There was a nice article in the June 2017 AgAir Update called "Apocalypse on the Plains," now available from this AgAir Update link. The author, Graham Lavender, writes of his experience being dispatched to wildfires from the Abilene Tanker Base in the early spring of 2017 at a time when extreme wildfire conditions were forecast. He writes that one SEAT dispatched to a wildfire had to abort because of drone activity. The first week of March saw Red Flag Warnings, with forecasts of an approaching cold front with high winds for March 6, 2017. I'll let Lavender explain what the SEATs faced:
By the time we arrived for work on the morning of March 6, the winds had already exceeded our limitations. Sustained winds over forty knots with gusts over fifty knots were common in the Abilene area, while farther north and nearer the front wind speeds were even higher. By early afternoon dispatch was reporting multiple new fire starts in the northern Panhandle. The acreage estimates for each fire grew at an alarming rate. Barriers, such as highways and railroads, were no defense against the 70 mph wind gusts. All firefighters could do was position in front of the fire and warn people to get out of the way. Multiple evacuation orders were issued and many communities looked like ghost towns as the flame front approached. The same conditions were occurring in Oklahoma and Kansas with the largest fire starting in western Oklahoma and crossing the state line into its neighbor to the north.I hope that you take a few moments to read "Apocalypse on the Plains" about what the SEATs faced last March working wildfires in the southern Great Plains.
I did find a video on Youtube, shot in February 2017 taken from the cockpit of SEAT working the Prison Fire in Tulia, Texas. The video was uploaded by the Texas A&M Forest Service, the pilot is Jim Watson. Allow a little over seven minutes to watch the video.
Direct link to video
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