I have blogged about aerial wildland firefighting since 2009. I am not a firefighter and am not a pilot, just an interested bystander who wants to learn more and share what I learn here. Join me here as I blog on the aircraft and the pilots who fight wildland fires from the air in support of crews on the ground. I also blog on concerns affecting fire crews on the ground as well as other aviation and meteorology issues. Learn what it takes to do jobs that are staffed by the best of the best.
CAL FIRE (CDF) S2T Tanker 71 working Sawtooth Complex Fire (2006)
Sawtooth Complex Fire (Sept. 2006), San Bernardino County CA. Photo Credit: U.S. Forest Service
Thanks to my friends at the daily videos posted by the NJFFS SectionB10, I learned of a wildfire burning in Pilot Mountain State Park in Surry County NC. According to WXII12, the fire was first reported on Saturday, November 27th; three to four hundred acres have burned to to date. "Jimmy Holt, of the North Carolina Forest Service, said crews are putting containment lines at the base of the mountain and letting the fire burn downhill, all while securing structures (November 29th, WXII12 report). I never know how long links to reports on broadcast media will remain active, but the link is active as I write this and I suspect it will be active for while longer.
Enjoy this nice video, about three minutes, from August Complex Fire 2020 of a tour of Neptune Aviation's BAe-146 tanker 01. I enjoyed this video, released in September 2020. I do not think that I have shared this video here, and if I have, it is definitely worth seeing again. To learn more about Neptune Aviation, you might want to spend some time on their website, which may be found here.
I am here to offer my special thanks to wildland firefighters and other first responders including those in Military reserve units called up to help out during emergencies.
For many, but not all, in the United States November 25 is a Thanksgiving holiday, a day off to spend with family and/or friends. Some may volunteer serving meals to those who have no place go or without funds for a special meal. For some it will be a one day holiday, for others a four day holiday. At this time of year, I try to remember and acknowledge that for many, Thanksgiving and the upcoming holidays into the early part of the New Year are stressful times.
Many people in the United States work all or most of this coming weekend: healthcare workers, workers in long-term care facilities, retail, local first responders, the Weather Forecast Offices and other offices of the National Weather Service, those on active service in the military, transportation workers, utility workers, call center workers, maintenance workers, those working in someone else’s house, and I am probably leaving some out. Some of you may be working by choice. Thanks to all of you for doing these jobs, perhaps sacrificing a day or two of your family time and/or days to relax
I pause and give thanks to all the wildland firefighters — on the ground, in the air, ground crews and other support staff, military reserve units— for your hard work this year in what has been a long and difficult fire season in many areas in the western United States and Canada. Some of you are working fires this weekend, or for those of you in Canada you worked on your Thanksgiving holiday. Please accept my hopefully humble post of thanks to all of you for doing your best to keep us safe during this wildfire season. You have sacrificed time with your family and friends to fight wildfires, thanks for your hard work and dedication. A special shout out to any of you, along with any local first responders, who are currently working wildfires in the United States.
I want to close with showing my gratitude to all first responders and military reserve units who responded to local, state, and national emergencies during the last year, and a special shout out to those of you who might be working or on call this coming weekend. You work to try to take care of us the best you can after a disaster or other emergency.
Enjoy two videos of Super Scoopers in action, both are from the 2021 fire season. For more information and specifications on the different models of CL215/415 aka Super Scoopers, see Viking Aircraft.
The Martin Mars will always be a special lady, she did a lot of good work over many years flying in support of wildland firefighters on the ground. I first met the Martin Mars, so to speak, fairly early on in my interest in aerial wildland firefighting through a friend of mine who introduced me to her through our e-mail correspondence. I first wrote about her in 2009, see for example this post from May 2009 (a couple of the links are dead, that happens). I believe, that I first saw her fly a fire through a live stream of aerial operations over the Station Fire in California (2009). She was a sight to behold and I was mesmerized watching her on live stream.
On some Fridays I like to have what I call Friday Fun where I post an aviation video(s) I enjoy. For today's Friday Fun I am sharing a couple of videos of the Martin Mars.
Fairly early this morning, I read about the fatal crash of Single Engine Air Tanker on Tuesday evening while fighting the Kruger Rock Fire southeast of Estes Park in Colorado. The pilot, the only occupant, was killed. Knowing that Bill Gabbert of Fire Aviation would be on top of this, I went to Fire Aviation (November 16th article) for more information. The SEAT, an Air Tractor 802 is owned by CO Fire Aviation and was recently configured for night flying; the SEAT may have been making its first flight at night to fly a fire. You will want to read Bill's article for more information about the SEAT and its night flying capabilities.
I just checked Denver media, Denver7 who apparently just updated their reporting on the crash to reflect that the name of the pilot who died, Thor Olsen. Mr. Olsen was a 32-year pilot who had some 1,000 hours in night flying with night vision goggles. According to Denver7, the Kruger Rock Fire has burned 140 acres. At the time that I write this, Bill Gabbert has not updated Fire Aviation identifying Thor Olsen as the pilot who died in the fatal crash.
I offer my condolences to Mr. Olsen's family, friends, colleagues, and all who loved him. My he and the SEAT always fly in favorable winds.
Thanks to my friends at NJFFS Section B10 who share great wildfire videos on a daily and weekly basis. The video that I will be sharing with you is one that they shared in their videos of the week sometime last August. A very nice video from Ed Whisenant Aviation of an LA County CH-47 Chinook Helitanker from Coulson. I don't know about you, but I love watching helicopters and helitankers. I only saw a CH-47 live and in person, so to speak, about four years ago when a pilot friend took me flying and we saw one in the air from a safe distance. That was pretty cool. Perhaps one day, I will be able to get closer to one on the ground. In the meantime, I enjoyed this video and I hope you will as well.
My tribute and thanks to all of our Veterans who have served their countries at great sacrifice is very heartfelt, although a day late. I know some Veterans here in the United States who served my country, sometimes at great personal sacrifice. I want all Veterans, whether or not I know you personally, to know how much I appreciate your service. Some of you are still in active service, others of you are in the reserves. Thank-you.
This tribute is from Navajo Nation TV and Film, The video is about eight minutes.
Knowing how important prescribed burns can be as one way to prevent wildland fires (see this March 4, 2021 news release from the NJ Department of Environmental Protection on Prescribed Burns), I try to keep an eye out for videos and other information from State and Federal Fire Agencies and their partners on prescribed burns. To that end, here is a video uploaded by the NJFFS Section B10 highlighting a prescribed burn at the Joint Base McGuire Ft Dix Lakehurst in Burlington County, New Jersey. The Joint Base is located in the New Jersey Pinelands (aka NJ Pine Barrens). When I drive to the Pinelands, I drive past the Joint Base. In the video you will hear Mark Stevenson, a Natural Resources Biological Scientist with the 787 Civil Engineering Squadron talk about a prescribed burn that was done at the Joint Base. I enjoyed the video and learned more about prescribed burns, I hope you do as well. Allow a little about four minutes for the video.
We currently have 0 IMETs in the field. Our last IMET to return home was Chris Foltz out of @NWSCentral (dispatched to the Windy fire in CA). We'll see what the rest of 2021 holds.
One benefit to the busy season has been that we've certified 14 new Incident Meteorologists! pic.twitter.com/tBEWkhVD7l
I was delighted to see this tweet from NWS IMET Operations saying that no Incident Meteorologists IMET) were deployed on November 3rd. Not only that, but 14 new IMETs were certified in 2021. As their tweet said, who knows what the rest of 2021 will bring. I know that should the call come for IMETs whether it be in the U.S. or when the call from another country, that you will go.
It was a devastating wildfire season in the western United States and in other portions of the United States (e.g. Minnesota comes to mind). IMETs typically are deployed to a fire for two weeks providing life saving forecasts for the wildfire so that wildland firefighters on the ground and in the air will be as safe as possible.
The book that I have been waiting for, Michigan on Fire by Betty Sodders (1997), on the wildfires that burned in Michigan from 1871 to about 1911, arrived yesterday. My local library borrowed the book on my behalf from a library in Michigan. I have the book for two weeks, maybe more. I started reading it today and am enjoying it. I do want to write something about these wildfires that burned in Michigan. But it will take me at least two weeks to do this reading and other background research.
In the meantime please enjoy this oldie but goodie from 2013, Load & Return from AAFAirtankerVideos. You will see some old Airtankers no longer on contract. I believe that the basic information in this video is still reasonable.
It is funny how things work out. There are a couple of things that have been percolating in the back of mind that I hope that I will be able to write about. One is wildfires that burned in Michigan from 1870 into the early years of the twentieth century. I have requested a book from my library on interlibrary loan devoted to these wildfires. I have no idea how long this request will take to be fulfilled or even if it will be fulfilled.
The second is something that I will write about today. That is, as we in the northern climes of the United States will soon be getting ready for winter, Australia is entering Spring and Summer and their 2021-22 bushfire season. I pay special attention to New South Wales because I have some distant relatives who live in New South Wales. When I was poking around on YouTube just now for videos on the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, I was very interested to see a video report from 7News Australia that New South Wales will have two Blackhawk Helicopters added to their fleet of firefighting aircraft for bush fire emergencies this bush fire season.
Bill Gabbert of Fire Aviation reported on October 18th on aerial firefighting assets in Australia. Bill mentions that two Blackhawks will be on contract in New South Wales from October 1st for 120 days. I am not quite sure if the two Blackhawks discussed in the News7 report below are the same ones that Bill discusses in his article, but Bill is very through so I assume that they are one and the same,
