Air tanker training (Oregon) with groundcrews

Training of airtanker pilots and new wildfire fighters along with recurrent training is crucial to safety and good fire fighting techniques. Communications are crucial wildland firefighting including but nor not necessarily limited to safety, weather, resource positioning and firefighting strategy  to name a few. When airtankers and or helicopters of any size are working a wildline fire communications between the tanker and the firefighters on the ground is important. In the video below from KOIN6 in Oregon you will get a birdseye view of Air Tractor Fire Boss training with wildland fire ground crews to practice good communications on the fireline. Thanks to my friends at NJFFS Section B10 who recently shared this video on their website.

Direct link to video from KOIN6 on YouTube

2022 NJ wildfire season: Brickworks Fire (Ocean County NJ)

I just found out that the Brickworks wildfire was reported in the Brendon T. Byrne State Forest on Sunday, June 26th. For a short time on Sunday, 7 structures were threatened, these structures are no longer threatened. No injuries were reported. Crews from the NJ Forest Fire Service worked yesterday afternoon and evening to contain the fire.The fire burned 315 acres and as of 10 AM Monday was at 100 percent containment. New Jersey Advance Media reported on this wildfire on June 27th. The NJ Forest Fire Service reported on this fire this morning on their Twitter Feed, here.

Remembering Hurricane Agnes 50 years later (part 2)

I continue with remembering Hurricane Agnes 50 years later by embedding two videos from WBAL11 in Baltimore. In the first video you will see pictures and recollections from survivors highlighting some of the destruction from Agnes. In the second video you will hear about how weather forecasting has changed in 50 years. But first see the map below where I have circled Havre de Grace and Ellicott City, just two of the towns devastated by flooding from Hurricane Agnes.

Direct link to video from WBAL11 on YouTube

Direct link to video from WBAL11 on YouTube

Remembering Hurricane Agnes 50 years later (part 1)

I was in my late teens when Hurricane Agnes bought devastating flooding to the Mid-Atlantic United States. I do remember all the rain, and was fortunate that I did not personally experience the flooding. I have never lived in Pennsylvania but I do recall hearing about the devastating flooding in that State as well as in New York, Maryland, and Virginia. 

 

Direct link to video (part 1) from PennLive on YouTube

Direct link to video (part 2) from PennLive on YouTube

The Capital Weather Gang of the Washington Post wrote a nice article about Agnes on June 19th. It is my intention to make a gift of this article for fourteen days from the date of this post, hopefully eliminating the paywall for that period, if you are arriving after July 6th there may be a paywall. If you can, please take the time to read the article. Agnes first made landfall on the Florida panhandle then moved inland up the coast before emerging into the Atlantic off North Carolina where it eventually merged with another weather system. Agnes continued up the east coast making it last landfall on Long Island on June 22, 1972. There was major flooding on many rivers in the Mid-Atlantic, some of those records still stand today. Damages were $3.1 billion, 128 people died and tens of thousands of people homes were severely damaged by flood waters or destroyed.

Please, turn around and do not drown. Pay attention to warnings from your weather service if a hurricane, tropical storm or major rain event is headed your way. Sign up with your local emergency management agency to receive phone calls and text alerts if a significant storm is headed your way and heed their warnings.

The National Weather Service collaborated with other agencies in developing a website commemorating the 50th anniversary of Agnes, including event summaries, pictures, stories from survivors, and flood mitigation after Agnes. There is a lot of good material on the website and I understand that this website will be permanent. You can spend a lot of time on the website, so if you are so inclined you may want to bookmark the page for later viewing. Here is the direct link to the 50th Anniversary of Hurricane Agnes website.

Agnes ravaged the Eastern US in late June 1972. At the time, it was the most destructive tropical cyclone in American history. Rainfall from Agnes caused catastrophic inland flooding, with an immense geographic scale. Access the commemoration site here: https://t.co/YpWpO7Oqqi pic.twitter.com/cy7AwglSZN

— NWS Mount Holly (@NWS_MountHolly) June 22, 2022

2022 NJ wildfire season: Mullica River Fire June 21st update (Burlington County NJ)

June 21st, 4:15 PM

WILDFIRE UPDATE: Wharton State Forest – Mullica River Fire@njdepforestfire continues to make substantial progress in containing a wildfire in Wharton State Forest -Washington, Shamong, Hammonton & Mullica Townships- which has reached 13,500 acres in size and is 95% contained. pic.twitter.com/BRwO0Exo6Q

— New Jersey Forest Fire Service (@njdepforestfire) June 21, 2022

June 21st, 11:30 AM

WILDFIRE UPDATE: Wharton State Forest – Mullica River Fire@njdepforestfire continues to make substantial progress in containing a wildfire in Wharton State Forest -Washington, Shamong, Hammonton & Mullica Townships- which has reached 13,500 acres in size and is 85% contained. pic.twitter.com/zrukHezWJM

— New Jersey Forest Fire Service (@njdepforestfire) June 21, 2022

I am writing to update the two posts I made yesterday on the Mullica River Fire (June 20th, 7 AM and my second post on June 20th, last updated at 9:30 PM. As of 11 AM this morning the Mullica River Fire, first reported on Sunday, June 19th, has burned about 13,500 acres in Wharton State Forest in Burlington County, NJ and is 85 percent contained. Campground and boat launches remain closed. Roads that were closed yesterday are now open. New Jersey Advance Media is one of many media outlets in the New Jersey region covering the fire, here is their latest article (June 20th, 9:30 PM) including a photo gallery. Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today wrote a nice article on the afternoon of June 20th with a nice map (he does great maps) locating the fire. 

Here is a nice video from the Associated Press (dated June 20th) covering the Mullica River Fire including excerpts from yesterday's press conference with New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) Chief Gregory McClaughlin and Shawn Latourette, Commissioner of the NJ State Department of Environmental Protection (the NJFFS is under the umbrella of the NJ State Department of Environmental Protection.

Direct link to video from the Associated Press on YouTube

2022 NJ wildfire season: Mullica River Fire (Burlington County NJ) update

June 20th, 7:30 PM

WILDFIRE UPDATE: Wharton State Forest – Mullica River Fire @njdepforestfire is making substantial progress in containing a wildfire in Wharton State Forest - Washington, Shamong, Hammonton & Mullica Townships - which has reached 12,000 acres in size and is 70% contained. pic.twitter.com/Ot7irTke7v

— New Jersey Forest Fire Service (@njdepforestfire) June 20, 2022

June 20th, 4:20 PM

The first tweet that I want to share regarding the Mullica River Fire is from the NWS Mount Holly NJ. Most of you may know that the GOES 16 satellite is capable of displaying wildfire signatures (go here for more information on how GOES 16 detects wildfires ). The NWS Mount Holly shared an image from GOES 16 showing the fire signature from the Mullica Hill Fire. I have seen GOES imagery of fire signatures in other parts of the United States, I believe that this is one of the first times I have seen satellite imagery of a wildfire signature from New Jersey. New Jersey Advance Media has some nice photos of the fire, they area also reporting that this could be the largest fire in fifteen years. We will have to wait and see about that until the final numbers are in.

Another pleasant, dry, sunny day in progress for most of the area - we hope you're enjoying! Certainly the most notable feature this afternoon is the large forest fire burning over southern NJ. Our GOES-16 satellite is designed to aid in fire detection. #NJwx #PAwx #DEwx #MDwx pic.twitter.com/lyH5Fjf4SJ

— NWS Mount Holly (@NWS_MountHolly) June 20, 2022

Now for the late afternoon update from the New Jersey Forest Service. The Mullica River Fire has burned 11,000 acres. The New Jersey Forest Fire Service continues to conduct burnout operations. Structure protection of the 18 threatened structures continues with the support of mutual aid from many local fire companies. Campgrounds and boat launches in the vicinity of the fire continue to be closed. No injuries have been reported and roads in the area of the fire (Routes 206 and 52 continue to be closed.

WILDFIRE UPDATE: Wharton State Forest – Mullica River Fire @njdepforestfire continues to make progress on containing a wildfire in Wharton State Forest - Washington, Shamong, Hammonton & Mullica Townships - which has reached 11,000 acres in size and is 50% contained. pic.twitter.com/PolKbFQvCz

— New Jersey Forest Fire Service (@njdepforestfire) June 20, 2022

New Jersey Advance Media has some nice photos of the fire, they are also reporting that this could be the largest fire in fifteen years. At this point, I will wait until the fire is controlled with final total acreage burned to see if this fire is the largest in fifteen years. The Warren Grove fire (May 2007) burned approximately 17,000 acres (for more information see my May 16, 2022 and my April 5, 2019 articles.

June 20th, 11:23 AM

I posted earlier this morning (see this post for some links). According to the morning update from the NJ Forest Fire Service, tweet embedded below, the Mullica River Fire has burned 7,200 acres in Wharton State Forest in Burlington County, NJ. The New Jersey Forest Fire Service continues backfiring operations. Eighteen structures are threatened, structure protection aided by mutual aid from local fire departments is in place. No injuries have been reported. As I get new information from the NJ Forest Fire Service and/or other news reports about the fire I will update this thread. Stay tuned.

WILDFIRE UPDATE: Wharton State Forest – Mullica River Fire @njdepforestfire continues to make progress on containing a wildfire in Wharton State Forest - Washington, Shamong, Hammonton & Mullica Townships - which has reached 7,200 acres in size and is 45% contained. pic.twitter.com/2oi9YbFmRs

— New Jersey Forest Fire Service (@njdepforestfire) June 20, 2022

2022 NJ wildfire season: Mullica River Fire (Wharton State Forest, Burlington County, NJ)

Direct link to video from CBS Philly

As I write this the Mullica River Fire has burned 2,100 acres (20% containment) in Wharton State Forest in Washington Township, Burlington County,NJ, The fire was reported early Sunday morning (June 19th). Evacuation orders are in place for the Paradise Lake Campgrounds where six structures are threatened. Nearby boat launches and trails are closed. In addition to the video from CBS Philly, NBC10 10 in Philadelphia is reporting on the fire here. I believe that the New Jersey Forest Fire Service will be providing another update later this morning, stay tuned. Click on "read the full conversation on Twitter" in the first embedded tweet to read the complete June 19th evening update from the NJ Forest Fire Service. 

My friends at the NJ Forest Fire Service Section B10 are reporting on this fire (scroll down to the bottom of the page), however if you are arriving here after the fire is contained they may no longer have information about this fire.

WILDFIRE UPDATE: Wharton State Forest – Mullica River Fire@njdepforestfire continues to fight a wildfire fueled by dry and breezy conditions in Wharton State Forest - Washington, Shamong, Hammonton & Mullica Townships- which has reached 2,100 acres in size and is 20% contained. pic.twitter.com/6W1iAZNnyZ

— New Jersey Forest Fire Service (@njdepforestfire) June 20, 2022

Here is a radar image of the smoke plume from the fire in Wharton St. Forest courtesy of the NWS at Mt. Holly NJ

 

The smoke plume from the Mullica River Fire is visible on our radar presently. Visibility at Atlantic City International Airport is now below 2 miles. Use caution if traveling in the area overnight, & please comply with posted road closures. Follow @njdepforestfire for the latest pic.twitter.com/IPEbl4qQnX

— NWS Mount Holly (@NWS_MountHolly) June 20, 2022

About CAL FIRE's Fire Hawk Helicopters

I suspect that many of you know from following various wildland fire news sources such as Bill Gabbert's Fire Aviation, Mike Archer's Wildfire News of the Day and Aerial Fire about CAL FIRE's Fire Hawk helicopter. I came across a nice video report about three weeks ago from my friends at the NJ Forest Fire Service Section B10 who posted a video about the Fire Hawk on their website (go here and scroll down for current daily videos, this page has since been updated)

The video is from KCRA News (Sacramento CA) uploaded to YouTube on or about May 26, 2022. Allow a little over four minutes to watch the video.

Direct link to video from KCRA News on YouTube

2021 wildfire season: Mill Creek Hotshots 2021 Fire Season

I have been wondering about how wildland fire crews get weather while they are on the fire line, whether it be an engine crew or a 20-person crew. I have also been wondering what a typical day was like on the fireline. So far I have not found a good video to share with you that felt appropriate to share with you. That is the video on fire weather for wildland fire fighters were training videos that are a little above my abilities so I am hesitating to share with you. The day in the life of wildland fire crew videos that I have found so far are not quite what I was looking for, either nothing happened or it was a recruitment video with no stills or video (nothing wrong with that).

So while I continue to look around I thought I'd share a 2021 crew video, this one a fourteen minute video from the Mill Creek Hotshots out of the San Bernadino National Forest in California. I like this video because you see aviation support and more importantly you see the crew during some downtime while taking a break from their wildland firefighting duties. 

Direct link to video from Gaffer'sGarage on YouTube

wildland fire fighting: 10 standard orders and 18 watchout situations

According to the National Wildfire Coordinating Group the 10 Standard Firefighting Orders and the 18 Watchout Situations 

provide wildland firefighters with a set of consistent best practices and a series of situations to be mindful of when responding to a wildland fire.

The 10 Standard Firefighting Orders are organized in a deliberate and sequential way to be implemented systematically and applied to all fire situations.

The 18 Watch Out Situations are more specific and cautionary, describing situations that expand the 10 Standard Firefighting Orders with the intent that if firefighters follow the Standard Firefighting Orders and are alerted to the 18 Watch Out Situations, much of the risk of firefighting can be reduced. (obtained on June 13, 2022 from The 10 Standard Firefighting Orders, PMS 110 from the Wildfire Coordinating Group

Please take a few moments to watch these two videos that discuss the the 10 Standard Firefighting Orders and the 18 Watchout Situations. I like to share these every so often and I think it has been awhile since I have done so.

Direct link to video from the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (10 Standard Orders) on Youtube

Direct link to video from the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (18 Watchout Situations) on YouTube

More on clouds

 In my blog entry of June 8, 2022 I shared some tweets from the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) from their twitter account (NIFC). In today's post I want to share a little more information about clouds. Now I am a weather enthusiast and not a Meteorologist so I want to post what I hope is good information. I don't know about you, but I find videos to be very useful, and I wanted to find a video about clouds from the National Weather Service or one of the NWS Forecast Offices. I lucked out and found this tutorial on cloud types from the NWSAlbuquerque. Allow about five minutes to watch the video. I am glad that mention lenticular (wave clouds) that are somewhat common in New Mexico and elsewhere in the western United States.

Direct link to video from NWSAlbuquerque on YouTube

The National Weather Service has an education page that may be found here with several links to resources for weather education. One of the links you will find on this page is a link for the NWS Jetstream (online) weather education school. One of their modules is on clouds. However, to get the full benefit of the cloud module, you may want to click on begin on the Jet Stream site where you will learn about the atmosphere, the ocean, and global weather before you get to clouds (fourth of sixteen modules). The cloud module includes a nice interactive cloud chart (scroll to the bottom of the window) where you may click on an image to learn more about that cloud. There is a stand alone version of the sky chart, i have a paper copy that is large enough for easy viewing, a pdf version may be found here. Note all links that I mention in this paragraph were accessed on June 10, 2022. Sometimes these links change so if you are arriving here and the  the links do not work that is why.

About how clouds affect fire weather

This week the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) is sharing some information about how clouds affect fire weather on their Facebook and Twitter accounts. I will share some of their information that NIFC posted on their Twitter account.

Awareness of the current fire environment, as well as potential changes, increases fireline safety. This week, we will focus on #weather, specifically #clouds, which are a valuable tool to predict current atmosphere state & potential weather changes.#fireweather pic.twitter.com/zhtRVJgQgp

— National Interagency Fire Center (@NIFC_Fire) June 6, 2022

 

Atmospheric stability is the tendency for upward/ downward motion of air. Indicators include: billowing cumulus clouds & virga. Strong vertical motion is a concern for firefighters bc it can mean sudden, erratic, gusty winds w/ serious consequences on the fireline. #fireweather pic.twitter.com/PjT4cwVgi7

— National Interagency Fire Center (@NIFC_Fire) June 7, 2022

 

Cumulus clouds represent weak instability. Their simple presence is not a major concern for firefighters, unless they continue to grow. Firefighters should keep an eye on the sky for further development due to potential sudden downdrafts & gusty winds that affect fire behavior. pic.twitter.com/969LUcO0JY

— National Interagency Fire Center (@NIFC_Fire) June 8, 2022

 

Alto cumulus clouds indicate upper atmosphere instability & weather changes, such as moisture & thunderstorms. Firefighters should watch for cloud changes to indicate erratic & gusty winds that shift fire activity & increase fire intensity.#fireweather #weather #clouds pic.twitter.com/C2muClMdM2

— National Interagency Fire Center (@NIFC_Fire) June 8, 2022

New Jersey Forest Fire Service Tribute (2021)

I was poking around on YouTube just now looking for a video showcasing the New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) and lo and behold, I found this nice tribute video put together by my friends at the New Jersey Forest Fire Service Section B10. While the name of the video is "New Jersey Fire Service 2021 Tribute, I believe that you will see photographs and videos from other years. I post this in thanksgiving for all the work that the NJFFS does to work wildfires on the ground and in the air to keep New Jersey residents an businesses as safe as possible from wildfires. 

Direct link to video from New Jersey Forse Fire Service Section B10 on YouTube

A look at California's Fire Integrated Real-time Intelligence System (FIRIS)

 I first learned about California's Fire Integrated Real-time Intelligence System (FIRIS) from Bill Gabbert's Fire Aviation when he wrote about Orange County's trial program of FIRIS in September 2019 (go here for Bill's article). Bill said in part: "The system utilizes a fixed-wing aircraft equipped with infrared and radar sensors that can see through smoke. The plane provides real-time fire perimeter mapping and live high definition video to support supercomputer-based wildfire predictive spread modeling." Bill's articles on Fire Aviation tagged FIRIS are found here.

My interest in FIRIS was rekindled when I came across a video from Cal OES on the FIRIS program. I thought that some of you might be interested in watching this video to learn about the FIRIS program, allow about five minutes to watch the video.

Direct link to video from Cal OES on YouTube

An overview of Burned Area Emergency Response

I have been thinking about Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER). In some cases a BAER team will start to their post fire assessment before the wildfire is fully contained. The idea is to be ready to move on post-fire recovery as soon as possible. I hope to be writing about BAER and post-fire recovery on some of this years wildfires (or perhaps last year's wildfires) as time goes on. I thought that a good place to start might be to share a couple of videos on BAER.

The first video is from 2020 discussing the Burned Area Emergency Response on the Holiday Farm Fire that burned over 170,000 acres in the McKenzie River basin in Oregon.

Direct link to video on YouTube

In the second video you will hear from a Botanist about the work Botanists do in BAER.

Direct link to video on YouTube

There is a page on Inciweb for BAER on the Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon Fire that has currently burned 315,830 acres (see this June 1st update on Inciweb)

Here is a screen shot I tooke from the Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon Fire BAER page on Inciweb with an overview of the three phases of wildfire recovery.

Obtained on June 1, 2022 from https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/8104/