Airtanker Operations: Coulson's Air Attack

Direct link to August 2023 video from Brit Coulson of Coulson Aviation on YouTube

One of the important elements of how airtankers of various sizes and helicopters work in the air to help firefighters on the ground to fight wildfires are the aircraft known as air attack. Air attack aircraft coordinate the aerial operations above the fire. Lead planes will lead the tanker or helicopter into the fire to make their drop. Watch to this eight minute video from Brit Coulson of Coulson Aviation where the various aspects that make up air attack are discussed. 

NOAA Hurrican Hunter "Kermit" Flys into Hurricane Melissa

Direct link to October 27, 2025 video taken by Lt. Col. Mark White, navigator with the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, flying into Hurricane Melissa

I have a great deal of respect for those who fly on Hurricane Hunter aircraft into Hurricanes. They do important work to provide good information with the goal of keeping us as safe as possible from hurricanes. 

I found a nice article by Matthew Cappuci, a regular contributor to the Washington Post and a Meteorologist with the weather app “MyRadar. He flew on “Kermit”, a NOAA hurricane hunter, on a mission flying through Hurricane Melissa. There were 19 people onboard Kermit, pilots, flight engineers, and researchers. Here is an excerpt from Cappuci’s October 27th article on the Washington Post (this article is a gift that expires in ten days on or about November 8th, for those coming on after November 8th I hope that you will still have free access to this article). Here is an excerpt from Cappuci's article to give you an idea of what it was like on Kermit:

Winds in the eyewall reach ridiculous speeds; over the open ocean, winds were gusting 140 mph or more. Eventually, all the rising air in an eyewall collides with the ceiling of the lower atmosphere; we call that the tropopause. Some of the air bounces against that ceiling, curling downward. It sinks (subsides), warms up and dries out. That punches out an oasis of calm: the eye. …

And then it happened. We emerged from the mist. A fingernail moon hung overhead in the deep twilight. I pressed my face against the glass. My jaw dropped.

I was sitting in the middle of a 10-mile-wide stadium of the gods. On all sides, hulking thunderstorms towered high above me — yet, directly overhead, the stars twinkled. With the faint glow offered by the moon, I could see brushstroke-like striations as the clouds in the eyewall swung around the eye at breakneck speeds. But, for a moment, I was in an oasis of calm.

My prayers are with all those affected by Hurricane Melissa as she struck Cuba and Jamaica, see this report from CBS News for more information.

Mobilization of Resources to Wildfires Through the National Interagency Coordination Center

Direct link to March 2022 video from the National Interagency Fire Center on YouTube

I do know that aerial and ground resources from one state can be deployed to a wildfire in another state through the National Interagency Coordination Center (NIFC) . But I was not quite certain of how these deployments work. Thanks to this march 20222 video that I just found today on the NIFC website I am finally able to share some good and reliable information with you about how emergency resources are mobilized. The video is a little over eight minutes long.

Friday Fun: CL-415 Scoopers, 2024 Fire Season

Direct link to November 2024 video from Michael Redwine on YouTube

A video from Michael Redwine summarizing the CL-415 Scoopers flying wildfires during the 2024 fire season. Enjoy

San Diego County CA Approved Purchase of Firehawk Helicopter for Nighttime Firefighting

 

Direct link to October 21st video from CBS 8 San Diego on YouTube

I want to thank my friends from the B10 NJ Wildland Fire Page for sharing this video on their webpage this morning.

I do try to follow aerial fire operations in other States including California but I may not  post about changes in a States aerial fire fleet right away. I am making an exception to this by sharing this video saying that San Diego County has approved $38 million for a Firehawk helicopter with the ability to fly fires at night. I have some close friends in San Diego County who know how to stay safe from wildfires, and I am always interested in available aerial resources to keep my friends safe from wildfires. This Firehawk, a type 1 firefighting helicopter, will have a 1,000 gallon tank, the ability to carry 12 firefighters and will be ready to fly in the spring of 2026.  This will mean that the County does not have to request a Calfire Firehawk from an adjoining county. In addition to dropping water and transporting firefighters to wildfires this helicopter will be used for rescues. Another source of information is this article from the San Diego County News Center.

The San Diego County Fire Protection District  has a lot of good information relevant to fire safety. Unfortunately, I can  not find an online listing of any current county owned or contracted resources. I do know that Calfire’s aviation resources  are available to San Diego County .

About NJ Wildfire SMART

Direct link to March 2025 video from the NJ Dept of Environmental Protection 

I want to thank my friends from the B10 NJ Wildland Fire Page for sharing this video on their webpage over the last few days. My friends at the B10 NJ Wildland Fire Page share wildfire videos every day as well as photos of wildfires in and around NJ. They are a good resources and I visit their website a few times a week.

I had seen NJ Wildfire SMART on the New Jersey Forest Fire Service website  where they have a page devoted to NJ Wildfire SMART. Briefly NJ Wildfire SMART stands for safety, mitigation, awareness, response, and training. If you go to this page you can learn more details about each. I liked the video that I shared above for providing a brief overview of NJ Wildfire SMART. As an aside, as some of you know, I love the NJ Pinelands and have driven on  some of the sand roads in the Pinelands including the Bass River State Forest mentioned in this video. I appreciate the efforts that goes into maintaining these roads and more importantly to efforts in the Pinelands to mitigate wildland fires.

Friday Fun: Super Scoopers in Action

Direct link to September 2024 video on YouTube

Direct link to August 2017 video on YouTube

Super Scoopers are a great aerial resources for aerial firefighting because as you see in these two videos they scoop water out of a water body and fly to the wildfire to make a drop. The Scooper can make a many drops, the number depending on the distance to the fire and available fuel. I know that two Super Scoopers were on contract In California starting September 1st of 2025, I am not sure how long the contract period is. In January of 2025 Bridger Aerospace sent two Scoopers to California to help fight wildfires. Last but by no means least Super Scoopers from Bridger Aerospace were deployed to Minnesota May 2025 to provide needed aerial support in fighting wildfires.

Home Fire Safety: Preventing Home ignition in the Wildland-Urban Interface

Prevent Home Ignition, Part 1; Video from the National Fire Protection Video on YouTube

Prevent Home Ignition, Part 2; Video from the National Fire Protection Video on YouTube

Continuing with residential fire safety, I shared two videos from the National Fire Protection Association, they have a nice YouTube channel with lots of videos including many videos addressing fire safety in the houses iin the wildland-urban interface. However, I think that some of the things that they address in this video might be of interested to folk like me who do not live in the wildland-urban interface..

Home Fire Safety: Lithium-Ion Battery Safety

 I have been thinking about fire safety at my house recently. Like many of us, I have several devices that use lithium-ion batteries and I do understand that these batteries can pose a fire risk. While I do try to be safe at home, I appreciate that the Ocean County Fire Marshall shared about the dangers of lithium-ion batteries and how to be safe. I thought I'd share three slides with you from their October 10th Facebook post.

Of the items listed in this slide I admit that I did not think about my cordless vacuum cleaner and a couple of power tools in my garage. I admit to needing to be more careful to not leave my cordless vacuum plugged in.

Regarding the next two slides, I learned something about how lithium-ion batteries work and about thermal runaway.

More on the NEW U.S. Wildland Fire Service

Direct link to October 8th video from Wildland Fire Fit on YouTube 

As you may recall I wrote about the NEW Wildland Fire Service in a post on September 16th where I refered to the September 15 press release from the U.S. Departments of Interior and Agriculture announcing the new U.S. Wildland Fire Service Plan. I am repeating the five priorities of the new plan below. There may be federal legislation that needs to be passed before this new service can take effect, I am not certain if any needed legislation has passed Congress. 

This new plan has five interdependent priorities:

• Address systemic inefficiencies and modernize aviation and coordination systems
            ◦ Create a joint federal firefighting aircraft service
    ◦ Consolidate predictive services into a national intelligence capability
• Strengthen interagency wildfire coordination and response
    ◦ Modernize and right-size qualifications and training
    ◦ Standardize the Emergency Firefighter Program
• Improve federal partnerships and reduce administrative burden
    ◦ Streamline cooperative agreements
    ◦ Establish a joint contracting, procurement and payment center
• Ensure wildfire research, technology, and IT investments are mission-ready
    ◦ Build a modern, cohesive Wildfire Enterprise IT System
    ◦ Modernize personal protective equipment standards to better safeguard firefighters
• Integrate pre- and post-fire activities into a complete wildfire strategy
    ◦ Deploy a unified wildfire risk mapping tool
    ◦ Establish a consistent Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation framework
    ◦ Expand beneficial use of biomass and residual forest products

I wanted to be able to share a little more about this new plan and I thank my friends at the B10 NJ Wildland Fire Page whereI found just what I was looking for yesterday when they shared the video I shared here.  The women in the video is knowledgeable about wildland firefighting. She discusses the new plan as well as some pros and cons. I think that her main audience in this and the other videos she posts are wildland firefighters and those interested in becoming wildland firefighters.I share this here because I am interested in what she shares about the new plan. As you know, I am not a wildland firefighter and have no opinions, pro or con, about this new plan. I will be interested in following how things unfold, pros and cons, after this new plan is implemented.

2025 Wildfire Season: Brownell Mt Brushfire Contained

On October 6th I wrote about the small wildfire on Brownell Mountain near Williston VT (ChittendenCounty) I was not able to find information about the containment of this brushfire. I was very happy that a large firefighting helicopter was based in Lebanon NH, just across the border from VT that aided wildland firefighters in fighting the brushfire. If you are interested in more information about this brushfire you might want to checkout this October 5th  facebook post from Northern/Central VT Fire Alerts, you will see information and comments while the brushfire was being fought, there is no containment information in that post. The good news is that the fire has been contained according to this October 6th article from The Hinesburg Record; according to this article

The fire covered an acre or so on top of the mountain. Steep terrain and waning daylight prompted a special request for a firefighting helicopter which was staged in Lebanon, NH.

Vermont Wildland Fire Specialist Devin Healy said that the helicopter, which dumped 2,000 gallons of water at a time, was unable to extinguish the fire but was essential in keeping it from spreading.

At the time that article was written no one could say for sure how the brushfire on Brownell Mountain was started but it may have been started by humans. 

2025 Wildfire Season: Small Brushfire on Brownell MT (Williston VT)

Direct link to October 5th video from WCAX Channel 3 News on YouTube

Obtained from Google Earth on October 6th.

I was very interested in the video that my friends at the B10 NJ Wildfire Page shared on their website earlier today, thank-you! Being somewhat familiar with Vermont though less familiar with the area where this small brushfire burned on Brownell Mountain in Williston VT, I wanted to share the video with you. Brownell Mountain is 850 feet in elevation. 

If you have watched this short video then you know that the fire is about an acre in size and was started sometime on Saturday, October 4th. I was pleased to know from the video that the large firefighting helicopter, a SkyCrane, that is based in Lebanon NH to help northern New England during a very dry summer. Expectations were that the fire would be fully contained by Sunday evening, October 5th, I have not been able to ascertain if this brushfire is indeed contained. As the brushfire is in a hard to reach area on Brownell Mountain, the assistance of the Skycrane made a huge difference in assisting the firefighters on the ground work the brushfire. In addition, see this October 5th news report from WCAX. Kudos to the all the firefighters who are working this brushfire to keep everyone safe.

Winter Maintenance of Firefighting Aircraft is Important

Direct link to July 2025 video from Airborne Firefighters on YouTube

I was looking around for something related to aerial firefighting to share with you today, when I came across the above video from Airborne Firefighters dated July 12, 2025. This video provides a behind the scene look at CAL FIRE's winter maintenance. While specific to the winter maintenance ofCAL FIRE's aircraft, this video gave me a glimpse into what might happen in the winter maintenance of any firefighting aircraft. I learned something and perhaps some of you will also learn something as well. Enjoy!

As an aviation enthusiast I know the importance of regular maintenance of any type of aircraft to keep the aircraft, pilots, and any passengers safe. In addition, if an aircraft crashes their is always the risk of damage to infrastructure on the ground, including buildings as well as injuries or death of people on the ground. From time to time I have shared about aircraft maintenance and inspections.

US Forest Service: temporary assignment of helicopter to New Hampshire

Direct link to September 29th video from WMUR TV on YouTube

Obtained from Google Earth on October 1st.

Obtained on October 3rd from https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/

I noted this September 19th report in the Concord Monitor that after weeks of drought in New Hampshire that the National Weather Service designated the State of New Hampshire as being in high risk of wildfires. As someone who used to vacation in northern New England, I am familiar with the White Mountains having done some day hikes on Mt. Washington in my younger days. I am also interested in when the U.S. Forest Service assigns helicopters or air tankers to the eastern United States. So when I noted that the U.S. Forest Service has temporarily assigned a fire fighting helicopter to New Hampshire I knew that I had to write this post. The helicopter will be based at Lebanon Municipal Airport until drought conditions improve and there is no longer a high risk of wildfires.