SEATs in action - hydromuching

Speaking of SEATs, I ran across this nice two part video on SEATs on youtube the other day. I thought that they looked familiar, but it wasn't tell I was well into watching part 1 that the lightbulb went off and I remembered when I had seen them. It was when I was writing a series of articles about sixteen months ago on hydromulching and I included these videos in the series. They are well worth watching again. The video shows five SEATs doing hydromulching operations as a part of post-fire recovery after the Angora Fire.

wrapping up BAER and hydromulching, and what's next

As I sit here in the early stages of yet another snow event affecting the mid-Atlantic region, I have been wondering how I was going to wrap up this series of posts on burned area emergency response (BAER) and aerial hydromulching operations. I'm not sure that I have all that much to say. For I think that the videos that I embedded speak for themselves.

That being said, I find myself thinking that aerial wildland firefighting often times does not stop with tankers dropping retardant or water-foam on wildfires. In some areas where the burn has been severe and/or erosion can be a real problem, aircraft such as the AT-802 and the Erickson Air Crane perform an important role in post-fire rehabilitation. So, as time goes on, I will periodically revisit BAER progress after wildland fires, including but not necessarily limited to aerial hydromulching operations.

As for what's next, I have continued to correspond with Larry Kraus, pilot-in-command of tanker -62, one of Butler Aircraft's DC-7 tankers that will be under contract with the Oregon Dept. of Forestry later this year. I'll be make a few more posts on the DC-7 tanker next week into early the following week. Stay tuned!

Hydromulching: k-max

I enjoyed this short video of the Kaman K-Max helicopter performing hydromulch operations on Starky Slope near Parachute, Colorado. According to the information on youtube, the area being hydromulched is over or near a pipeline owned by Williams Gas. While it appears that this particular hydromulching operation may not be related post-fire rehabilitation, it does suggest that the K-max helicopter can be used in Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) related hydromulching operations

Hydromulching: Erickson Aircrane

This is a slightly shorter version of a video from Erickson Air Crane showing how the "Crane is used in hydromulching operations. The footage shown is of hydromuclhing operations of Griffith Park after a 2007 wildfire. The complete version of the video may be viewed at this location, you will have to scroll down and select the "hydroseeding" video.

Hydromulching: BAER for 2002 Hayman Fire (CO)

To wrap up, for now, these articles on BAER and hydromulching, I am posting some information about the Burned Area Emergency Response, in particular hydromulching, after the 2002 Hayman Fire in Colorado, the largest fire in Colorado history. This human caused fire burned 137,000 acres southwest of Denver. Before moving to the BAER efforts, please take eight to nine minutes and watch the video that I embedded, a compilation of photos from the North Fork (CO) Volunteer Fire Department.

A map of the area burned by the Hayman Fire and rehabilitation areas may be found here.

The International Erosion Control Association reports on their efforts in hydromulching in an article with pictures that may be found here. Note that the Erickson Air Crane was used in these hydromulching operations. There is also a picture vegetation returning after seven growing seasons to an area that was burned in 1996.

There is some good information on some specific BAER efforts from the Coalition for the Upper South Platte with details on aerial and ground operations, and some links to some links to some videos (at the bottom of the webpage) that may be found here, and you might want to check out the Hayman Fire burn severity map.

A 2003 article from cyberwest magazine with more information about hydromulching and other aspects of BAER for the Hayman burn may be found here.

November 19, 2015: Many of the URLs that I included when I first wrote the artcile are no longer active. I have crossed out the references to the invalid links.

Angora Fire Recovery Aerial Hydromulch (part 2)

Angora Fire Recovery Aerial Hydromulch

This is the first of a two part video showing aerial hydromulching operations after the Angora Fire. Five AT-802's were used in these hydromulching operations, flying over 3,200 loads of hydromulch. In addition to watching the hydromulching operations you will see some nice footage of the AT-802 in action.

Enjoy! I will post part 2 in my next post.

More on hydromulch: Jesusita Fire

In this video you will find out more about what hydromulch is, why it works, and how it is loaded onto the AT-802.

Hydromulching: Jesusita Fire

The Jesusita Fire burned over 8,700 acres in Santa Barbara County, California in May of 2009. Last fall Santa Barbara County and Los Padres National Forest performed aerial hydromulching operations on areas burned by the fire. Simply, hydromulch -- one component of the Burned Area Emergency Response -- is applied to burned areas to prevent damage from erosion and runoff during the time it takes for new plant life to grow back.

Information on Santa Barbara County's hydromulching, that took place last September may be found here, including an FAQ page with more information on hydromulch, some photos of hydromulch, a map of the Jesusita fire hydromulch areas, and a link to the you tube video that I embedded here.

Information on the USFS hydromulching applications in areas burned by the Jesusita Fire in Los Padres National Forest may be found here.

And speaking of the Air Tractor 802A, you will see in the video that the AT-802 was used for hydromulching. I enjoyed watching these AT-802A's go through their paces.

I'll be embedding some more videos of aerial hydromulching applications later this week, so stay tuned.

November 19, 2015: Unfortunately, all of the links with the exception of the embedded youtube video are inactive (or dead links).