has attempted to issue in recent years for large and very large air tankers have been protested, which suspends the activation of the contract until the Government Accountability Office adjudicates the dispute. This contract has already been protested by Coulson Aviation and Erickson Aero Tanker even before the closing date of the solicitation. However, the GAO decided in July to deny the protests. But that does not mean that there will not be additional protests now that the contracts have been awarded.

Time will tell.