About Precision Helicopters Wildfire Fighting Operations

Direct link to August 5th video by Vertical Plus and Lloyd H Photography on YouTube

2017 fire season: Cascade Initial Attack Handcrew

Today I am embedding a video from the Cascade Initial Attack Handcrew where they highlight their 2017 fire season. I don't exactly know where this Handcrew is based, perhaps they are based in the Pacific Northwest. Before you watch this video, I thought that you might want to read a brief summary of what handcrews do:

Handcrews are the infantry of wildland firefighting forces. Crews of 18 - 20 men and women use hand tools such as pulaskis and shovels to cut containment lines into the soil around a fire. Handcrews eliminate hotspots, so new fires won't start, and monitor unburned areas to make sure sparks don't jump the line and start new fires. Handcrews also work to reduce fire risks by removing flammable vegetation from wildland areas. These firefighters are in excellent physical condition. They may spend 12 hours or more working on the fire perimeter. A typical work day for a handcrew is filled with dirt, smoke, heat, and cold (obtained from USFS Fire and Aviation, Firefighters on the Ground on February 9, 2018)

Allow under nine minutes to watch the video. You will see some footage of helicopters working wildfires. Beautiful country!


Direct link to video on Youtube 

Initial Attack Revisited

Just last week I was talking to one of my new friends in Canada who used to fly fires north of the U.S. border. We were talking about flying initial attack in Canada, at least when he was flying fires. As soon as a smoke was spotted, often from a tower, the call would go out to the nearest tanker base and a group of tankers and their bird dog would be dispatched. Sometimes the fire would be brought under control before the tankers arrived, so they would be called back to base. 

So, initial attack has been very much on my mind recently. This got me thinking about post that I have written on this blog devoted to initial attack. So I went back and looked. I found my first post devoted to initial attack, posted on May 24, 2009, where I wrote about air tankers and helicopters have a crucial role to play in initial attack. A friend of mine who is an experienced tanker pilot and a S-2T pilot for CAL FIRE told me about how CAL FIRE uses tankers and helicopters in initial attack. That is, these aerial resources are deployed as soon as possible to stop the spread until the ground troops can get there. The goal being to keep the fire size small, from 2 to 10 acres. I hope you take a few moments to go and read my post of May 24, 2009. 

On October 23, 2009, I wrote about a 10-acre brush fire just north of San Diego CA (with a link to report from San Diego's CBS affiliate) that had been knocked out in under two hours. Finally the last and most recent post devoted to initial attack was a sort of reflection piece where I wrote about two hypothetical initial attack scenarios, one if California and the other in an eastern State  (go here to see my post of April 27, 2011).

At the same time that I knew that I had to go back in my blog and find my earlier initial attack posts, I came across a short report from Fox5SanDiego from last Thursday (May 16) on a small brush fire in eastern San Diego County CA on a 10-acre brush fire. Two air tankers and two helicopters were deployed to fire along with 15 engines, 3 fire crews, a dozer, and a water tender. The fire was brought under control in approximately one hour, maybe a little more. This small fire is a great example of initial attack. I don't know the timing of what resources were deployed when, but the point here is that tankers and helos did supply aerial support to help the crews on the ground get the fire under control. 

I am sure that there were several similar examples of initial attack from the recent spring wildfire season in NJ. For example in late March and early April, I heard of tankers being deployed to small wildfires in NJ while listening to the online scanner. I have no media reports of these fires to share with you. These small fires don't always end up in the news. 

So, all of you flying initial attack and all of you ground pounders working initial attack, thank-you for all you do to keep us safe. And stay safe. LACES!

We don't always see the tankers (intial attack)

Someone sees a small fire, doesn’t matter how it started. Word goes out to the nearest CAL FIRE tanker base, a S-2T tanker and the OV-10 air attack plane are dispatched. The OV-10 arrives first followed in short order by the S-2T tanker. Air Attack communicates with the tanker pilot telling him where to make his first retardant drop, asking him to drop a half load. The tanker pilot flies his pattern and makes his drop. Around this time the wildland firefighters arrive and their incident commander (IC) communicates with Air Attack, discussing the fire. IC tells his crew where to start digging line and tells Air Attack where he wants the second drop, the tanker pilot drops what is left of his retardant as directed by Air Attack and the IC. The IC tells Air Attack that he wants the tanker to come back, doing what is known as a load and return (with more retardant). Air attack continues to circle overhead talking to the IC and talking to the tanker. The tanker returns, makes a couple of more drops as directed by Air Attack and the IC. One more load and return is ordered by Air Attack before Air Attack sends him back to base, satisfied the fire is near containment. Time elapsed maybe an hour or two. Maybe your only witness to your actions, aside from other aircraft and the crews on the ground, were those too far away to comprehend your mission.  I'm sure you got the attention of a Coyote or two as well.  Many of us don’t need to witness your call to duty, we already know. We silently celebrate your safe mission, and silently wait for your next call.

Red Flag warning in an eastern state at the beginning of the spring fire season. The Single Engine Air Tankers (SEATS) just went on contract, AT-602’s. A small fire in the woods, grasses and trees are burning. Wildland firefighters are dispatched along with the AT-602 from the nearest base. An acre maybe two. Winds are blowing, but not strong enough to ground the SEAT. Firefighters are concerned because the winds are favoring the fire moving to some difficult to access terrain. If that happens, the fire could blow up to something bigger. The Huey arrives with her bucket. The Huey and the Air Tractor make drops in strategic areas as designated by commanders to help the efforts of the firefighters on the ground. The firefighters back burn a couple of acres in hope that the fire can be stopped at the road. Helos work hotspots. Another SEAT arrives to help. Three or four hours later the fire is contained at 25 acres, including the burn out. Maybe your only witness to your actions, aside from other aircraft and the crews on the ground, were those too far away to comprehend your mission.  I'm sure you got the attention of a Deer or two as well.  Many of us don’t need to witness your call to duty, we already know. We silently celebrate your safe mission, and silently wait for your next call.

These are hypothetical examples of initial attack. The all important initial attack that often goes unnoticed. But not by me and not by many. I may not know all the incidents where you are flying initial attack. I don’t have to, for you were there, doing what you do best, working to support the firefighters on the ground to put out the fire.

kudos to initial attackers

A few months ago I wrote this post that I called Reflections on S-2T's, SEAT's and Initial Attack. I was speaking to the important work that CAL Fire's S-2T's and SEAT's on National or State/local contracts do to aid ground crews in putting out fires during the first hours after the fire is reported (aka initial attack). I need to add that helicopters, both those with buckets and well as type II helicopters with fixed tanks play an important roll in fighting fires in the initial attack phase.

I have written about specific large fires including campaign fires such as the Station Fire, but have not written much about these two to ten acres fires. So, I have been on the lookout for video footage of a such a fire, one that was contained within the first two to three hours. Earlier this week, there was a 10 acre brush fire in San Marcos, CA just north of San Diego (of unknown origin) that seemed to have been "knocked out" in under two hours. Helicopters and CAL FIRE S-2T's added ground crews in these efforts. I found out about this fire here, following the supplied link to this video footage shot from a San Diego's CBS8 news helicopter.

The video is just over 16 minutes. You will see several water/foam drops from what appears to be a fixed-tank type II helicopter. I saw a shot of a CAL Fire S-2T, tanker 88 fly by but did not see the drop (although I could of missed something). There are also shots of ground crews and engines working the fire.

Reflections, S-2T's, SEATs and initial attack

I love the light tankers (S-2T’s and single-engine air tankers) in a special way. Perhaps it is because I live in NJ, and I have grown to appreciate and the role that single-engine air tankers (SEATs) have in initial attack (and extended attack). And it is not only NJ that uses SEATs, many states contract for SEATs. In the case of NJ, I am aware that the majority of our wildland fires are small in size. I also know that during our spring season that the NJ Forest Fire service deployed SEATs and helicopters to fires that were only a couple of acres in size. I am aware of this because of a couple of websites that I have followed, not because of the media.

Some of you know that I got interested in wildland fire fighting last July because I have a couple of friends who lived in or near the area burned by the Basin Complex Fires. And I have written about a couple of other larger California fires. I have written about CAL FIRE’s S-2T’s. Up until now, I have neglected to write about the very important role the S-2T’s, a light tanker, play in initial attack. Until now when I want to focus on initial attack.

California has an impressive number of large fires that make national news. I don’t know the numbers, but most of California’s fires are small in size, being 2, 5, or 10 acres. I have recently engaged in an e-mail exchange with an experienced air tanker pilot who will be flying S-2T’s this year. He was telling me about the importance of initial attack in keeping fires small and manageable until ground crews can get in:

Regarding the use of tankers, the best tactic is initial attack. In initial attack, S-2T tankers and helicopters are deployed to the wildfire as soon as possible in order to stop the spread and hold until ground troops have access and put it out. The goal is to keep the fire small: 2, 5, 10 acres maximum so it is ‘easy’ to manage. Roughly ninety-seven percent of fires in California are put out this way. The public may not hear about it. But...if you're not aggressive enough you get behind the power curve and then get complicated fast (wind, fuel, terrain...).

I understand that things can get complicated, especially with the drought, sundowners and the Santa Ana winds. And the terrain. I get that. Sometimes initial attack is not going to keep the fire small. But most of the times it does. How many houses have been saved, lives saved? You light tanker pilots -- the workhorses of CAL FIRE, other State fire fighting agencies, and the national fleet -- what you do is special. I want you to know that.