2020 wildfire season: IMET deployments (September 1 to September 7)

With the continued ramp up in the wildfire season in the western United States, the National Weather Service Incident Meteorologists have been busy. According to the NWS IMET Facebook Page, as of September 4th, a total of 51 IMETs have been deployed to 73 separate incidents. I am going to list IMET deployments for the last week, from September 1st to September 7th, follow the links to the NWS IMET Facebook Page for more information and more links about each fire:

September 1

• North Complex Fire near Crescent Mills, CA
• Hidden Fire near Gisela, AZ
• Slink Fire near Coleville, CA

September 2

• Beachie Creek Fire near Detroit, OR
• Lionshead Fire near Warm Springs, OR

September 3

• Butte Lightning Complex near Oroville, CA
• Red Salmon Complex near Denny, CA

September 4

• Lofer Fire near Whiteriver, AZ
• Pine Gulch Fire near Grand Junction, CO (an IMET trainee)

September 5

• El Dorado Fire near Oak Glen, CA

September 6

• Valley Fire near Clovis, CA
• Creek Fire near Shaver Lake, CA

September 7

• East Fork Fire near Hanna, UT
• August Complex near Elk Creek, CA (an IMET trainee)

I am very thank-full for the good work that IMETs do to provide the best possible weather forecasts to the incident they are assigned to. IMETs keep wildland firefighters safe. IMETs save lives!

Note: IMET Trainees work with an IMET who is already assigned to the fire.

2020 wildfire seasons: air tankers in action (Aug 14th) over Grizzly Creek Fire CO

 I found a nice video to share with you uploaded on August 14, 2020 to Youtube of airtankers in action over the Grizzly Creek Fire in the White Mountain National Forest near Glenwood Springs, Colorado. The video is just under five minutes. I should warn you that there is one instance of colorful language near the beginning of the video, if that bothers you you may want to mute the sound. I hope that I have correctly identified the tankers that ou will will see in the video: MD-87s from Aero Air, a P-3 on exclusive use contract with Colorado, an RJ85 from Aero Flite, a DC-10 tanker from 10 Tanker, and a BAe-146 from Neptune Aviation and a couple of Single Engine Air Tankers (SEATs). Enjoy.

Direct link to video on Youtube

2020 wildfire season: SEAT on initial attack in Wyoming

 Thanks to my friend at the NJFFS Section B10 and their newly redesigned website who now posts fire videos of current interest on their home page (changes daily). Late last week they shared a nice video, just under five minutes of a Single Engine Airtanker (SEAT) flying initial attack on the Brandel wildfire, a smaller wildfire in southeast Wyoming. I was intrigued about the video of this SEAT (T-889) flying initial attack on this fire with great videography that intrigued me, so I knew I had to write about this video. Here are a couple of images from Google Earth to provide a geographic reference.

Actually, there is not much that I can say about this wildfire. The video was uploaded on August 13 over the Brandel Fire which burned 60 miles south east of Casper Wyoming. I did an internet search and *think* I found a short article about the Brandel fire on Oil City News (August 7th) that provided a couple pieces of additional information: the fire started on August 7th and burned 168 acres near Wheatland, WY at the time the article was written. I have no further information on this fire. From watching the video (there are some radio communications), it appears that in addition to T-889, three other SEATS flew initial attack on this fire: T-832, T-862, and T-864. In addition, it appears that two helicopters were working the fire.

If I am correct in reading the credits at the end of the video, T-889 and 832 are based at the Casper (WY) SEAT Base, that is at the Casper/Natrona County International Airport. In addition to hosting a SEAT Base, the airport also hosts a base to support Large Airtankers, see this August 4th Facebook post for more information.

Direct link to video by High Speed Productions on Youtube

2020 wildfire season: Sand Creek Fire (near Pagosa Springs, Colorado)

On June 19,  a US National Weather Service IMET from the NWS Office in Cheyenne Wyoming was deployed to the Sand Creek Fire burning in the San Juan National Forest near Pagosa Springs, Colorado. At the time I am writing this article, the Sand Creek Fire has burned 65 acres in a very remote area that was previously burned in 2012. According the incident overview on the Sand Creek Fire's Inciweb's page:

The Sand Creek fire was started by lightning and first reported on June 15th, 2020. It is located 21 miles northwest of Pagosa Springs, in the Piedra Special Management Area. It is currently estimated at 65 acres in size and is burning within an area previously burned during the Little Sand Fire of 2012. Smokejumpers parachuted into the fire area on June 16th. After assessing the fire on the ground, the decision was made not to engage due to hazardous snags (standing dead/damaged trees), heavy fuel loads, and difficult terrain.

Retardant drops by tankers have been made on this fire, see this June 22nd news release on Inciweb  and this June 22nd report from KRQE in Albuquerque New Mexico.

There are maps, videos, and photographs available from links on the Sand Creek Fire's Inciweb's page.

I am intrigued by this seemingly small fire because of the challenges that this wildfire has posed and because of the role of tankers and other aviation assets have played. I understand that there is a risk of more lightning on June 24th in the fire area. I do not know if the IMET that was deployed on June 19th is still onsite providing incident specific weather forecasts, if so then the IMET is providing an important service. 

2018 wildfire season: 416 fire (Durango CO)

As I was preparing to write today's blog article, I knew that I wanted to share a crew video that highlights the work of a hotshot crew that worked the 416 fire. I'll share that video below, but first a little about the 416 fire. The 416 fire started on June 1, 2018 about 10 miles north of Durango, CO. the fire was contained on or about July 31st but at the time the interior of the fire was still smoldering. The fire burned 54,129 acres. As I understand there is yet no official cause of the fire, that report will be released sometime late this year. For more information about the containment of this fire read this July 31st Durango Herald Article. The Inciweb page on the 416 fire is still up as I write this, I am not sure how long the page will be accessible. Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today wrote a few articles on the 416 fire, including references to other wildfires, that burned in Colorado this past summer, go here (416 tag) for those articles. Finally while the 416 fire may be contained, there remains danger from debris flows and flash flooding to the area and area surrounding the 416 fire burn scar.  There has been at least one round of heavy rains that lead to mudslides in and near the area burned by the 416 fire, you may read about it hear in a July 17th Denver Post article.


Direct link to video uploaded by Hank Blum

NJ Forest Fire Service 2018 crews and engine deployment (Aug 8th)

For the past few days I have been posting about the NJ Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) crews and type 4 enginse that are deployed in the western United States, see for example my August 4th update, my update on August 6th on NJS#2, and my update on August 6th about the two type-4 engines at BLM Elko Nevada Wells Fire Station. To the best of my knowledge the status of these resources are unchanged.

• NJS#2 continues to work the Red Canyon Fire (5,766 acres at 88 percent containment) that is burning 30 miles south of Rangely, Colorado. This crew was deployed on July 27th. Rains over the weekend helped to increase the containment of this fire.
• To the best of my knowledge, NJFFS type 4 engines A29 and T5 and car 37 continue to be staged at the Wells Fire Station in the BLM Elko (Nevada) District. I think but am not sure that they do not have an assignment as I write this and may be working initial attack out of the the Elko Interagency Dispatch Center (see this August 7th post from the NJFFS A2 Firefighters Association Facebook Page
• NJFFS type 4 engines B45 and T9 and an unknown support vehicle continue to work the Carr Fire burning near Redding, California (173,522 acres at 47 percent containment). I am sure that many of you have seen various media reports about this fire, here are two links I thought you might enjoy, one is a video and slide show from express.co.uk in the United Kingdom and the second are some photos of the California wildfires from space (Space.com)

For all of my friends from the NJFFS who are working these fires or working initial attack at Elko, thank-you for all you do. I am glad that you are helping out. That is what mutual aid is all about. While New Jersey has not recently had any fires requiring mutual aid from out of state, we have had several weather events that lead to massive power failures, where utility crews came from across the United States to help us.  

NJ Forest Fire Service 2018 crew deployment (Aug 6th): NJS#2 at Red Canyon Fire

The NJS#2 (New Jersey Forest Fire Service) crew continues to work the Red Canyon Fire (5,766 acres, 74 percent containment), 30 miles south of Rangely, Colorado. According to today's Interagency Resource Representative Crew Report from the Eastern Area Coordination Center they are assigned to Division G doing hotspotting; digging, securing, and holding line. A friend of mine from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJFFS), Division A was kind enough to send me some photos from the Red Canyon Fire and the Spike Camp where NJS#2 is staying while not on the fireline. The photos are courtesy of Roger Kirchner, NJFFS Division A District Fire Warden.

Thank-you NJS#2 crew for working the Red Canyon Fire, you honor New Jersey with your service and I am proud of you. Stay safe.

NJ Forest Fire Service 2018 crew and engine deployment (Aug. 1st)

I am still interested in following New Jersey Forest Fire Service crews and engines deployed to wildfires in the Western United States. I was aware, thanks to my friends at the B10 NJ Wildland Fire Page and the NJFFS A2 Firefighters Association Facebook Page (NJFFS A2) (see for example this post on the crew deployed to the Red Canyon Fire in Colorado and a post about two more engines currently enroute to Idaho).

Knowing that the New Jersey Forest Fire Service has crews and engines deployed or on their way to work wildfires out west, I was looking for one place where I could find information to share with you. I poked around on the Eastern Area Coordination Center website and found a resource summary (dated August 1st) that lists all crews and engines from the eastern area that are committed to wildfires outside the eastern area. I suspect that this page is updated daily while resources are deployed outside the area, so what you see may be different. Engines and crews from New Jersey deployed outside the eastern area are:

• NJS#2 crew currently working the Red Canyon Fire 30 miles south of Rangely CO, 3,075 acres (pictures and August 1st update from NJFFS A2)
• Two Type 4 engines and crew from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service arrived in California sometime on July 30th and are assigned to the Carr Fire (near Redding CA), for a photo taken of one of the NJFFS engines see this post August 1st post from the NJFFS A2. 115,538 acres burned at 35 percent containment. Structures destroyed: 1,018 residences, 12 commercial, and 435 outbuildings. Evacuations remain in place. Two firefighters and four civilians have died.
• Finally, there are two more type 4 engines from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service that left New Jersey on July 31st to work the Sharps Fire near Bellevue, Idaho (38,360 acres at 21 percent containment). As of early afternoon on August 1st they were in Elkhard, Indiana refueling (from NJFFS A2).

I am honored that these wonderful men and women from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service, and their engines (as applicable) are helping fight these wildfires out west. I am proud of all of you. Stay safe. 

NJ Forest Fire Service 2018 Crew Deployment: July 27th to CA and CO

The crew from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service that spent some time in Utah fighting wildfires, including but not necessarily limited to time spent fighting the Dollar Ridge Fire in Utan (see my July 13th article) is now back in New Jersey. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank this crew, which I believe was called NJS#1 (New Jersey State Crew # 1) for their service. I understand that they also worked widlfires in Idaho, Nevada, and Texas. I am proud that you represented New Jersey in helping our friends out west fight wildfires. More importantly that you came home safely to your family and friends. Thank-you.

On Friday, July 27th a second crew from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJS#2) left from Newark-Liberty International and Philadelphia International bound for Colorado on what is expected to be a two-week assignment. As I understand it this crew was initially deployed to the Lake Christine Fire (Basalt, Colorado) that has burned 12,588 acres and is at 82 percent containment. According to the July 29th Eastern Area Interagency Resource Representative (IARR) Crew Report from the Eastern Area Coordination Center (updated daily while eastern area crews are out on assignment), the crew from New Jersey was demobilized from the Lake Christine Fire and on July 29th and was being deployed to the Whiskey Creek Fire (Baxter, CO). I understand that the Whiskey Creek Fire is a new start, so I am not surprised that I have not been able to find any information on this fire. I will do my best with the resources available to me, to find information on the Whiskey Creek fire and will update you at that time.

Also on Friday, July 27th two New Jersey Forest Fire Service engine crews left Friday afternoon July 27th to drive to California where they are expected to help out with the Carr Fire burning near Redding, California (98,724 acres at 20 percent containment). Two firefighters have died, and I understand from media reports that three civilians from the same family have died. Over 700 structures have been destroyed. Mandatory evacuations are in place. Images from Carr Fire, KRCR ABC7, Update from KRCR, Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today on Carr Fire (July 29th with links to his earlier articles)

I say again, that I am proud of the NJFFS crews that are currently working the Whiskey Creek Fire in Colorado and for our two engine crews heading to help fight the Carr Fire. State safe.

For more information on the New Jersey Forest Fire Service crew deployments out west on July 27th see this press release.

Please, please evacuate if you receive a mandatory evacuation order.

NJ Forest Fire Service 2018 Crew Deployment: Dollar Ridge Fire (UT)

I wrote the other day about what I believe is the first New Jersey Forest Fire Crew (NJS#1) to be deployed to wildfires in other parts of the United States. If you are like me and you wonder if your State has a crew deployed to other parts of the Country, you can go to the Geographic Area Coordination Center National Website Portal and find your local coordination center. In my case, this is the Eastern Area Coordination Center (EACC). Where you go next and the name of the document with crew deployment depends on how the website for your local coordination center is set up. In my case the page that I am looking for is under crews where I am looking for a document called Interagency Resource Representative  Report (IARR). The IARR, updated daily while crews are deployed out of the region, lists crews deployed outside the region. Most crews are listed starting with their two character abbreviation.

So, I know that today New Jersey has one crew, NJS#1 deployed outside the region, to the Dollar Ridge Fire. If possible, I want to know about the wildfire where the crew from my state is deployed. If the wildfire that your crew is deployed to is on federal land, that it will be listed on inciweb. Knowing the name of your fire, you can use the drop down box on the top right to locate the fire you are interested in or find the icon on the interactive map.

I am interested in the Dollar Ridge Fire, which may be found on this inciweb page. I know that the Dollar Ridge has now burned 56,687 acres and is at 60 percent containment. You may look at individual pages for information, announcements, closures, news, photographs, and maps. I usually start by looking at a map to get a geographic perspective. I found two maps of interest, both shared below. I also like to look at the photograph page, in this case there is some very fine fire photography, photos of helicopters, photos of crews, etc.

Dollar Ridge Public Information (7/13/18) obtained on 7/13/18 from https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/maps/5881/

Dollar Ridge Fire Evacuation Areas (7/13/18) obtained on 7/13/18 from https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/maps/5881/

Finally, I try to find out some more specifics of what the crew from my state is doing. This might be more difficult. In my case, there are some social media websites where I can find information about what the NJFFS crews are up to. You might try Facebook or Twitter or even local media. In any event, I was fortunate to find some posts from one of the crew members of the NJS#1 crew on the Facebook Page for the NJFFS Section A2 Firefighters Association. The latest update was posted late on July 12th. The crew spent yesterday working on creating firelines, among other tasks, in preparation for burnout operations that are scheduled for today (dependent on weather conditions). There are some nice photos from a July 11th post.

NJ Forest Fire Service Crews 2018 Deployments

The New Jersey Forest Fire Service has a crew, NJS#1, deployed to the Dollar Ridge Fire (Duchesne, Utah). Current information on crews deployed from the Eastern Area Coordination Center (EACC), including New Jersey, may be found on the EACC Interagency Resource Representative (IARR) Report, updated daily when crews are deployed to other parts of the country. According the EACC, the New Jersey crew is currently deployed (July 11th) to Division W constructing indirect fireline and is getting hot meals at spike camp.

As I write this on July 11th, the Dollar Ridge Fire has burned 52,256 acres and is at 50 percent containment. The fire was caused by humans. On July 5th, an IMET trainee from the NWS Fairbanks, Alaska was deployed to the fire (see this Facebook Post from the NWS IMET. The fact that an IMET trainee was deployed to this fire means that an IMET was already working the fire.

Some short videos for your enjoyment. Thanks to the crew from New Jersey helping fight the Dollar Ridge fire, stay safe.


Direct link to video on Youtube (July 4th)


Direct link to video from 97.1 ZHT on Youtube


Direct link to video from 97.1 ZHT on Youtube

More on IMETs and the 416 Fire (CO)

I wrote about the deployment of National Weather Service (NWS) Incident Meteorologists (IMET) on June 11th, on of the IMET deployments was to the 416 Fire burning near Durango Colorado. As I write this the 416 Fire has burned 34,161 acres in the San Juan National Forest and is at 30 percent containment. Thanks to my friends on the NWS IMET Facebook Page, I found out about two articles on the IMET that was working the 416 Fire on or about June 14th. The first article with a video is from 9News Denver Colorado, you may have to disable any ad blockers you are using to read this content. I am embedding the News9 video report below. The video report is only a couple of minutes long, you will see the IMET, Jeff Colton, deploy a video, talk about the twice a day weather briefings he makes to the firefighters. Colton also talks about how he tracks storms and other dangerous weather that might affect the firefighters, and notifying firefighters of dangerous emergent weather conditions.

There is also an article on the Denver Post (you may have to disable your ad blocker on this site to view the report) about IMET Jeff Coltons work on the 416 Fire, go here to read the article. This article has a nice photo gallery along with a map of wildfires burning in the Western United States. The reporter who wrote this article, Kirk Mitchell, talked to Jamie Knight of the Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team about the importance of IMET Colton's work providing weather forecasts and briefings for the firefighters:

Jamie Knight, spokeswoman for the Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team, said Colton’s work is all the more critical to firefighting efforts particularly with an approaching storm. 

Firefighters on the lines were cautioned about the storm, to take particular close attention to wind speed and directional changes. “We asked them to keep their heads up,” Knight said.

The storm could generate an unpredictable outflow wind gusting up to 40 mph, she said.“It increases the danger. To date, we’re pretty proud there have not been any houses lost or serious injury incidents,” Knight said.

There is a nice article about IMETs from the National Weather Service, "Eyes on the Sky: A Day in the Life of an Incident Meteorologist (IMET) on the Front Lines of a Wildfire", please take a few moments to read the article, with some photos and some comments from NWS IMETs about their experiences working wildfires.

Hayden Pass Fire, July 25 (Coaldale CO)

I wrote about the Hayden Pass Fire that is burning in Coaldale (Fremont County), Colorado on July 13th. As I write this, according to the latest update from the Hayden Pass Fire Inciweb Page, the fire has burned 16,520 acres, much of the acreage burned is in the Pike And San Isabel National Forests and is now at 55 percent containment. As some of you know, active fire information on Inciweb is updated periodically while the wildfire is burning, so the information that I am reporting here may not be current. I was interested to see that the wildfire had grown by a little more than 4,000 acres since I last wrote about the wildfire on July 13th.

On or about July 23rd, an Interagency Burned Area Emergency Response was sent to the Pike And San Isabel National Forests  to begin work on a burned area survey, see the Hayden Pass Post-Fire BAER page on Inciweb for current information.

I don't know about you, but I find it useful to look at maps showing a wildfire perimeter, especially when you can see some of the nearby roads. Here is a map showing the fire perimeter on July 21st.

Obtained on July 25, 2016 from http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/photos/COPSF/2016-07-10-2348-Hayden-Pass-Fire/picts/2016_07_22-10.50.59.473-CDT.jpeg

Mandatory evacuations were in place for residents near the fire perimeter (County Road 45 and County Road 6). Mandatory evacuations were lifted for County Road 45 residents on July 19 while evacuated residents of County Road 6 were allowed to re-entry on July 21st.

There are some videos (daily reports) and photographs that you may access on the Hayden Pass Fire Inciweb page.

I read a nice article with a video on FoxNews21 (July 18th) about the base camp set up for the Hayden Pass Fire.

I was interested in some of the aircraft that have and continue to work this fire. I understand from the July 22-23rd report on the Hayden Pass Fire Inciweb page that as of July 25th two helicopters (one large and one small) are at an airport close to the fire to provide support.  I found the video of a Chinook Helicopter that I am embedding below from the Hayden Pass Fire Facebook Page (I believe this is publicly available, but I could not get the direct link to video that they posted on July 25th to work).



Here are some links to photos of some of the aircraft that worked the fire.

Kaman K-Max waiting for duty and her bucket
Chinook taking off from Salida Helibase
Airtanker (very large airtanker?) dropping
Helicopter and bucket
Bill Gabbert of Fire Aviation shared a nice photo from Weston Burch of DC-10 Tanker 912 dropping, and for those of you following the Sand Fire, Bill Gabbert also shared a nice video of a DC-10 Tanker dropping in the aforementioned article.

Hayden Pass Fire, July 13th (Coaldale CO)

As I was making my rounds earlier today of today's wildfire news, I noted the Hayden Pass Fire that has burned 12,193 acres near Coaldale, Colorado. The fire started on July 8th and was probably caused by natural events. It is not contained. As usual, Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today has been covering this fire with some photos taken from space with a thread on the Hayden Pass Fire that he has been updating, last update on July 13th. I check Bill's blog at least once a day to see the latest wildfire news, including his reports on wildfires.

Here are a couple of nice videos about the fire that I found.

Last night (July 12),  Denver 7 - The Denver Channel had a report on the Hayden Pass Fire. There was an interview with an artist who has lived near Hayden Pass for thirty years and has to leave behind some art work in the event of an evacuation. He has most of his art work in the back of his van.


Direct link to video

Here is a nice video of some images of the smoke from the Hayden Pass Fire. The smoke is in the background, with photos of the local area.


Direct link to video

West Fork Complex (CO)

I just came across this footage of the West Fork Complex (CO) wildfires from Hon Schlapfer on Vimeo. The description below the video is from Hon Schalpfer. If you have trouble viewing the video in your browser (e.g Chrome for one), click on the link below that says West Fork Complex and you will be taken to the Vimeo page.

West Fork Complex from Hon schlapfer on Vimeo.
One for the record books! June 13-24 2013
Started as ICT3 20 acres in the Wiminuche wilderness San Juan National Forest.Fire ran to 5,000 acres called NIMO Team. west Fork Jumped the continental divide, closed HWY 160,evacuated the town of South Fork,Got the call to get over to the Papoose fire,Evacuated town, found missing Boy Scout troop, and thanks to some solid folks we saved every house...

More wildfires in Colorado

direct link to video and a news report from ABC7 News - The Denver Channel

Knowing that there are a number of large wildfires burning in Colorado, I went to ABC7 News - The Denver Channel to look at their coverage. As I write this, they have a "fire alert news page" with maps, videos, pictures, etc. of the wildfires currently burning in Colorado. I was especially intrigued by the video that I embedded because of an interesting interview with Craig Heule of the Rocky Mountain Management Team where Mr. Heule discusses some of the difficulties and attendant safety concerns with aerial attack on these fires.  Wildfire Today has been reporting on the Colorado Fires here. 

Finally, Paul Filmer (photographer - skippyscage) just wrote an article with some spectacular photos of aerial assets that worked some of the earlier June wildfires in Colorado. Paul's article may be found on Global Aviation Resource. He has some great photos of a SEAT, CH-47 and UH-60 helos and buckets, MAFFS, P-2V tankers, and a DC-10 tanker.

DC-10 tanker working Doce Fire (Prescott AZ)

CBS 5 - KPHO
direct link to video from KPHO-CBS5

A nice 4 minute video of one of the DC-10 tankers dropping on the Doce Fire (link to inciweb, may be slow loading) that is currently burning near Prescott Arizona. There is some very nice audio to go along with the video. Stay safe everyone!

Reflections on following wildfires on the radio

I was out of town for a few days last week and away from easy access to the internet access. So, I lost the ease of access to the internet to follow news in the business of aerial wildland firefighting. However, I did have a radio. I believe it was last Wednesday when I first heard about the Black Forest Fire (north of Colorado Springs CO) on an hourly news report on National Public Radio. What did I know from these reports? I knew that there were many evacuations and some residences had been destroyed. I knew that there were fires burning in four states, including Colorado. As the week wore on, the number of residences destroyed increased and I knew that large numbers of people were under mandatory evacuation. 

Finally, on Friday evening I made a point to listen to a longer news show on NPR and heard a slightly longer report that explicitly referred to air tankers working the fire. By this time, I knew from news reports that there were two deaths and that large numbers of folk remained under mandatory evacuations.

However, while my first hand knowledge of this fire was limited I knew that the Black Forest Fire was a major fire with a large number of destroyed buildings and at least two deaths. I figured that airtankers and hells were working the fire, and it turns out that my suspicions were correct. I found my thoughts turning to all of the ground crews, tanker and help pilots and supporting crews who were working the fire. I knew that the deaths saddened all concerned. I knew that no ground or aerial wildland firefighter likes to lose houses. 

And while I was reliant, for the most part, on NPR for news, I thought back to the summer of 2008 when I was again away from the internet and reliant on NPR for news. I had finished writing in my blog about my trip to Malawi and was struggling a bit about what to write about next. I heard many news reports on NPR about a fire that was burring in southern California not far from where a couple of friends of mine lived. I started writing about that fire and about my process of learning about the world of wildland firefighting. A few months later, I began writing about aerial wildland firefighting. And here I am five years later. Only this time, when I heard reports about the Black Forest Fire, I had an idea based on what I was hearing on the radio, about what all of you wonderful ground and aerial wildland firefighters were doing. 

And just as important, even though the other wildfires that were then burning were not "named", I knew that there were other ground crews and other tankers and helos working other wildfires in other states.

Stay safe out there.

I am sharing a video that Mike Archer of the Fire Bomber Publications Blog shared last Thursday, June 13th. You will see some video of last Wednesday's (June 12) air attack operations on the Black Forest Fire. I'm not sure if the embed code works so you may not see the video below, if not here is a direct link to video and report from kdvr.

CV 580 working June 2012 Colorado Wildfire

This is a video from Paul Filmer taken from the nose of one of Conair's CV580's working one of a wildfire in Colorado in June 2012. You will see the take-off, following the bird dog (lead plane) to extend a retardant drop and the landing. Paul has a webpage for the High Park and Springer Fires (CO) including some absolutely stunning galleries of his photographs of aerial operations.

Thank-you Wildland Firefighters (Waldo Canyon Fire)

I was just wondering the internet and came upon a video (the first video embedded below)  of a Colorado community thanking the wildland firefighters who fought the Waldo Canyon Fire that burned 18,247 acres in Colorado in June 2012. However, I think that the thanks and tributes expressed here apply to the good work all of you who are wildland firefighters on the ground, in the air, and the various support staff.

Thank-you wildland firefighters and stay safe!






Note: in the second tribute video, you will see a photo of an Aero Union P-3, T-00. At the time I write this, Aero Union's P-3's have not flown fires since the US Forest Service cancelled the P-3 contracts in 2011 and was not flying the Waldo Canyon Fire. However, the photo of T-00 is a tribute to the work that all tankers do on wildfires in support of ground troops!