Footage from wildfire near Lake Elsinore CA

I came across 45 minutes of footage from KTLA 5 in southern California late last week. The footage, which I think was streamed live on KTLA 5's facebook page was shows footage of the Wildomar Fire, shot on October 26, 2017. The wildfire was burning in the mountains of southwest Riverside County California near Lake Elsinore and Wildomar.

I know that 45 minutes of footage might be a little long for some of you. I don't watch as much livestream footage of wildfires as I used to.

Some highlights of aerial operations:

• At about 13 minutes there is a couple of minutes of close-up footage of T-910 (DC-10) circling near the fire.
• T-910 starts the drop run at about 21 minutes 20 seconds.
• Footage of a Sikorsky Sky Crane over the fire.
• Two drops from a Sikorsky Sky Crane (#716) at about 25 minutes 40 seconds and 37 minutes 20 seconds.
• Close-up of a lead plane at about 36 minutes 25 seconds

Blimp Typhoon Research in Guam: Final Update (for now)

I have written two posts about miniature blimp typhoon research that was going on in Guam from October 4, 2017 through (on or about) October 21, 2017.  The team of French researchers, working in conjunction with the US National Weather Service (NWS) Weather Forecast Office (WFO) at Guam came to Guam with three miniature blimps (aka AeroClippers)with weather equipment that could be released and then hopefully drawn into a tropical cyclone. The idea being that once the AeroClipper is drawn into a tropical cyclone it will be carried along with the tropical cyclone collecting meteorological data for up to 40 days, relaying the data back to the researchers (see my October 9th article for more information on the AeroClippers. Two AeroClippers were released from Guam, one on October 12th and the second on October 14th (for more information go to my October 14th article on the AeroClippers).

I found out a few days later from reading social media posts from the Facebook page of the NWS WFO at Guam that one of the flight of one of the AeroClipper (miniature blimps) was terminated early because winds were steering it toward the island of Saipan (north of Guam, see map below). Unfortunately, the weather was not favorable for the launch of the third AeroClipper. I was interested to learn that the scientists working with the AeroClipper gave a free lecture for the public at the University of Guam on the night of October 19th. I would have loved to be there, but . . . For more information see this short report from KUAM News).

I reached out to the NWS at Guam via Facebook messaging earlier this week, asking them to share one thing about the AeroClippers that they would like you (my readers) to know. This is their response:

US NWS WFO at Guam: I think the bottom line to take from this project is that this research is geared to test a concept to make it easier to insert weather instrumentation into a tropical cyclone in order to obtain nearly constant real-time monitoring of conditions inside a mature TC (tropical cyclone). The data, over time, could pave the way to break throughs in track, intensity, development rate, etc, of TCs. This data would be unparalleled except for infrequent cases that the TC transits a land observing station that is still functioning. There will be lessons-learned from this research, dealing with the design and instrumentation, but they should have some good information to gear them up for subsequent tests in the future, wherever they do another round.

I will attempt to follow How the AeroClipper research is going over the next several months. If I find out anything that I can report here, then I will write another blog post.

Eclipse 2017: follow-up

Direct link to video from Team Greene Real Estate (Rexburg Idaho)

Some what belatedly, I am making my final post (for now) on the 2017 Solar Eclipse. I made this post on eclipse day and a post a few days later talking about watching the total eclipse in Sylva North Carolina with some good friends (go here).

I want to share a few other links that I found that I thought some of you might be interested in.

Raw live video from NASA (16 minutes) no commentary from Space Videos
Photos from Carbondale Illinois
Photos from around the United States during on the day of the 2017 eclipse
More photos of the eclipse reveal sunspots and solar flares
Total eclipse: effect on nature
Report from Mike Wall of Space dot com (with videos) of the 2017 total eclipse

I'll close with a couple of videos on the NASA 2017 Solar Eclipse Video Gallery and a second 2017 Solar Eclipse Video gallery from NASA


Direct link to video


Direct link to video

South Metro Colorada Firefighters working wildfire in California

Enjoy this video from the South Metro Colorado Fire and Rescue documenting the deployment of four of their wildland firefighters to California in the Summer of 2017. They retreated to their safe zone where some of this footage is shot. There is some nice footage of aircraft working the fire.


Direct link to video from South Metro Fire and Rescue

Graphic novelist Brian Fies: account of losing his home to recent CA wildfires

I'd like to thank Mike Archer for introducing me to Brian Fies through his October 19th (2017) edition of Wildfire News of the Day. I was intrigued by his description of Fies' work:

In an 18-page web comic titled "A Fire Story", a graphic artist who lost is home in Santa Rosa's Tubbs Fire tried to capture how 50 mph wids turned that blaze into a 'napalm tsunami.'

Archer then linked to a CNN story focusing on award winning graphic artist Brian Fies account of losing his Santa Rosa house to the Tubbs Fire (as I write this on October 20th, 36,432 acres burned at 93 percent containment), you may find the October 18th CNN story on Fies' 18-page web-comic account of losing his house here. Here is an excerpt from the CNN story:

Brian Fies sat down with some Sharpies and some paper to process his pain the way he knows best. 

He began to draw. 

The result is "A Fire Story," an 18-page web comic that recounts the heart-wrenching devastation the California wildfires has wrought.

It details how 50 mph winds turned the Tubbs Fire into a "napalm tsunami." How the blaze devoured his family's home in Santa Rosa, leaving it a heap of burned ash. How all that's left for survivors like him is to inventory prized possessions they'll never see again.

I have no first hand experience in anything that comes close to the experience of losing a house to a wildfire or other natural disaster. Fies is one of thousands who have lost their homes and/or businesses to the recent California wildfires. Perhaps his story is similar to those elsewhere who have lost homes and or businesses to wildfires whether it be this year or in years past.

So I went to Brian's blog and read his web-comic. A Fire Story, where he writes and draws about his family's experiences. First the evacuation, then going back to find that his house is gone, and then the aftermath. Brian Fies' web-comic  account of losing his house to the Tubbs Fire may be found on his October 15th blog entry. Here is an excerpt from Brian's October 15th blog:

It's a first-person report from the front line. They're not always pretty. 

Page 9 has some profanity. Actually, it has nothing but profanity. Sorry. I wrestled with that, but that's exactly the way it happened and I am an honest reporter.

Thank-you Brian for this first person account, and sometimes painful account, of losing your home with us. Words escape me. I wish you and the other families who have lost their homes Godspeed in the coming weeks, months, and years.

IMETs working northern California wildfires (Oct 2017): update

I am sharing a nice video that I believe was from earlier the week of October 16th (perhaps Monday, October 16th?) courtesy of the Weather Channel. You will hear NWS incident meteorologist  (IMET)  Tom Wright (from the US NWS Medford OR) then assigned to the Southern LNU Complex (which includes the Atlas Fire) describing the then current weather situation over the Southern LNU Complex.

IMET Wright was asked what the biggest challenge was that he faced as a meteorologist assigned to this fire. He said forecasting the winds and went on to discuss a little about the challenges the winds posed.



You may recall that one of my blog entries for Friday, October 13th was devoted to IMETs working the northern California wildfires. Just before I posted that article, I reached out the IMET staff behind the US National Weather Service, IMET Facebook page I asked them a question which I get to in a moment. I had started out be mentioning that I knew that these were wind driven fires. I had used the term Santa Anna winds, only to later realize that what are know as Santa Ana Winds in Southern California are called Diablo Winds in the Bay area (see this blog entry on the Diablo Winds).

Random Ramblings: Is there one thing that you would like my readers to know about what IMETs contribute to helping firefighters fight these firestorms (my reference to the wildfires in northern California), and are these contributions different from what they usually do?

US National Weather Service IMET Office: In terms of the work being done by the IMETs in California, it is similar to what we do with other fires. Certainly the Santa Ana winds are something unique to California and are a challenge, but our mission remains the same, which is to keep firefighters and the public safe and support the Incident Management Team with weather information so that they can make tactical decisions on their windows of opportunity and when they may need to disengage.

As I write this article on October 18th, an IMET from the US National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office at Hanford CA is being deployed to the Southern LNU Complex. As of earlier this morning (October 18th), the Atlas Fire referenced in the Weather Channel interview with IMET Wright has burned 51,064 acres and is at 83 percent containment.



IMETs save lives!!

Northern California Wildfires - update for Oct 16th

According to the CAL FIRE Statewide Summary for Monday, October 16th there are 14 large wildfires burning in California accounting for over 213,000 acres burned. An estimated 5,700 structures have been destroyed. At the time I post this, 41 people have died. Some evacuation orders in northern California have been lifted and other evacuation orders are being reevaluated. A driver of private water tender working the Nuns Fire died in a vehicle rollover on Oakville Grade in Napa County. CBS Bay Area reported on the death of the driver in this vehicle rollover in an October 16th report

I compiled the following information on wildfires burning in northern California from the California Statewide Fire Summary (CAL FIRE PIO twitter) for Monday, October 16, 2017. As I transcribed the data from the CAL FIRE PIO's twitter post, any errors in the figures are mine.

Central LNU Complex, In unified command with Santa Rosa Fire Department and Sonoma County Sheriff, CAL FIRE Incident Management Team assigned. 23 civilian fatalities

• Tubs Fire (Sonoma and Napa Counties) 36,390 acres, 70% contained, significant number of structures destroyed
• Pocket Fire (Sonoma County) 11,889 acres, 40% contained
• Nuns Fire  (Sonoma County) 48,624 acres, 50% contained
• Oakmont Fire (Sonoma County) 875 acres, 15% contained

Southern LNU Complex, CAL FIRE Incident Management Team assigned

• Atlas Fire (Napa and Solano Counties) 51,064 acres, 60% contained, 6 civilian fatalities, significant number of structures destroyed

Mendocino-Lake Complex, CAL FIRE Incident Management Team assigned

• Redwood Valley (Mendocino County) 35,000 acres, 50% contained, 8 civilian fatalities, significant number of structures destroyed
• Sulphur Fire (Lake County) 2,207 acres, 85% contained

Wind Complex, CAL FIRE Incident Management Team assigned

• Cascade Fire (Yuba County) 9,989 acres, 96% contained, 4 civilian casualties, significant number of structures destroyed
• Lobo Fire (Nevada County) 821 acres, 97% contained, multiple structures destroyed
• LaPorte Fire (Butte County) 6,151 acres, 95% contained

For current information from CAL FIRE on wildfires burning in California, see the CAL FIRE PIO twitter account.

Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today continues to report on the wildfires currently burning in California.  You will want to see his two recent updates on the northern California wildfires written on Saturday, October 14th and Monday, October 16th.

Northern California Wildfires - Update October 14th

Saturday evening (October 14th) update on California Wildfires

Latest death toll on the #CAwildfires has sadly grown to 38.
*Sonoma County – 20
*Mendocino County – 8
*Napa County – 6
*Yuba County – 4

— CAL FIRE PIO (@CALFIRE_PIO) October 14, 2017

More sad news! As damage assessment continues, latest estimates that 5,700 structures have been destroyed by the wildfires burning across CA pic.twitter.com/f3djAANIQg

— CAL FIRE PIO (@CALFIRE_PIO) October 13, 2017

(October 14th about 3 PM PDT)


(October 14th about 2 PM PDT)



The latest statewide summary of all the wildfires burning in California may be found at this CAL FIRE website. They start with this summary (from Statewide Summary for Saturday, October 14th):

Gusty winds increased early this morning forcing new evacuations and a sparking a new large wildfire in Lake County. Currently more than 10,000 firefighters are battling 16 large wildfires that in total have burned over 214,000 acres. Approximately 100,000 people have been evacuated from the fires. These fires have been extremely destructive with 5,700 structures estimated to have been destroyed.

The Weather Channel has a short video update on the northern California Wildfires (October 14th, about 6PM EDT) that may be found here, along with a story and a rather large photo gallery of about 300 pictures. 

Two San Francisco media outlets that I have been checking periodically:

• CBS San Francisco
• NBC Bay Area

Blimp Typhoon Research in Guam: Follow-up 1

Earlier this week I wrote about some exciting research being conducted in Guam by French researchers from the CNES. Specifically they are using specially equipped unmanned miniature blimps called AeroClippers that are designed to fly in the eye of typhoons to collect various meteorological data. See my October 9th post for more information.

My friends at the US National Weather Service Guam shared some good news from the French researchers and their three AeroClippers. They have launched two AeroClippers. The first AeroClipper was launched on or about October 12th. The second AeroClipper was launched October 14th (that is this morning, Guam time). The post about the launch of the second AeroClipper has a video showing the launch of the second AeroClipper. This is very exciting and I wish the CNES researchers the best of luck as they track these two AeroClippers. As I understand it, there is one more AeroClipper to be launched.

JTWC is the Joint Typhoon Warning Center

My final article (for now) on the blimp (AeroClipper) typhoon research is on October 27th.

Red Flag Warnings in Northern CA this weekend (0ct 13 - 15)

If you are arriving at this post after October 15th, the video is still worth watching so you can see an example of how NWS Weather Forecast Offices work to warn those in their forecast area of life threatening weather conditions.

IMETs working Northern California Wildfires

Regular readers know that I have lots of respect for the work the National Weather Service Incident Meteorologists do when the are assigned to a specific for a two-week deployment. See for example my May 17th 2017 post where you will learn a little about what IMETs do from a NWS incident meteorologist and this November 2016 post where you will see a video of an IMET answering questions from a middle school class.

I thought that you might be interested in recent IMET deployments to wildfires in Northern California. So, I went to the NWS IMET Facebook page where I found the following IMET deployments since October 9th. Information about these and other wildfires burning in northern California and elsewhere in California, along with a map, may be accessed from the CAL FIRE Incident Page.

Before I go any further, I want to pause and say how much I appreciate all of you IMETs who are working these horrible and devastating wildfires in northern California. I know that you are working hard monitoring weather conditions on your fire. Especially but not limited to monitoring wind forecasts, I understand that some of these wildfires experienced more high winds the other night. What you do is so crucial to keep firefighters on the ground safe. Thank-you. And you stay safe as well.

Edited on October 14 at 6:30 AM to add: The IMETs working the northern California wildfires as well as nearby NWS Weather Forecast Offices of Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area will be monitoring Red Flag Warning conditions that are expected occur this weekend, October 13th to 15th (see my post of October 13th for more information).

IMETS save lives!

The four deployments below were on the evening of Monday, October 9th.


The Redwood Complex is part of the Mendocino Lake Complex of Wildfires.


The Tubbs Fire is part of the Central LNU Complex of Wildfires


The Atlas Fire is part of the Southern LNU Complex of Wildfires



Last, but by no means least, an IMET Trainee (to read more about IMET trainees read my July 21st post) was deployed to the Central LNU Complex on October 11th.  Wow, I wish this trainee well as they work with an experienced IMET and fill their taskbook.



Here is a screen grab I did this morning (October 13th) from the NWS EDD interactive map showing current IMET deployments (the pinkish-purple circles) in Northern California. To the best of my knowledge, all the deployments that I have referenced above are mapped out below. Note that IMET locations are found in fire weather under more layers.

Temporary Air Control Tower at McClellan AAB

Thanks to Mike Archer for his daily Wildfire News of the Day e-mail where I learned in his WNOTD e-mail yesterday, October 11th) about a temporary Air Control Tower that is in operation at McClellan Air Attack base. Ordinarily McClellan has no tower and the pilots talk to each other as they are arriving, taxiing on the ground, and then departing. However, with twelve Airtankers working the various northern California wildfires out of McClellan, the air and ground space was a little busy so CAL FIRE called Tower Tech for help. Learn about Tower Tech in this report with video from CBS News Sacramento. Unfortunately, I am unable to get the embed code provided by CBS News Sacramento to work, so I hope that you take about three minutes to go and watch the video.

Titus Gall, CEO of Tower Tech spoke with CBS Sacramento:

'The traffic becomes a little bit too complicated,' said Titus Gall, President and CEO of Tower Tech, Inc. . . . 

'Everything that uses this airport is now talking to these guys,' Gall said, referring to the two-man team running the traffic control. 

Typically, there is no air traffic control team at McClellan and the pilots simply communicate with each other when they need to land and depart. 

The Tower Tech team is scheduling 12 air tankers on a loop, loading fire retardant, making drops and coming back to load up again. But the guys are also handling private planes here on business. 

More on CA wildfires - view from a firefighter

Thanks to a friend of mine who told about an NPR she heard reporting on the wildfires in northern California. She said that she had heard a firefighter talking about the challenges in fighting these "monstrous fires." I wasn't sure if I would be able to easily find the NPR audio report, but I think that I found the one that she is talking about. I am embedding the report below. The written NPR report (Oct 11th) where I found the audio report is slightly different, your will find it here.

I like this report because you are hearing from a wildland firefighter about the difficulties in fighting a wind-driven wildfire.

California wildfires - October 2017

Updated on October 12th at 12:30 PM. In an article posted on October 12th, Wildfire Today is reporting that:

The latest figures on this week’s wildfire outbreak, per CAL FIRE as of late Wednesday:

• 22 wildfires have burned more than 170,000 acres

• 3,500 homes and structures have been destroyed

• 21 people have died, and that figure is expected to rise

• More than 8,000 firefighters are working fires across the state, primarily those in Northern California’s wine country. This includes crews on 550 engines, 73 helicopters and 30 air tankers.

Be sure to go and read the entire October 12th article on the California wildfires on Wildfire Today

Fire Aviation has two articles on aviation resources fighting the California wildfires:

• on October 10th they wrote about aviation resources being stretched thin
• on October 11th they wrote about how air attack was important in halting the spread of the Canyon2 fire in Anaheim CA

Finally for those of you who might be interested in local coverage of the California wildfires:

• CBS Sacramento
• NBC BayArea
• NBC Los Angeles

October 11th I suspect that most of you know that among the wildfires currently burning in California are several wildfires burning in Northern California accounting for on the order of 115,000 acres burned. And this is just norther California, and doesn't include wildfires burning elsewhere in the State. These wildfires have been reported across much of the national media, both broadcast and print media. I understand that at least 2,000 homes and businesses have been destroyed and at least 15 people are dead with many more missing. My thoughts and prayers go out to all affected by these devastating wildfires. Thank-you to the wildfire crews on the ground for working these wildfires, stay safe.


Direct link to video from Shaking My Head Productions

Wildfire Today has been doing their usual extraordinary job covering the wildfires burning in California. See for example:

• Northern California among those who lost homes in Napa Valley
• Canyon2 Fire in Southern California
• 80,000 acres in 18 hours in Napa Valley (October 9th)
• Wildfires erupt overnight (October 9th) in California's wine country

I am posting some coverage of these wildfires. All these articles are good. Some of the coverage might be repetitious, but you can get a feeling for the devastation  by looking at the videos and phots from the fires.

California Broadcast and print media

• NBC4 Los Angeles on smoke from Canyon2 fire (October 11, photos and videos)
• NBC4 Los Angeles - images from space
• Anaheim CA wildfire; 8,000 acres burned and 36 structures burned
• NBCBayArea (October 11th) on Napa Valley Wildfires (videos and photos)

National media:

• CNN (October 11th) on California wildfires (good photo gallery and videos)
• New York Times (October 10th) on California wildfires (videos, a couple of photos)
• Washington Post (October 10th) on California wildfires (videos, a couple of photos)

Miniature Blimp/balloon typhoon research in Guam

This is the first of at least a couple of posts about miniature blimp/balloon typhoon research going on in Guam in October of 2017. This post, divided into three parts,  is a little longer than my usual post. In the first section is an introduction and a little bit about Guam (focusing on geography). After providing some links to information about tropical cyclones in the second section, I share information from the NWS Guam about the typhoon research being conduction in Guam by researchers from the French CNES agency. Finally in section three, I provide a link(s) to more of my posts about the miniature blimp known as the AeroClipper.

1. INTRODUCTION AND ABOUT GUAM
A few months ago, I started to become familiar with the US NWS WFO at Guam because a NWS meteorologist I knew transferred to Guam. So, I found and bookmarked the US NWS Guam Facebook site  I check in with the NWS Guam Facebook page, in part because I am interested in learning more about typhoons. Just last week, I was checking out the NWS Guam’s Facebook page when I found out about some very interesting research that some researchers from France will be doing out of Guam from October 4th to October 21st (weather permitting). I want to share a little about that research with you, but before I do that a little geography and a little about Guam

As you can see, Guam, which is an unincorporated territory of the United States, is located in the Western Pacific. According to the entry for Guam in the CIA World Fact Book (go here), Guam is at 13.28 N, 144.47 E. Guam's climate is tropical marine (see the geography entry in CIA World Fact Book's entry for Guam. 

2. TYPHOONS AND THE AEROCLIPPER

As you may know, tropical cyclones in that part of the pacific where Guam is located are known as typhoons while tropical cyclones off of the atlantic coast and in the Gulf of Mexico are known as hurricanes. The National Weather Service has a nice module on tropical weather, including tropical cyclones at their Jet Stream Education site. Now, I know that both typhoons and hurricanes are tropical cyclones and I wanted to know more about Guam. I had heard references about the northwest pacific being known as typhoon alley, so I searched on typhoon alley and came up with an article from weather.com written in July 2016 that you may find here. I learned a lot about typhoons in general as well as the differences between typhoons and hurricanes. I then wrote to my friends at the NWS WFO at Guam to see if they had any comments on the article. They told me that the article covers it, stressing that “all the ingredients for tropical cyclone development are here all year round and little land mass to stop development — practically none until you reach the far western Pacific.

I am always interested in learning more about interesting weather related research involving aviation, including the use of balloons. So when I came upon the following Facebook post from the US NWS Guam at the end of last week, I was fascinated. It was after reading that Facebook post, which I am embedding below that I knew that I wanted to share this with you. The first thing I did was to learn a little more about Guam which I have shared in the beginning of this article. Please take a few moments to read about this fascinating research involving balloons known as AeroClippers. Hopefully, there will be a couple of nearby tropical cyclones so that the folk from CNES in France can do their research. I am fascinated by what the AeroClippers could mean to providing data that will help forecasters in the Western Pacific and elsewhere get data from the eye of the typhoon. I am looking forward to following the CNES AeroClipper research while they are in Guam and wish them the best. The Facebook post was posted on October 6, 2017.

Here are a couple of media articles from the Guam Press about the Aero Clipper. As always, I am never certain how long these links will be up.

• KUAM report and video about the AeroClipper, October 6, 2017
• Pacific Daily News report and video about the AeroClipper, October 6, 2017

3. MORE OF MY POSTS ABOUT THE MINATURE BLIMP KNOWN AS THE AEROCLIPPER

• October 14th: I posted on the launch of two of the AeroClippers by the CNES researchers working out of Guam
• My final article (for now) on the blimp (AeroClipper) typhoon research is on October 27th.

Santiago Fire Crew (Orange County) working the Canyon Fire (CA)

Well, with a good three weeks without significant rainfall here in New Jersey, I was going to write about the dry conditions. But I won't. Instead, I am going to hold off on that post until the middle of next week. Let's just say I want to see what transpires between now and then in the weather department. We shall see, won't we.

I thought I'd share a crew video, uploaded by Randy Cruz of the Santiago Fire Crew of Orange County, California working the Canyon Fire. Allow a little under five minutes for the video. I wrote about the Canyon Fire here.


Direct link to video from Randy Cruz

Time for some smokejumpers - October 2017

Some of you know that when I first got interested in wildland firefighting nine years ago, one of my former grad school professors who was knowledgable about forestry and wildland firefighting suggested that I read a couple of books about smokejumpers. I followed his advice. Time went on and eventually started this blog.

From time to time, as I am doing now, I like to look around for new to me videos about smokejumpers. I found two that I am sharing here. Perhaps some of you have already seen these two videos elsewhere, but if so, perhaps you will enjoy seeing them again. Allow about 15 minutes to watch both videos.

This first video is from ABC News (April 2016) and is about smokejumpers out of Redding California (California Smokejumpers website). TodayI enjoyed hearing the smokejumpers, a base manager, and a wife of one of the jumpers talk about their experiences. Especially the wife for adding the dimension of what it is like for her and their children.


Direct link to video from ABC News

In the second video you will get an overview of the McCall Idaho Smokejumpers.  The video is from On Final Productions (February 2017)


Direct link to video from OnFinal Productions

Good bye Lockheed P2-V Neptunes

On Saturday, September 30th, Neptune Aviation had a farewell party for the four remaining P2-V Neptune Tankers, all are being retired this season. As I understand it, one P2-V may still be on contract and will be retired at the end of her contract.

Thank-you all the P2-Vs and her crews -- pilots, co-pilots, ground support, etc. who have flown wildfires over the years.

Some of you did not make it to retirement, tankers 7, 4, 99, 9, 42, 11, and two tanker number 8's were lost in the line of duty. For a complete list of fatalities in Lockheed P2V tankers see Bill Gabbert's June 7, 2012 article on Wildfire Today, Bill has listed a 1992 crash (ferry flight) with no tanker number. You and your crews are flying in favorable tail winds. May you rest in peace, and condolences to your friends, families and co-workers.

You have flown countless numbers of wildfires, saved many lives, and saved many residences and businesses. You did all this in support of the crews on the ground. Your service will not be forgotten. It will be strange to not see you flying after the end of the season. I will miss you!

Neptune Aviation continues to fly BAe-146 jet tankers.

The Missoulian had a nice report (with a photo gallery) on the farewell party (which includes the video that I am embedding below) which may be found here.

Edited on October 4th to add: I only just now went to Bill Gabbert's Fire Aviation site and found that Bill posted a nice article (with a link to a video) about Neptune Aviation's retirement of their P2V air tankers


Direct link to video from Missoulian

Here is a nice report on Neptune's farewell party for the P2-V's from KPAX


Direct link to video from KPAX