For all the Blue Angels Fans

Yes, I am a Blue Angels fan and one of these days I'll get to see them in person. Anyway, enjoy this eight minute video of a Blue Angels flight shot from the cockpit. You will hear the commander of the Blue Angels (at the time the video was made and uploaded) share about what they do. Thanks to USA Today for making this video available on Youtube.


direct link to video

Air Tractor 602 doing Ag spraying in South Africa

direct link to video

Some of you may have heard about a wildfire in Ventura County, California last Saturday as well as a brush fire in Victoria, Australia that burned 116 homes. Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today writes about:

The brush fire in Victoria, Australia on December 27th
The wildfire in Ventura County, CA in two posts on December 26th - about the wildfire and a family records fire as they drive by the fire

Happy and safe holidays

My holiday tradition is to share Frederick Forsyth''s The Shepard with you as read by Alan Maitland. I'd like to thank a friend of mine who first told me about The Shepard six years abo.



direct link to video

SEATs - Conair AT-802 Fireboss (amphibious)

Enjoy this 13 minute video of four Conair AT-802 FireBoss (amphibious) tankers in action fighting the Sitkum Creek / Duhamel Creek Forest Fire near Nelson, British Columbia. Video was uploaded on July 12, 2015.


Direct link to video

SEATs - Spain (2012)

For your viewing pleasure, I will be sharing (embedding) some videos on various SEAT operations as well as some  videos showing Ag Aviation operations over the next several days. You may recall that some types of aircraft (Air Tractor is one example) are used in Ag Aviation operations and aerial firefighting.

Todays video is from Spain and you will see AT-802F's and the AT-802F Fireboss (amphibious) in action.


Direct link to video

Australia - Maddens Plains Bush Fire, NSW (Dec 11, 2015)

Thanks to my friends at B10 NJ Wildland Fire Page who shared a wonderful video of fire footage last on their videos of the week page (videos change every Friday). I wanted to find some information to share with you about the video that you see below. I was pretty sure that this bush fire was in New South Wales (NSW), Australia so I looked at some of bookmarks. I found some information from the NSW Rural Fire Service that they shared on their Facebook page on December 12th, go here for photos and information.  The fire was south of Sydney Australia in an areaknown as Maddens Plains (near Bulli). I don't know how large he fire was, but it was contained on or before December 12th. Tankers Thor (Conair's T-132, a L-382G, civilian version of a C-130) and Southern Belle (DC-10) worked the fire.


Direct link to video

Australia - Pinery Fire (11/25/15) - South Australia

Late last month a friend of mine, who is currently living near Adelaide in South Australia told me about the Pinery Fire which started on or about November 25th and burned approximately 82,000 hectres (or 202,625 acres). The last advice message from the South Australian Country Fire Service was issued on December 2nd saying that the threat from the Pinery Fire is reduced. I could not find any containment information. Two people died in the fire.

I was interested in this fire and found a few short videos to share with you. You will see SEATs dropping in one of the videos.  The last video shows some of the damage from the Pinery Fire. One of the videos may contain some colorful language.



Direct link to video


Direct link to video


Direct link to video

Tankers from U.S. working fires in Australia

I am continuing my ongoing project of researching and reading about the Rim Fire post-fire recovery. One way or the other, I plan on having something to share with you sometime after the first of the year. Please be patient, and I promise to get back to you. In the meantime, this blog goes on. Today I thought I'd share with you a few videos that I came across in my wonderings on the internet showing airtankers from the United States working fires in Australia. Bill Gabbert of Fire Aviation wrote an excellent article in early September about North American air tankers under contract in New South Wales, Australia this summer (our winter): a DC-10 tanker (dubbed "Southern Belle", and Conair's T-132 (a L382-G, civilian version of a C-130 dubbed "Thor").

In the first video you will see Thor dropping on a fire in New South Wales, Bill Gabbert shared this video in Fire Aviation on December 14th. I'd also like to thank a friend who alerted me to this video.


direct link to video

And three videos showing "Southern Belle" doing what she does best.


direct link to video


direct link to video


direct link to video

Rim Fire - Yosemite - On the role of fire management

Yesterday I was visiting the Yosemite National Park website and I went to one of their multimedia pages called Yosemite Presents where I saw their video on the Rim Fire, also available on Youtube under Yosemite Presents. It turned out that I had bookmarked the video and I think that I first learned about the video from Wildfire Today (January 12, 2015).

I watched the video again yesterday, in fact I watched the video a couple of times and since I am in the process of researching the Rim Fire Post-Fire Recovery, I thought I'd share the video with you today. What I like about this video is that they talk about the role that controlled burns (including prescribed burns) can play to reduce the damage done by wildfires. I like the  explanation that accompanies Yosemite's Rim Fire Video:

As these unnaturally large fires become more commonplace due to previous fire suppression and climate change, Yosemite National Park is seeing the benefits of carefully allowing smaller, controlled fires on the landscape.

You will hear Deputy Fire Chief Taro Pusina talk about the firing operations his crew did during the Rim Fire with the aim of stopping the fire before it reached the Merced River drainage and two giant sequoia groves. They also talk about the role of prescribed burns in helping wildfires such as the Rim Fire from not burning quite as hot as it could, slowing down and cooling fires such as the Rim Fire.

A peek into wildland firefighting in Alberta, Canada

It is my intention to write about the Rim Fire Post-Fire Recovery. Some of you might recall that I wrote about the long-term effects of the Rim Fire in an article that I posted on December 7th. I have a lot of documents related to the Rim Fire Post-Fire Recovery from Stanislaus National Forest to go through and have just made contact with someone from Stanislaus. It is going to take some time to do my reading and to talk with Stansilaus. I expect that this process will take until after the first of the year. However, if I find some pertinent information about the Rim Fire or the Rim Fire Post-Fire Recovery in my wonderings on the internet, I'll post it here.

Updated on September 16, 2016: as sometimes happens, it turns out that I spoke to soon when I first wrote this article on December 9, 2015. I do remain interested in the Rim Fire Post-Fire Recovery, but make no promises on what I will be able to do in the future.

In the meantime, I thought that you might enjoy these two videos that I am embedding where you will get a peek into wildland firefighting in Alberta, Canada. Both videos are under two minutes long.


Direct link to video on Youtube


Direct link to video on Youtube

Rim Fire - Long Term Effects

I spent much of this afternoon going through many documents relating to the Rim Fire - Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER)  and Long Term Recovery. Recall that the Rim Fire started in August 2013. Before it was contained two months later, it grew to be the third largest in California history burning 257,314 acres in the Stanislaus National Forest (154,530 acres), Yosemite National Park (78.895 acres), Bureau of Land Management (129 acres), and private lands (23,760 acres) [Rim Fire Reforestation Draft Environmental Impact Statement, U.S. Forest Service, Stanislaus National Forest, R5-MB-279, November 2015, p. 1-2, obtained on December 7, 2015 from http://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=45612).

Obtained on December 7, 2015 from http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/photos/CASTF/2013-08-17-1950-Rim/picts/2013_09_17-09.40.14.506-CDT.jpeg where you may get high resolution version

You may recall that I wrote about the Rim Fire - BAER on November 6 and  November 11 2013, with another article on August 21, 2014.

In my wonderings this afternoon I came upon  The Sierra Nevada Conservancy's webpage devoted to the Rim Fire (with links). I learned about two videos that I want to share with you. The first video is a before and after (Rim Fire) video of the area burned by the Rim Fire posted on the Sierra Nevada Conservancy's Facebook page. Unfortunately, I could not get the embed code to work, that happens sometimes. Please go here to watch the 2 minute video, it is very striking.

Finally, here is a nice video from California State Association of Counties (CSAC) looking at some of the long-term effects of the Rim Fire on the region, both environmentally and economically. Michael Sweet wrote this blog article of his visit to the Rim Fire burn area.


Direct link to video on youtube

Soda Fire (2015): Burned Area Emergency Response: more maps & reflections

I have been writing about the Soda Fire Burned Area Emergency Response of late. I know that there are stabilization treatments ongoing at the Soda Fire burn area that I have not written about. Should you so desire, these treatments along with a time schedule are described in the Soda Fire Emergency Stabilization And Rehabilitation (ES&R) Plan. I'll post some other links a little later where you might find updates. I am hoping that this post is not my last post on the subject, but this may be my last post for awhile. With winter coming on, if it hasn’t already arrived at the Soda Fire burn area, I’m not sure how much more active emergency stabilization and rehabilitation treatments that they can do this winter. But what do I know? Perhaps there are things that they can do in the winter. Time will tell.

In the meantime, I will keep reading some of the documents that I talked about last week as well as doing my best to keep my eyes out for media reports and report back here.

I don’t know about you, but I have learned a lot about the lands that were burned in the Soda Fire as well as the all important Burned Area Emergency Response. I have grown to appreciate the sagebrush-steppe ecosystem. And of course, there is that magnificent bird, the sage grouse. Through the documents that are available (see the link above), the various photos and videos, and media reports, this little corner of a sagebrush-steppe ecosystem has come alive. I know that the ecosystem is hurting after the fire and I am very glad to know something about the Soda Fire Burned Area Emergency Response Plan that will be ongoing for the next five years. 

I am delighted that there have been a lot of media attention on the Soda Fire Burned Area Emergency Response as well as good information available through the Bureau of Land Management. As I write this the Facebook page is updated at least every few days with photos and links to local media reports.

• BLM Idaho Soda Fire Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation
• Soda Fire 2015 -- Facebook
• Soda Fire November 10th Drill Seeding photos & Videos on Flickr

I have been promising to focus a little on some of the Soda Fire ES&R maps available to the public that may be found here. Each map is about 18 MB and is in a pdf file. I love maps and is this case it gives me an idea of what areas are being treated. I was especially interested in two maps which I downloaded and converted to smaller graphic files (jpeg) that I am sharing here. These are the map showing all vegetation treatments and 2015 drill seeding that I referred to on November 30th and December 2nd. The images below are not high resolution, if you want higher resolution files you will want to go the links in the preceding sentence and download them.

Obtained on December 2, 2015 from BLM Idaho -- https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/eplanning/mapset_view.do?projectId=52963&currentPageId=68942&documentId=64055

Obtained on December 2, 2015 from BLM Idaho -- https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/eplanning/mapset_view.do?projectId=52963&currentPageId=68942&documentId=64060

Soda Fire (2015): Burned Area Emergency Response: Drill Seeding

On November 30th I wrote about the challenges that invasive weeds pose after the loss of so much natural vegetation such as sagebrush that burned in the recent Soda Fire. If my understanding is correct, there may already be some established invasive weeds such as medusahead and cheatgrass. The concern here is how to prevent invasive weeds such as cheatgrass and medusahead from spreading to the sagebrush-steepe ecosystem that was burned in the Soda Fire. 

The BLM has recently begun to the crucial phase of emergency stabilization. The Soda Fire Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation (ES&R) Plan encompasses treatments for many threats, one of which is the threat posed by invasive weeds.  The treatment that I will discuss here involves seeding perennial grasses to prevent invasive weeds from taking over. Seeding will be done on the ground by drill seeding as well as aerial seeding from aircraft. Timing is crucial, the hope is that the perennial grass seeding that is being done this fall and early winter will germinate in the spring and thus prevent the invasive weeds from taking over. Perennial Grasses also make for good sage grouse habitat. Follow along as I share a few sources with you on the drill seeding treatment component of the Soda Fire ES&R. I don’t want to leave out aerial seeding operations which I understand are also going on, but I have no videos at the moment about the aerial seeding operations. If my understanding is correct, drill and aerial seeding will be going on for a total of five years including this year.

In the video from BLM Idaho that I am embedding below you will be introduced to the use of what are known as rangeland drills to begin to stabilize the burned areas to both stabilize the soil and prevent invasive weeds. As I understand it, the rangeland drills that the BLM is using are standard rangeland drills used in farming that are modified for use in this habitat. Rangeland drills prepare the land for seeding as well as spreading seed at appropriate depth.

Direct link to video from BLM Idaho on Youtube

BLM Idaho has a nice Flickr page with photos and a few short videos showing rangeland drills working on November 10th in the Soda Fire burn area.

On November 10th, at least two Idaho broadcast media outlets ran stories on reseeding areas burned in the Soda Fire, 7-KTVB and KIVI-TV6. I am never certain how long these links will be available, so if you are arriving at this post sometime later and these links are dead you will know why.  In the story from kivi-tv6 story and video from Kivi on drill seeding (video embedded below) Robert Bennett, a range technician for the BLM says:

When an area becomes dominated by invasive annuals, it does tend to burn more often. They are very fire prone.

And Cindy Fritz, a natural resource specialist for the BLM speaks about the Fall 2015 the drill seeding operations which are laying out perennial grasses in the burned area:

We’re putting them out this late in the year which is ideal. We want them to go through the winter and when they wake up and germinate in the spring, they are in perfect conditions.

Fritz goes on to speak to the fact that it will take 15 to 20 years to get back to the conditions that existed before the Soda Fire.

Here us a nice story with video from KIVI-TV6 about the BLM's emergency stabilization post Soda Fire.

In a report (with video) on drill seeding from 7KTVB,  Robert Bennet spaces about the threats to the sage grouse and how these threats are being addressed by the ES&R:

The two biggest threats for sage grouse are increase fire return and invasive annual grasses, which play into your fire return interval. So putting desirable plants out here to compete with invasive annuals will send this on a trajectory toward improved sage grouse habitat, or recovering the safe grouse habitat.

In addition to the sources that I have linked to above, you might also enjoy BLM Idaho's page devoted to the Soda Fire Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation and the 2015 Soda Fire Facebook Page (with pictures and comments about the Soda Fire ES&R efforts this fall.

I do hope to write more about the Soda Fire Burned Area Emergency Response this coming Friday, December 4th. Stay tuned. 

Soda Fire (2015): Burned Area Emergency Response: challenges ahead & invasive weeds

The Soda Fire burned tens of thousands of acres of sagebrush. Sagebrush is the habitat for the Sage Grouse, see my November 27th article to learn more about the Sage Grouse and U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Sally Jewell's secretarial order 3336 -- Rangeland Fire Prevention, Management and Restoration. Invasive plants (or weeds) pose a very real challenge to the post-fire recovery. With the loss of so much sagebrush from the Soda Fire, if nothing is done, the loss of so much sagebrush could give invasive weeds a foothold before the sagebrush and other natural vegetation have a chance to grow back. The Sage Grouse, a magnificent bird, needs sagebrush. Among the treatments under the Soda Fire ESR Plan are treatments aimed at preventing invasive weeds such as cheatgrass and medusahead from taking over.

In the video below, you will learn a little about more about the challenges facing the Soda Fire Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation. This will be the first test of secretarial order 3336.


Direct link to video from Idaho Statesmen on Youtube

The second video is also from the Idaho Statesmen and you will listen to learn a little about the strategy for protecting and restoring the sagebrush steepe environment from invasive weeds, go here to watch the video.

Here are a few more articles on the Soda Fire ES&R from last August and the visit of BLM Director Neil Kornze:

• Idaho Statesmen, August 17th, rehab starting before fire contained
• Idaho Statesmen, Letters from the West, Neil Kornze visit, August 27, 2015
• KBOI news 2, August 26th, Neil Kornze visit
• Idaho Statesmen, September 22nd, Sage Grouse decision, Fish & Wildlife Service decision that Sage Grouse can survive without endangered species status.

The BLM has a nice webpage on the 2015 Soda Fire Soda Fire Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation that may be found here, with links to more documents and maps (See the article that I wrote on November 25th for a short discussion on some of these documents. I'll be referring to some of the maps in later articles.

Here is a map that I obtained from the  Soda Post-Fire Rehabilitation Inciweb maps page on November 19, 2015. According to the description on the Soda Post-Fire Rehabilitation Inciweb maps page, this is a"Fire map showing Sage Grouse habitat posted on August 22, 2015 at 7:44 PM."

"2015_08_22-19.44.49.188-CDT" obtained on November 19, 2015 from http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/maps/4546/

I am still working on the remaining articles in this series, so stay tuned. I'll be posting the next article in this series on December 2nd. 

Soda Fire (2015): Burned Area Emergency Response - Intro (3 of 3)

My final post in my three-part introduction to the Soda Fire (2015) Burned Area Emergency Response concerns Secretarial Order 3336. A friend told me about Secretarial Order 3336 that applies to the ES&R treatments. Not knowing much other than it applies to the ES&R at the Soda Fire, I did a quick internet search. Fortunately, the first link that I came was a news release on the main NIFC page. I don’t know how to link to this, fortunately, the summary on the implementation of Secretarial Order 3336 — Rangeland Fire Prevention, Management and Restoration should still be on the main page. This is what NIFC has to say about Secretarial Order 3336:

This Implementation Plan (“Plan”) is the roadmap to accomplish the objectives of Secretarial Order 336 — Rangeland Fire Prevention, Management, and Restoration (“Order’) signed by Secretary Jewell on January 5, 2015. The plan provides a short background describing the importance of the sagebrush-steppe ecosystem and why the Order was issued.

Go here  for more information where you will see a discussion of the importance of the sage-steppe rangeland ecosystem as a breeding habit for the sage-grouse. One of the habitats for the sage-grouse is the area that was burned in the 2015 Soda Fire. As I understand it, one of the objectives of the Soda Fire Emergency Stabilization & Rehabilitation (ES&R) treatments referred to in the Soda Fire ES&R planning document is to restore the grasses and vegetation that the sage-grouse depends on.

I found more information for you on conserving the Sage-Grouse Habitat that may be found on this webpage from the BLM. Finally, I have never seen a Sage-Grouse, I enjoyed the two videos that I am embedding below and I hope that you do as well.

Direct link to video by Bob Wick, BLM

Direct link to video from BLM National

Next week I will continue with writing about the Soda Fire (2015): Burned Area Emergency Response by writing about some of the ES&R treatments.

Soda Fire (2015): Burned Area Emergency Response - Intro (2 of 3)

My introduction to the Soda Fire (2015): Burned Area Emergency Response has morphed into three parts. (Part 1 may be found here) Next week I will write more about some of the treatments and activities that are included in the Soda Fire Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation (Soda Fire ES&R). But first, I am going to spend a little time in this article giving a brief description of the Soda Fire ES&R planning document and a couple of documents tied into Federal and State regulations (discussed below). I will be referring to these documents in later articles so it is appropriate to provide this brief introduction. I will be posting my final introductory article (part 3) on November 27th on Secretarial Order 3336.

Before I go any further, for those of you who might want to bypass my brief description of the documents I discuss below and get right to learning more about the Soda Fire Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation, please go to the Idaho BLM page on the Soda Fire Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation and/or the Soda Fire (2015) Facebook Page (should be available to public without a Facebook account).

One of the many pieces of Federal and State Legislation and Regulations that those who prepared the Soda Fire ESR Plan (released on September 30, 2015) had to consider and be in compliance with is the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). See the Soda Fire ESR Final Decision (p. 4-5) for a full listing of Federal and State legislation and regulations as well as Land Use Plans that the Soda Fire ESR Plan conforms with.

NEPA and the various types of documents that NEPA requires are somewhat complicated. In searching for a simple explanation of NEPA, I came upon a nice webpage from the Colorado Bureau of Land Management (BLM) that briefly describes how the BLM uses NEPA. They refer to the Colorado BLM but I believe that their description applies to the Idaho and Oregon BLM:

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) assures that the BLM (and other federal agencies) will consider the impact of an action on the human environment before decisions are made and the action is taken. It requires that NEPA documents concentrate on issues that are significant to the action in question. The NEPA process is intended to help public officials make better decisions based on an understanding of environmental consequences, and take actions that protect, restore, and enhance the human environment.

When an activity or action is proposed on BLM administered public lands in Colorado, we conduct an interdisciplinary review of the environmental effects of the proposal so that the relevant environmental information is available to citizens and public officials. (obtained on November 24, 2015 from the Colorado Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

In regards to NEPA and the Soda Fire Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation, I believe that the other activity or action referred to above is the the Soda Fire ES&R planning document.

The first step in preparing the ES&R planning document is that an Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation (ES&R) team (aka the Soda Fire Interdisciplinary Team) started field work on or about August 20th. Recall that the Soda Fire was contained on August 23rd. The ES&R team did five days of field work, finishing on or about August 25, 2015. See these two news releases for more information:

• Soda Fire ES&R field work begins 
• Soda Fire ES&R field work ends

Public participation is an important part of this process. According to the news releases on the Inciweb Soda Fire Post Rehab news release page the ES&R team met with various members of the public including but not limited to Ranchers and other private landowners, the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes, and representatives of nearby State and Local agencies. The Soda Fire ESR Plan was released on September 30, 2015 (see below).

Note, the Inciweb Soda Fire Post Rehab page is still available as I write this, but is no longer being updated.

If you go to the document page for the Soda Fire ESR/BAER Plan there are three documents listed as of November 25, 2015. I will be referring to some or all of these documents in later documents.

• Soda Fire ESR Plan (released September 30, 2015) The ESR plan outlines costs and treatments under the Soda Fire ES&R Plan for Oregon and Idaho.
• Soda Fire ESR Plan Determination of NEPA Adequacy (DNA) (released October 19, 2015) "documents that previously prepared NEPA documents adequately describe the environmental consequences of a newly proposed action" (obtained on November 24, 2015 from http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/BLM_Information/nepa/definitions.html#documentation_of_nepa_adequacy. In our case, I believe that the newly proposed action is the Soda Fire Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation Plan.
• Soda Fire ESR Final Decision (released October 19, 2015). This is a notice of the BLM Manager’s Final Decision regarding the Soda Fire Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation Plan. That is, the Boise ID BLM District  and the Vale OR District determined that the an Environmental Impact Statement is not required (see this NEPA definition page from the Colorado BLM for a very brief defintion of an Environmental Impact Statement). Both Managers say: "With completion of DOI-BLM-ID-B030-2015-0016-DNA, I have determined that implementing proposed Soda Fire ESR treatments identified in this decision would have similar or the same effects as described in the NEPA documents identified above and does not constitute as a major Federal action that will not adversely impact the human environment.  Therefore the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement is not required" (Soda Fire ESR Final Decision, p. 6 and p 21).

tanker pilots playing some tunes

Well, I was hoping to make my next post in my series on the Soda Fire Burned Area Emergency Rehabilitation today, recall that I my first post last Wednesday, November 18th. Now I really to have a draft of this article, but at this point in my day I would be posting a half-baked article, and I don't want to do that. Rather, I am going to take a little more time to do the necessary tweaks and the like. Hopefully I will be able post this tomorrow.  I will be posting this on November 25.

In the meantime have some fun watching a couple of tanker pilots play some tunes.


Direct link to video

Civilian meteorologists receive purple heart 73 years later

I am taking a time out from writing about the Burned Area Emergency Response for the 2015 Soda Fire to honor four civilian meteorologists who gave their lives in service to their country during World War II. Four meteorologists were serving as volunteers on the Muskeget, a U.S. Coast Guard ship that was patrolling the Atlantic during the Battle of the Atlantic in September 1942. The meteorologists were collecting and transmitting weather observations to aid American ships in the North Atlantic. The Muskeget was on its way to southern Greenland when a German U-Boat struck and sank the Muskeget. There were 121 men on board the Muskeget including the four meteorologists. While those in the military who were on board the Muskeget received Purple Heart, the civilian meteorologists did not. There were provisions to award Purple Hearts to civilians but this slipped through the cracks. It was through the efforts of a Purple Heart historian, Robert Pendleton to bring the oversight to light making the award of these four Purple Hearts possible.

Lester S. Fodor (27), weather observer from Cleveland, Ohio
Luthor H. Brady (27), assistant weather observer from Atlanta, Georgia
George F. Kubach (24), assistant weather observer from Sandusky, Ohio
Edward Weber (24), junior weather observer from Brooklyn, New York

May you rest in peace.

Here is a direct link transcript of the report (with audio version) from NPR

I first read about the four meteorologists in a November 18th Washington Post article.

Soda Fire (2015): Burned Area Emergency Response - Intro (1 of 3)

The Soda Fire, probably caused by lightning on or about August 10th of this year, burned 279,144 acres before it was controlled on August 25th. The fire was declared "out" on September 9th. See the Inciweb page for the Soda Fire and the Soda Fire 2015 Facebook Page for more information. If you are arriving on this page some time after I first posted this article, I am not quite sure how long either the Inciweb page for the 2015 Soda Fire or the Soda Fire 2015 Facebook page, probably for several months.

Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today did a great job reporting on the Soda Fire in this post (scroll to bottom for earliest information) and he shared a video of a fire whirl shot by Graig Fluer on August 17th.

Here is some footage of the Soda Fire shot on August 20th


Direct link to video

And a 48 hour time lapse of the fire (August 12th to August 14th)


Direct link to video

Shortly after the fire was contained planning begain for the burned area emergency response. I'll be writing a couple of articles on the plans for the emergency stabilization and rehabilitation of the burned area starting on November 20th. In the meantime, if you want to see my earlier posts on Burned Area Emergency Response, go to this link (posts tagged BAER).

Before leaving, here is some aerial footage of the burned area shot on August 18th.


Direct link to video

Fall 2015 wildfire season continues

The fall 2015 wildfire season continues. Here are some, but not all, smaller wildfires that I have heard about.

Hawaii - 220 acres (Friday November 13, 2015)
KHON2 220 acre brush fire in pasture land burned on Friday November 13th. A helicopter assisted the firefighters on the ground with bucket drops.

Melbourne, Florida (Monday November 16, 2015)
Florida Today A small brush fire was brought under control by the Melbourne and Brevard County Fire Departments today (Monday November 16th).

Carthadge, Missouri (reported on Monday November 16, 2015)
The Carthadge Press Last Wednesday, November 11, 2015) a wind-driven grass fire burned near a hospital in Carthadge, Missouri. There were some power failures. Fortunately the firefighters stopped the progress of the fire before it reached the hospital.

Fairview, North Carolina (reported on Saturday November 14, 2015)
Citizen Times A brush fire was first reported about 2 PM on Friday, November 13th in Fairview, North Carolina burned 30 acres before being contained just before midnight.

Staten Island, New York City, New York (November 13, 2015)
New York Magazine - Daily Intelligencer amd SILiveA brush fire was reported on Staten Island last Friday, November 13th. At least 200 firefighters fought the fire.

Tanker history - Conair DC-6 T-48 circa 1990

In my wonderings on Youtube just now I was reminded of this video. from 1990, of Conair DC-6 T-48 getting a load of retardant and then working a fire the Thunder Fire near La Ronge, Saskatchewan in June 1990. This may be a rerun from about four years ago. I enjoyed seeing this video again, and I hope that you do as well. Enjoy.


Direct link to video on Youtube

Wildfire season not over yet - November 12

Wildfire season is not over yet. Today I am focusing on a sampling of wild fires, brush fires, and grass fires that I have read about yesterday and today. Many of the smaller fires in the Eastern United States that I report on here are related to dry conditions in the east. A reminder that the fall fire season is still very much with a factor in much of the east.

Peabody, Massachusetts

Thirteen acres burned near an apple orchard on Tuesday, Nov. 10th. This brush fire came after some smaller nearby brush fires on Sunday and Monday. The Massachusetts State Forestry Department and local firefighters worked the fire. Massachusetts like other East-coast States has seen dry conditions this fall, contributing to the brush fire danger.

Peabody MA Patch

Itemlive

Cape Ann, Massachusetts

A brush fire of unknown size in Manchester, MA damaged an electric transformer on Tuesday, November 10th leading to outages. 

Gloucester Times

New Hampshire

Dry conditions across New Hampshire contributed to several brush fires across New Hampshire this past weekend (November 7th and 8th).

Union Leader

Lebanon, Pennsylvania

A brush fire of unknown size in Lebanon, PA on Sunday, November 8th.

ldnews- Nov 9th police log (scroll down for story)

Mentor Township, Ohio

On Tuesday, November 10th, A five acre fire burned in a marsh in Mentor Township, Ohio 

Fireengineering

Pembroke Pines, Florida

On Monday, November 9th there was a small brush fire (size unknown). 

NBC Miami

And wildfire season is still going in other areas of the United States, for example . . .

Oklahoma and Kansas

Strong winds are fueling grass fires across the Oklahoma Plains. A large grass fire near Woodward, OK is under control.

Newson6

OkcFox

Wind driven wildfires continued in Oklahoma on November 11th

News.Mic - Woodward County OK

Stillwater News Press

A wind-driven grass fire on the Butler-Cowley county line in Kansas burned on November 11th. Red flag warnings are in place for much of the Kansas City area in Kansas on Thursday, November 12th.

Kansas City Star

KAKE (video and photos)

California

Is there ever not a fire season in Southern California? Southern California, which is bone dry after four years of drought, is again facing an elevated risk of wildfires due to Santa Ana winds and rising temperatures.

LA Times

______________________________________

A note about the media sources: I accessed all these sites today. Some sites offer only a limted number of free articles per month if you are not a subscriber or the articles may only be freely available for 7 to 10 days. Over the air media usually keep their stories up longer, but eventually the link to the story may be removed.

Happy Veterans Day - thanks for your service

I want to take a time out today to remember all of our veterans who served my country, the United States of America, and those veterans from outside the U.S. who have served your country. As I have grown older, I have my respect and admiration for your service in the military (past or present) has also grown. From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank all veterans from around the world.

There are some of you who are able to spend time in service to your country at military units in your own country and perhaps close to your home, if you are lucky. In today's day and age, you often have deployments to military bases overseas, away from your home, family, and friends. While the internet may make keeping in touch with your loved ones easier than it was 40 years ago, it is not the same as being there.

I am not a veteran and have never been in the miltary. My Dad served stateside after the Koren War ended. No, I don't have a clue what it is like to serve in areas where there is a conflict. Please know that your service and your sacrifice mattered.

Over the years that I have been writing this blog, I know that there are some wildland firefighters both in the air and on the ground who have spent some time in the military. And here you are serving your country once again as wildland firefighters.

Brush fire - Mt. Tom - Holyoke MA and B-17 crew remembered

I have a few websites that I monitor just about every day to get an idea of current news relating to wildfires. As I was reading the news late this morning I came across a newsclip about a brush fire on Mt. Tom in Holyoke MA. I'll get to the eighteen acre brush fire in a moment.

The reason the article on the brush fire on Mt. Tom caught my eye is because Mt. Tom is one of those natural landmarks that stood out to me on many trips up I-91 in Massachusetts on my way to northern New England. It is a ski and recreation area, so there were a couple of bill boards advertising Mt. Tom.  Not only that, but she was a mountain that I always noticed. I regret that I have not yet stopped to visit her. Hopefully there is time for that on a later trip, I'll have to make time.

As I was reading the Wikipedia article on Mt. Tom, I noted that the mention of a crash of converted B-17 bomber in 1946 on Mt. Tom in 1946 killing all 25 on board. Small pieces of the wreckage are still on the mountain and a momument was erected at the site in 1946. For those who are interested, here is a copy of the July 10, 1946 Fitchberg Sentinal article reporting on the crash. They were returning from overseas, going home. They never quite made it. I know that all who died in that crash are flying in favorable tail winds. May you continue to rest in peace.

Back to the wildfire. According to news reports, the brush fire began at about 7 PM on Sunday night, November 8th. Darkness meant that firefighters pulled out to resume fighting the brush fire this morning. The fire, which burned approximately 18 acres is now contained. Speaking of I-91, smoke was visible from I-91 during the morning commute. I am reminded that it is fall here in the east with a lot of leaf litter on the ground with more to come, and it was breezy yesterday. Hopefully all the hotspots are or will soon be out so that fallen leaves will not be a problem. Firefighters from the Massachusetts Forest Fire Control and near by Holyoke worked the fire

News reports on the brush fire on Mt. Tom

• mass live, 10:44 AM on Nov 9th - with some must see photos of wildland firefighters working the fire
• 22News WWLP (with a couple of photos and a video report)
• boston dot com, 9 AM on Nov 9th - a couple of short videos 

Wildfires in Indonesia - update

The Indonesian wildfires that I first reported on October 12, 2015 continue to burn. I am going to share a few links about these wildfires. Respitory problems continue. Schools and businesses are closed. Residents are evacuated from their homes.

Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today writes on November 4, 2015 that the United States sent “more than 21 metric tons of wildland firefighting equipment arrived in Indonesia from the United States to assist firefighters who are dealing with what has been described as ‘almost certainly the greatest environmental disaster of the 21st century.' He also provides a good summary of some of the other effects of these wildfires in Indonesia, including the detrimental effects of smoke.

Most of the Indonesian wildfires may be attributed to plantation companies clear land by burning in order to plant timber trees and palm trees. A Huffington Post Australia (11/2/15) article goes into more detail about how this works and elaborating on what was done differently this year:

The companies have cut canals and dried out the peat, the decaying vegetation matter on or under the forest floor, turning a valuable part of the ecosystem into a veritable tinderbox for fire. Coupled with El Nino climate factors, the fires met with the dried peat to spark a firestorm the likes of which have not been seen in Indonesia for some 20 years. The fires have also gone underground, burning and smouldering in the subterranean peat; these fires are all but impossible to extinguish and will burn almost endlessly, unable to be reached by rains or monsoon.

 The Huffington Post Australia article also includes some good photographs, a couple of videos, a map, and some recent satellite images of the wildfires that continue to burn in Indonesia.

More articles:

VoxyNZ (11/5/2015) Wellington Zoo in New Zealand donating $2000 from their conservation fund to help Indonesia fight the wildfires. The article also speaks to all the wildlife that is affected by these wildfires.

UPI (11/5/15) A good article and video from UPI on the closure of Mt. Merapi National Park because of smoke, school and businesses being forced to close and thousands of evacuations, ecological costs.

CAL FIRE crews in action

Updated on November 13, 2015

The video that I had originally embedded here on CAL FIRE's inmate wildland firefighting crews has been taken down. Keeping to the overall theme of CAL FIRE crews, I am offering another video (from 2009) for your viewing pleasure.


Direct link to video

Brazil: wildland fire in Amazon threatens "uncontacted" tribe

Recently I have been working on finding additional sources of news affecting the wildland firefighting both in the United States and Internationally. I don’t know about you but while change does not always come easily, it can be a good thing. A good things because I find myself paying closer attention to things that I may have only giving a cursory glance, if that, a short time ago. Such is the case with a news item I saw just this morning about a forest fire that has been burning for over two months in the Amazon in the State of Maranhao in Brazil.

I don’t know much about Brazil, so I am going to take you along as I learn more about this wildfire and how the wildfire could affect the people who inhabit the region burned by the wildfire. Before I get to the wildfire itself, I’d like to ask you to read this short 2013 article and watch the accompanying seven-minute video about fighting wildland fires in Brazil: Brazil's fight against forest fires (from dw.com).

What drew my attention to this particular wildfire is that the burned area is home to an isolated Brazilian tribe, known as the Awá, that has had no contact with “outsiders.” The fire has burned over 730 square miles of a region known as the Arariboia Indigenous Territory. According to Toby Nicholas who reports for Survival International:

“This designated territory is home to Awá people who have no contact with the outside world. Like all uncontacted peoples, they are extremely vulnerable to exposure to violence or disease inflicted by outsiders,” writes Nicholas (obtained on November 2, 2015 from http://ens-newswire.com/2015/11/01/raging-amazon-forest-fire-menaces-uncontacted-tribe/)

I’d like to draw your attention to two news sources where you can learn more about this wildfire and how the Awá people could be affected. I learned something from reading these articles and I hope that you do as well.

• Environment News Service: Raging Forest Fire Menaces Uncontacted Tribe
• The Guardian (US Edition): Vast Amazon Wildfire Destroys Forest in Brazil and Threatens Uuncontacted Tribe (with a short video).

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.

Hurricane Joaquin - Hurricane Hunters are flying

Some of you may recall that I wrote a series on Hurricane Hunters in late summer. Some of you also know that Hurricane Joaquin is in the Atlantic. His exact tract is unknown at this time. 

Yesterday I went to the National Hurricane Center's Aircraft Recon page to see what was going on, and saw that the Hurricane Hunters did fly on  September 29th and are due to fly on today (September 30) and tomorrow (October 1). See below. As I wait for whatever happens in a few days, will Joaquin strike the Mid-Atlantic, I am reassured that the Hurricane Hunters are out flying and gathering observations of Joaquin that the National Hurricane Center will use in their advisories. I believe that the Teal desingation refers to Hurricane Hunters from the US Air Force Reserve 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron.

Thank-you Hurricane Hunters!

NOUS42 KNHC 291432
REPRPD
WEATHER RECONNAISSANCE FLIGHTS
CARCAH, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER, MIAMI, FL.
1030 AM EDT TUE 29 SEPTEMBER 2015
SUBJECT: TROPICAL CYCLONE PLAN OF THE DAY (TCPOD)
         VALID 30/1100Z TO 01/1100Z OCTOBER 2015
         TCPOD NUMBER.....15-126

I.  ATLANTIC REQUIREMENTS
    1. TROPICAL STORM JOAQUIN
       FLIGHT ONE -- TEAL 73           FLIGHT TWO -- NOAA 49
       A. 30/1130Z                     A. 01/0000Z 
       B. AFXXX 0311A JOAQUIN          B. NOAA9 0411A JOAQUIN
       C. 30/0715Z                     C. 30/1730Z 
       D. 26.3N 72.4W                  D. NA
       E. 30/1100Z TO 30/1400Z         E. NA
       F. SFC TO 10,000FT              F. 41,000 TO 45,000FT

       FLIGHT THREE -- TEAL 74         FLIGHT FOUR -- NOAA 49
       A. 30/2330Z                     A. 01/1200Z
       B. AFXXX 0511A JOAQUIN          B. NOAA9 0611A JOAQUIN
       C. 30/1930Z                     C. 01/0530Z
       D. 26.3N 73.1W                  D. NA
       E. 30/2300Z TO 01/0200Z         E. NA  
       F. SFC TO 10,000FT              F. 41,000 TO 45,000FT

       FLIGHT FIVE -- TEAL 75
       A. 01/1130Z
       B. AFXXX 0711A JOAQUIN
       C. 01/0730Z
       D. 26.1N 73.7W
       E. 01/1100Z TO 01/1400Z
       F. SFC TO 10,000FT

    2. OUTLOOK FOR SUCCEEDING DAY: POSSIBLE 6-HRLY FIXES 
       BEGINNING AT 01/2330Z. G-IV MISSIONS DEPARTING AT 01/1730Z
       AND 02/0530Z.

II. PACIFIC REQUIREMENTS
    1. NEGATIVE RECONNAISSANCE REQUIREMENTS.
    2. SUCCEEDING DAY OUTLOOK.....NEGATIVE

$$
JWP

NOUS42 KNHC 301532
REPRPD
WEATHER RECONNAISSANCE FLIGHTS
CARCAH, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER, MIAMI, FL.
1130 AM EDT WED 30 SEPTEMBER 2015
SUBJECT: TROPICAL CYCLONE PLAN OF THE DAY (TCPOD)
         VALID 01/1100Z TO 02/1100Z OCTOBER 2015
         TCPOD NUMBER.....15-127

I.  ATLANTIC REQUIREMENTS
    1. HURRICANE JOAQUIN
       FLIGHT ONE -- TEAL 75           FLIGHT TWO -- NOAA 49
       A. 01/1130Z,1730Z               A. 02/0000Z 
       B. AFXXX 0711A JOAQUIN          B. NOAA9 0811A JOAQUIN
       C. 01/0730Z                     C. 01/1730Z 
       D. 24.1N 73.2W                  D. NA
       E. 01/1100Z TO 01/1700Z         E. NA
       F. SFC TO 10,000FT              F. 41,000 TO 45,000FT

       FLIGHT THREE -- TEAL 72         FLIGHT FOUR -- NOAA 49
       A. 01/2330Z,02/0530Z            A. 02/1200Z
       B. AFXXX 0911A JOAQUIN          B. NOAA9 1011A JOAQUIN
       C. 01/1930Z                     C. 02/0530Z
       D. 24.4N 74.4W                  D. NA
       E. 01/2300Z TO 02/0500Z         E. NA  
       F. SFC TO 10,000FT              F. 41,000 TO 45,000FT

       FLIGHT FIVE -- TEAL 73
       A. 02/1130Z,1730Z
       B. AFXXX 1111A JOAQUIN
       C. 02/0730Z
       D. 25.3N 74.5W
       E. 02/1100Z TO 01/1700Z
       F. SFC TO 10,000FT

    2. OUTLOOK FOR SUCCEEDING DAY: CONTINUE 6-HRLY FIXES. 
       G-IV MISSIONS DEPARTING AT 02/1730Z AND 03/0530Z.
    3. REMARKS: FLIGHT ONE ABOVE WAS PREVIOUSLY LISTED ON TCPOD
       15-126 AS A SINGLE FIX MISSION. A FIX FOR 01/0530Z HAS
       ALSO BEEN ADDED TO THE 30/2330Z MISSION.

II. PACIFIC REQUIREMENTS
    1. NEGATIVE RECONNAISSANCE REQUIREMENTS.
    2. SUCCEEDING DAY OUTLOOK.....NEGATIVE

$$
JWP