I recently spent a long weekend with some friends who live in the mountains of western North Carolina. I found myself interested in what I could find on the web to learn more about wildland firefighting in North Carolina. I decided to spend a little time when I returned home to see what I could find on the web to share with you.
I went first to the North Carolina Forest Service (NCFS) website (that I had bookmarked some time back) and quickly found their fire control and prevention page with oodles of links and information. Those of you who are interested in learning more may want to spend sometime exploring this webpage.
The North Carolina Forest Service is divided into thirteen districts in three regions, information on these regions with a tool you can use to find a district for a specific county may be found here.
I know that North Carolina uses aviation resources to help wildland firefighting crews on the ground, with a vague idea that SEATs and helicopters are used. I hoped to find more specific information and was not disappointed. According to the North Carolina Forest Service Aviation webpage, the NCFS
operates 24 aircraft including 19 fixed wing airplanes and five helicopters. Aircraft are utilized in forest management, fire mitigation and detection, as well as fire suppression and direction of ground forces battling wildfires. Based strategically throughout the state, the response time of these aviation resources to emergencies can be measured in minutes.
A fleet of three single engine airtankers (SEATs) can operate from remote grass airstrips near the fire scene and deliver 500 to 800 gallons of fire suppressant or retardant during an initial attack or in support of ground firefighting forces.
The N.C. Forest Service operates seven aircraft that are Federal Excess Property and are technically owned by the USDA Forest Service. These aircraft are on loan to the N.C. Forest Service specifically for fighting wildfires and include five fixed wing airplanes and two helicopters. (obtained from http://www.ncforestservice.gov/fire_control/fc_aviation.htm on August 28, 2017.It looks to me like only some of North Carolina's aviation resources are specific to firefighting and I suspect that some do double duty. Based on the information I cited above, I think it is safe to say that there are five fixed wing and two helicopters that are Federal Excess Property owned by the US Forest Service are available for fighting wildfires. I am not sure where the three SEATs fit in, are they Federal Excess Property? In any event, North Carolina has in state aviation resources at their disposal. I am especially interested to read that North Carolina is in the process of transitioning to Air Tractor 802 F SEATs (capable of carrying 800 gallons of retardant or water/foam), scroll down to the bottom of the North Carolina Forest Service Aviation webpage for more information on SEATs and their other aviation resources.
I have to tell you something. As my friends drove us around the mountains of western North Carolina, I have to say that I had a great deal of respect for the ground and air crews of the North Carolina Forest Service. I knew that they were expert in fighting wildfires in their mountains and valleys. I hoped that given the recent rains before our visit that wildfire danger was minimal, but you never know. If there were any wildfires during our visit I did not notice. Which I suppose is a good thing.
Other links of interest concerning wildland fires from the North Carolina Forest Service:
Ground Equipment (with a description of each type of equipment)
Fire Weather with interactive mapping
Photo gallery
Current situation report, current activity and out of state
Current wildfire statistics by district and year to date summary
Number of wildfires (1928 to 2015), pdf file
Causes of wildfires in NC (1928 to 2015), pdf file
Ten year average fire statistics chart, pdf file
I will continue to write about state wildfire agencies in states that I visited this summer. Next up is Washington.
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