2019 wildfire season: Wildfires in Alberta Canada (May 31st)

Like some of you, I have been aware of the Chuckegg Creek Fire in northern Alberta, Canada. Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today. On May 28, Bill wrote an article, sharing a satellite image of three large wildfires in Alberta. In his May 30th article, he wrote about the recent extreme fire behaviour of the Chuckegg Creek Fire growing to approximately 568,000 acres (230,000 hectacres)with excerpts from a May 30th update by Alberta Wildfire. Finally in today's (May 31st) article he shared a wildfire smoke map from NOAA, Office of Satellite and Product Operations.

Evacuation orders are in place in several northern Alberta communities affected by wildfires, see this article from CBC and this article from Gizmodo for more information. Thanks to Mike Archer from Wildfire News of the Day for sharing these two articles recently. On a side note, I also saw these two articles in my Apple News feed today on my smart phone.

I found a third article about wildfires currently burning in northern Alberta in my Apple News Feed. This one is from Global News (May 31st). This article reports on the effects of the wildfire smoke in Canada and portions of the northern United States, evacuation orders. According to this article, there are 29 wildfires burning in northern Alberta with at least 5,000 people under evacuation orders. I am sharing two videos here that are also included in the article.

2019 wildfire season: A sampling of wildfire activity in U.S. lower 48: May 29

We in the east and central portions of the United States are seeing an active weather pattern with severe thunderstorms and tornadoes, even in New Jersey. I hope that all are safe and heeding any warnings from your National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office whether they be fire related or for flash flooding, severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. Stay safe and be weather aware!

I am making this post and hoping to be offline before a severe thunderstorm to my west passes through my area within the next 45 minutes. We are under a tornado watch through 8 PM tonight. This is the second day in a row where we have been under a tornado watch, this is unusual for us in New Jersey and adjoining areas. So, I have to be quick to finish this up before the thunderstorm hits, I will update this post later today after the storm passes.

I was wondering about wildfire activity in the lower 48 of the United States. I'll get to that in a moment. I do know that of May 23rd that IMETs, aka Incident Meteorologists have yet to be deployed to wildfires in 2019 (see the May 23rd comment from the NWS IMET office on their May 6th Facebook Post. When I last checked the NWS IMET office Facebook page before writing this post, there were no posts about IMET deployments, however there may well be IMET deployments that I do not know about.

I read nothing into the face that there have been no IMET deployments as of May 23rd. All this could change very quickly and I suspect that in a month the situation will have changed. With that in mind, I was wondering about wildfire activity in the lower 48 states of the U.S. So, I went to Inciweb. What I share here, about four wildfires, is only a sampling of wildfire activity in the lower 48. There are likely wildfires that I do not know about.

Memorial Fire, Francis Mario National Forest, South Carolina: 1,300 acres, 85 percent containment, no structures threatened. Date of origin, May 26th.

Castolon fire, Big Bend National Park, Texas: fire started in Mexico on May 21st and jumped the Rio Grande River into Texas at Big Bend National Park on May 2nd quickly burning 944 acres, no fire growth since May 24th. Extensive damage of some park structures near Castolon (historic barracks, visitor's center and restrooms, store). Fire is 85 percent contained.

Mill Fire near Crown King, Arizona: 179 acres at 75 percent containment. last update on Inciweb was on May 8th, no growth anticipated.

Maroon fire near Flagstaff, Arizona: 100 acres, caused by lightning, date of origin was May 16th, last update on May 27th, no containment information.

IMETs save lives.

Stay safe everyone.

Memorial Day 2019

On this day when we celebrate Memorial Day here in the United States, I pause to remember all in the military in the United States and around the world who died in service to their country. I thank you for your service and remember your family and loved ones whom were left behind.


Direct link to video on Youtube


Direct link to video on Youtube

Camp Fires and Grilling Safety

In the United States the Memorial Day weekend is the traditional start of the summer season. And in some parts of the country, such as New Jersey, this is the start of the camping and outdoor picnic season. Many, but not all picnic areas have grills where you can bring your charcoal briquettes and grill your food. Many of you have outdoor gas grills or older grills using charcoal briquettes. It is important to use these grills safely and if you are using charcoal briquettes to dispose of them only after they are cool in a locked metal garbage can. FEMA has a nice, short set of graphics about grilling safety that may be found here.

Let's not forgot campfire safety. Some folk camp year round at campsites. Some campgrounds will allow campfires and some will not. If you are camping in a federal, state or local park or forest, it is important to check with the office when you check-in to see if campfires are allowed. Also, pay attention to any campfire restrictions from you state agency. I found some good information from SmokeyBear on campfire safety, there is also a campfire safety guide that you can print out and take with you (two pages), good to have handy as sometimes cellular service is unreliable in rural areas.

Have fun and be safe if you are grilling outside or using a campfire.

Updated on December 20, 2020: the video that I shared when I first posted this article is no longer available.

Reflections on wildland firefighting sacrificing family time from a non-firefighter

I took a day off from my usual posting schedule yesterday to enjoy some family time. I found myself reflecting on the fact that normally when I am planning family time, as I did yesterday, I often have something prepared ahead of time to post. Obviously, that did not happen yesterday. I thought about our wonderful wildland firefighters in the air and on the ground. They often work through holidays, and their own family's special days so that we may be safe. That means they sometimes miss out on holiday time, birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, and the like.

I enjoyed my family day yesterday. While there was no particular wildfire danger that I knew of in my neck of the woods yesterday, I know that wildland firefighters of the NJ Forest Fire Service were ready to respond if the call came. And the NJFFS wildland firefighters and those in your State, Province, or Country will be ready to respond to a wildland fire to keep you safe, even if it means forgoing some family time.

We have a holiday coming up here in the United States as we celebrate Memorial Day this Monday, May 27th. I hope that all who are traveling this weekend safe travels.

2019 wildfire season: Sikorsky S064 Skycrane in Greece

Here is some interesting footage, about nine minutes, of a Sikorsky S064 Skycrane working a fire in Greece. The audio is interesting. From what I can tell at least one of the voices is the pilot.


Direct link to video

Statistics and Resources from the National Interagency Fire Center

For no particular reason other than I can be a little geeky about statistics, I have been curious about how the wildland fire season (year-to-date) compares with previous years. I found some summary statistics on that National Interagency Fire Center's webpage (NIFC) that you may find here. The page that I viewed was updated on May 17, 2019 which happens to be the day I am writing this. I should caution you that these are summary statistics. Hidden in these statistics, especially acreage are going to be very large fires. That is, 2009, 2011, 2016 through 2018 had year-to-date acreage over 1,000,000 acres, This year coming in at 226,078 acres is not the lowest, that goes to 2013. The table below of year-to-date statistics was obtained on May 17, 2019 from https://www.nifc.gov/fireInfo/nfn.htm. I think that there may be a typographical error, I believe that year-to-date refers to the current year, e.g. the current year's statistics would be from January 1, 2019 through May 17, 2019.

Year-to-date statistics (see note 1)
2019 (1/1/19 - 5/17/19)	Fires: 12,567	Acres: 226,078
2018 (1/1/18 - 5/17/18)	Fires: 21,997	Acres: 1,600,169
2017 (1/1/17 - 5/17/17)	Fires: 22,518	Acres: 2,108,768
2016 (1/1/16 - 5/17/16)	Fires: 18,188	Acres: 1,542,953
2015 (1/1/15 - 5/17/15)	Fires: 19,741	Acres: 375,155
2014 (1/1/14 - 5/17/14)	Fires: 22,527	Acres: 462,319
2013 (1/1/13 - 5/17/13)	Fires: 15,971	Acres: 211,225
2012 (1/1/12 - 5/17/12)	Fires: 20,,099	Acres: 473,859
2011 (1/1/11 - 5/17/11)	Fires: 25,804	Acres: 2,664,606
2010 (1/1/10 - 5/17/10)	Fires: 23,899	Acres: 348,404
2009 (1/1/09 - 5/17/09)	Fires: 32,251	Acres: 1,297,145
10-year average Year-to-Date
2009-2018	Fires: 22,752	Acres: 1,089,366

The National Interagency Coordination Center, an arm of NIFC, has current and archived data on wildfires by Coordination Center may be found on this webpage under Situation, National Products, Incident Management Situation Report.

One of the reasons why I am sharing these data to share this resources from NIFC for those of you who are not familiar with NIFC's resources. NIFC has a nice fire statistic page, mostly summary statistics. I am quite aware that there are likely to be other sources of historical wildfire statistics that I am not aware of either on the national level as well as regional and local. NIFC has a variety of other resources as well: aviation, fire shelters and safety to name a few. I will leave you to your devices to explore.

There is a video that I saw on the NIFC home page on the wildfire outlook for May and June of 2019 with seasonal outlooks for July and August. I am interested in hearing what Brian Henry, Assistant National Weather Fire Weather Program Manager for Predictive Services in Boise, Idaho has to say.


Direct link to video from NIFC

______________________

Note 1: The data table showing year-to-date statistics as of May 17th was corrected to correct what I believe to be a typographical error. The original data on the website states that the year to date statistics goes back to January 1 of the preceding year (e.g. 2019 (1/1/18-5/17/19); 2018 (1/1/17-5/17/18, etc). I took the liberty of changing the year to date column to reflect the current year. Any errors in this presentation are my responsibility.

Tanker history: Martin Mars dropping on the 2009 Station Fire

In the late summer of 2009, the Station Fire burned 160,577 acres, two firefighters died and 89 residences were destroyed. I have some articles tagged Station Fire here, and Wikipedia has a summary of the Station Fire here. The fire burned some television antennas and equipment on the top of Mt. Wilson. I spent quite a few hours watching live stream from Los Angeles media of the air operations over Mt. Wilson. I spent one night being afraid that the Mt. Wilson observatory might be destroyed or severely damaged, that did not happen. One of the now historic air tankers that dropped on Mt. Wilson was the Martin Mars. The Martin Mars is, in all likely hood retired from firefighting operations. I spent several minutes watching the live stream of her drop on Mt. Wilson, elegance in action. A very special tanker.

The video below may or may not be the same live stream that I saw almost ten years ago, but that does not matter. Enjoy this video, a little over six minutes of the Martin Mars preparing to drop and then dropping on Mt. Wilson during the Station Fire in late August 2009.


Direct link to video

2018 fire season: E-631 2018 Crew Video

Enjoy this crew video of the 2018 fire season of E-631. Great footage in this video. Allow five minutes for the video. I believe this crew is out of New Mexico. Enjoy. Thanks to the crew of E-631 for keeping us safe during 2018 and best wishes for a save 2019 fire season.


Direct link to video by Alec D

Time for some helos, May 2019 edition

Every so often I like to share videos of helicopters used to fight wildfires. I have always liked watching helicopters, whether it be through a video or the times I have seen and heard one flying over head. Once in awhile I have seen one from the right seat of a Cessna 172 while on a scenic ride. I saw a CH-47 once about four years ago that was about 1 to 2 miles away crossing in front of us. That was pretty cool, but in the pbotograph I took it was smaller than the size of my fist. Oh well.

About five years ago, my good friend Matt died too young. Matt loved helicopters and was quite knowledgeable. We had fun talking helos. He had model helos that he used with his young sons.

Matt, I share this videos today in your memory. I know that you are flying in favorable tail winds.

Enjoy!

Bambi Buckets

Direct link to video

Bell 212

Direct link to video

NJ Forest Fire Service Takeoff, Augusta NJ Airshow

Direct link to video

IMETs using GOES East and West

We now have two operating satellites in the GOES-R generation of satellites, two more in the series have yet to be launched. If I am not mistaken, GOES East (originally GOES-R now GOES-16) has good coverage from the east coast to the Rockies.  We now have an additional satellite in the GOES-R series, GOES-17 (launched as GOES-S) that became GOES West in early March of 2019. Any reference to GOES East in this article refers to GOES-16 and any reference to GOES West refers to GOES-17.

I understand that all NWS Incident Meteorologists (IMETs) are at least Journeymen Forecasters (General Forecasters). So they would have had training as required on the GOES-R series of satellites (GOES-16 and GOES-17) in connection with their work as Forecasters in NWS Weather Forecast Offices. I have written several articles about IMETs which may be found here (latest at top).

I have been curious about how Incident Meteorologists have been using the new GOES East and West Satellites (go here to read about what IMETs do and to watch a short video). I would like to thank Robyn Heffernan, National Fire Weather Science and Dissemination Meteorologist with the NWS National Fire Weather Program for taking the time to answer some questions.

RRamblings: Did existing IMETs receive any additional training through either recurrent training or special training, on using the GOES-R series of satellites in their work as IMETs. If so, can you briefly explain what is covered in this training?

RH: Yes!  Not only did IMETs (new and veteran) receive special training for the new GOES series of satellites, so did every forecaster in the National Weather Service (NWS).  The NWS Satellite Foundation course consisted of 15-20 hours of training to bring forecasters up to date on the capabilities of the GOES-R/S satellites.  Specifically, topics included an introduction to GOES-R/S highlighting improved spatial and temporal resolution and additional new channels available, followed by products and imagery that address a broad range of applications including fire weather.  The NWS is currently planning on the development of a new course specifically dedicated to the applications of the new satellites for fire weather.

RRamblings: Has GOES East (aka GOES-16) made a difference in the work of an IMET? If so, how? And how might this be different from how they use GOES East (or GOES West) in their work for their WFO?

RH: The new GOES East and West satellites (R/S) are making a significant difference for IMETs in the field as well as forecasters back at the Weather Forecast Office (WFO).  The new GOES East and West satellites provide three times more spectral information, four times the spatial resolution, and more than five times faster temporal resolution than the previous system.  This means, for wildland fire, we can routinely see fires down to 15 acres in size (although we have been able to see structure fires as well) and watch these fires grow through 1 minute imagery.  This is a game changer!  IMETs on large incidents can see which portions of a fire are particularly active on a given day.  Forecasters back at the WFO are able to see new fire starts and fire growth, and work with land management agency partners to provide necessary forecast weather information.

RRamblings: Is there one thing that you would like my readers to know about GOES East and West as specifically applies to the work of an IMET.

RH: These data are so new to us that we have only begun to discover the utility of the data from these new satellites.  In addition to new developments in the GOES series of satellites, new advances in polar satellites are occurring as well.  In 2017, a new polar satellite was launched, NOAA-20, which includes the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiomenter Suite (VIIRS).  VIIRS is extremely useful in wildland fire due to the ability to detect and view wildland fires at an incredibly high spatial resolution.  In time, we hope these new data will open up a new world with how the NWS works with land management agency partners to assess and forecast the fire environment.  

Thank-you Robyn for your time! I wish all in the NWS National Fire Weather Program Office and the IMETs the best as the spring and summer wildfire. Thank-you for helping keeping our firefighters as safe as possible as the fight wildfires.

Incident Meteorologists are ready to go wildfires to save lives

As I write this, it is May 6th, and to date Incident Meteorologists (IMET) have not yet been deployed to any fires. This slow start does not mean anything. The wildfire season could get very busy with a lot of IMET deployments. For example, according to a post from the NWS IMET Office on their Facebook Page: "As of 4.29, we haven't had anyone out on a mission yet, The only other time in the last 21 years that has happened was in 2015 (1st mission on 5/5) Despite the late start, we wound up with 153 missions. It wast the ninth busiest season on record ). Late Starts do not = Slow Seasons (obtained on May 6, 2019 from US National Weather Service IMET Facebook Page, April 29, 2019 post)


It is May 6th and to the best of my knowledge there has not yet been an IMET deployment to a wildfire. It does not really matter whether or not this will be a slow season, time will tell. The point is that when they get the call, IMETs are ready at a moments notice to go and provide onsite weather forecasting to help the wildland firefighters on the ground and in the air be safe as they work the fire. IMETs do save lives. Should the need arise, I know that IMETs will provide services to a wildfire in my neck of the woods. I am comforted by that knowledge. I hope that doesn't happen, but in this day and age, who knows what will happen.

Here are a couple of short videos where you can learn about what IMETs do. In the first video, listen to IMET Jeff Colton describe his work as an IMET on the 2018 Wapit Fire.

IMETs save lives!


Direct link to video

IMET's will often, but not always, deploy weather balloons to gather important meteorological data from the atmosphere, see the video below.


Direct link to video

New Jersey Forest Fire Service: Historical Footage from Last 20 years

New Jersey continues to green up nicely, at least in my part of the state with forecasts of rain or showers for this weekend. Even so, it is always prudent never to let your guard down. Wildfires can and do happen, sometimes when you least expect it.

So far, today is quiet and I am taking the rest of the day off for some rest and recreation with a friend. I leave you with this video retrospective from my friends at the NJ Forest Fire Service Section B10. This is a best of video of wildland fires in NJ Forest Fire Service Section B10 and around New Jersey. A variety of photos: helicopters, SEATs, engines and dozers, shots of wildfires, wildland firefighters working fires, prescribed fires, etc.


Direct link to video from NJFFS Section B10

B747-400 Supertanker (May 2019)

I have known about the Global Supertanker's B747-400 Supertanker, capable of carrying about 18,600 gallons of retardant (perhaps up to 19,200 gallons). She can also carry gel, water or foam. Global Supertanker has a nice page that may be found here where you can learn more about the Supertanker can do. I have only written about the 747 Supertanker on one previous occasion in January 2017 when the 747 Supertanker was deployed to Chile to work a major wildfire. Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today and Fire Aviation was embedded with the Suipertanker crew at that time and has written extensively about the 747 Supertanker (Bill's posts tagged Global Supertanker may be found at this link). In addition to Chile the 747 Supertanker flew has flown wildfires in California and Oregon. She may have had contracts to fly fires in other places that I do not know about.

At the time that I am writing this article, Global Supertanker has only one 747 Supertanker.

I was inspired to write this article thanks to an article with videos and a photo gallery from KATU that Mike Archer shared in a recent Wildfire News of the Day Newsletter.

The actual KATU (Oregon) article about the 747 Supertanker is a short piece that you can read quickly. However, the meat of this piece is in two videos about the 747 Supertanker that I am sharing below and a great photo gallery featuring the 747 Supertanker by KATU Photojournalist Rick Peavyhouse. There is no embed code, so you will have to the KATU article to watch the two videos, they are worth watching so I hope you take this opportunity to watch the two videos (allow five minutes).

Here is a July 2018 video from KPIX in the San Francisco Bay Area of California featuring the 747 SuperTanker.


Direct link to video from KPIX