Aircraft lift

I am moving on from writing about SEATs. I want to spend some time talking about retardants that airtankers -- SEATs and multi-engine airtankers -- drop on wildfires. But, before doing so, I need to spend some more time on the aerodynamics underlying “aircraft stalls” for reasons that I hope will be apparent in later posts. I will be spending a couple of weeks on this sequence of posts before I move on writing about multi-engine airtankers around the third week of March.

To review, I wrote about stall speed in my post of February 12:

“As I understand it from my correspondence with TL Stein, stall speed for an aircraft is the speed where the forward speed of the aircraft is not producing enough air flow over the wings to produce lift or support the airplane at its altitude.

When a pilot is landing an aircraft, the plane is just over stall speed.”

The engine provides the power or thrust to move the aircraft forward through the air, but it is the aerodynamic properties of the wings that provide the lift: chord, dihedral and anhedral, wing loading, and the shape of the top and bottom of the wing. The leading edge of the wing is thicker than the trailing edge. Recall that the flaps are usually on the trailing edge of the wing. The distance from the leading edge of the wing to the trailing edge of the wing is known as the chord.

Dihedral is the angle, usually upward of the wings of an aircraft in relation to the body of the aircraft. The wings of a bird also are dihedral. Anhedral are when the wings are at zero or negative dihedral. See this wikipedia article on dihedral for a more detailed explanation and some pictures.

Wingloading is the loaded weight of an aircraft divided by the wing area. TL Stein tells me that “the chord, length and ‘hedral aspects determine the amount of lift that can be generated by the wing for any given aircraft.

But, we are not done with lift yet. The standard wing design is a curved top and a smooth bottom, creating a high pressure area under the wings and a low pressure over the wings. TL Stein explains:

“the faster the air moves over the wing, the more lift is created. Air speed is in direct relation to lift. Lift enables flight. Lose lift and the aircraft sinks, When the forward airspeed no longer produces enough low pressure over the top of the wing to sustain flight . . . this is stall.”

SEAT air tanker bases

Before leaving SEATs and moving on to my next series of posts on stall speed, I want to briefly address the issue of SEAT (single engine air tanker) airbases. I obtained a copy of the 2008 Air Tanker Base Directory -- now outdated and no longer available on the web -- published by the US Forest Service. There are SEAT only bases in just about every region of the U.S. And many bases serve both multi-engine airtankers and SEATs. I did a very rough and not reliable count of the airtanker bases. There are a little over 100 bases, approximately 1/3rd are SEAT only bases, and just over half are authorized for SEAT and multi-engine airtankers.

Of course, there are likely to be many more SEAT bases that are not on this list I referred to such as those who have SEAT contracts with States, such as Downstown in New Jersey.

Reference

US Forest Service. 2008 Interagency Airtanker Base Directory (NFES # 2537), Good through December 1, 2008 (no longer available on the web).

More on Air Tractor and Leland Snow

At some point in the last couple of weeks, I learned about Leland Snow and his relationship to both the Air Tractor aircrafts and the Ayres Thrush. I mentioned in my entry on the Ayres Thrush SEAT that Leland Snow designed and built the Snow S2 airplanes, an early ancestor of the current Thrush Commander line of aircrafts.

As you can see from this history, after he sold his company to Rockwell-Standard in 1965, he was hired by Rockwell as Vice President where he worked on the S2-R models, aka the Thrush Commanders. In 1978, he quit Rockwell, went back to Olney Texas where he started out, and began building the Air Tractors. The first Air Tractor was the AT-300. In addition to the AT-802 models, Air Tractor builds the 401, 402, 502, and 602 models. Late last year, Air Tractor built their 300th AT-802F. These firefighting SEATs are fighting fires world wide from Croatia to South Africa to Australia to America.

Air Tractor is in the process of developing a larger model, called the AT-1002 with a 1060 gallon hopper. See this article for more information.

NJ Forest Fire Service Feb 09 activity

The New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) is near the end of their prescribed burning window. The NJFFS has a good webpage describing their prescribed burn program that may be found here. From what I understand this window ends around March. To date the NJFFS has done prescribed burns in about 9,000 acres in Central and Southern NJ. I have no information about prescribed burns that may be done in northern NJ. See this discussion thread on wildlandfire dot com for details. There is a good article about a prescribed burn in Stafford Township NJ, not all that far from the May 2007 Warren Grove Fire, in The Press of Atlantic City (dated Sunday, Feb. 22).

Dromader M-18

I first heard about the Dromader M-18, made in Poland by PZ Melec, a couple of months ago when I found out that Downstown Aero used to own a Dromader M-18. From what I understand, Downstown sold the Dromader sometime in the last year. Followers of this blog may recall that the NJ Forest Fire Service contracts with Downstown for Single Engine Air Tankers (SEATs). In later wonderings on the web learning about the world of SEATs, I ran into frequent references about the Dromader M-18. A description of the Dromader may be found on this page.

The Dromader specs page on the manufacturers website uses the metric measurements. Conversions to the english system is a matter of using the correct conversion formulas. Thanks to this spec page that TL Stein sent me, those of us still using the english system have a set of recognizable specs to look at without using conversion formulas. Those of you who prefer these specs expressed in the metric system can go here. I believe that the hopper of the Dromader has a capacity of about 600 gallons.

For still pictures of the Dromader M-18, go here. Note the pictures by Downstown of the Dromader taken before they sold the aircraft. Finally for a video of the Dromader in action, see this youtube video.

Ayres Thrush Commander SEAT

The current Thrush Commander line of aircraft (sometimes referred to as Ayres Thrush Commander), used as crop dusters and for firefighting, is descended from a long and respected line of agricultural aircraft. Over fifty years ago, Leland Snow developed an agricultural aircraft known as the Snow S2. Design and production rights to the Snow S2 and later airplanes in the same family have changed hands a couple of times since the mid 1950s. The current manufacturer is Thrush Aircraft, for a brief history of this company see their about us web page.

I suspect that there are many different versions of this aircraft in service as SEATs for wildland fire fighting. To get an idea of the specifications of a representative Ayers Thrush, see the specifications for the 660 Model Turbo Thrush . If you read the specs, remember that this aircraft is used both for crop dusting and for firefighting, hence the different hopper capacities.

Do you want to see some pictures of this aircraft? Thrush aircraft maintains a photo gallery. Check it out.

Finally, for a video of a Thrush in action, watch this video on youtube.

US wildland firefighters in Australia

Bill Gabbert posted a couple of pictures of wildland firefighters from the US working the Australia fires. Go here to see the pictures.

More on SEATs

In my wonderings around the web learning about the world of the use of air support in wildland fire fighting, I quickly found out that there are more than one type of single engine air tankers (SEAT) being used. Yes, it does seem that the AT-802F SEAT is the only SEAT approved by the Interagency Airtanker Board, see my Feb. 10 post for more information.

I do want to take this opportunity to remind everyone, myself including, that there are other SEATs out there that can be used for State contracts or other contracts that are not nationwide contracts. For example, the NJ Forest Fire Services uses AgCats (aka FireCats), contract aircraft owned by Downstown, the contractor that NJ was contracted with for years. Go here to read my earlier post on the AgCat.

So with that in mind, I am going to write about two more SEATS, the Ayers-Thrush models and the Dromander M-18.

I will write about Ayers-Thrush in my next post.

correction to an earlier post on the AT-802F

I made a correction to this post from last week on the AT-802F. The retardant delivery system is known as a Fire Retardant Delivery System (FRDS). I had incorrectly used the term Fuel Retardant.

I have gone in and made the change. Also, Air Tractor's FRDS is specific to their air tanker. If I understand correctly, it can not be used in another manufacturer's air tanker.

Visit to a Hemlock Ravine

I only discovered the Wescott Nature Preserve, one of the preserves managed by the Hunterdon County Dept. of Parks and Recreation a couple of months ago. The preserve is bisected by the Locatong Creek. And includes one of the few stands of Hemlocks in the County.

I took a walk down into the Hemlock ravine yesterday. In the mud. And I loved every minute of it. The photos were taken in early November, but it looks about the same in mid-February. Walking in the mud along the Creek amongst the Hemlocks, I felt rejuvenated and peaceful. As I write about this place, I am going traveling back to the ravine, and again feel peace.

I needed the shot of peace after spending much of the afternoon trying to learn about airtanker contracts.

Flight 3407: condolences and prayers

I want to pause in my writing on aircraft stalls and express my condolences to all those who lost family and friends in the crash of flight 3407 in Buffalo NY. And to those in the community where the plane crashed, I can not begin to imagine what you have gone through and what you continue to go through.

I live in New Jersey, where the flight originated. . .

I offer my thoughts and prayers.

US sending firefighters to Australia

Bell Gabbert reported today that the United States is sending 60 wildland firefighters to Australia. Check out this post in his blog for more details.

On Some AT-802F specifications

Referring to these AT-802F specifications from the Queen Bee webpage, I want to spend a few moments describing some of the specifications in a little more detail. Queen Bee is an authorized Air Tractor dealer and has a SEAT contract with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). A complete listing of BLM SEAT contracts as of July 1, 2008 may is listed in this pdf document.

A word on the weight and useful load specifications. The aircraft has a maximum rated weight for take-off and landing. This would be a fully loaded aircraft including pilot, fuel, and payload (water/retardant, additional cargo and equipment, etc.). Useful load is difference between the maximum weight of the aircraft and the empty weight. So, the useful load includes pilot and crew (if any), cargo, water/retardant, and fuel. It also includes anything attached to an airframe that was not installed at the factory as factory installed equipment.

Water or retardant is carried in the 820 gallon hopper.

The AT-802F has an 18 gallon foam tank. This is for the foam agent that can be mixed with water. When water is loaded into the hopper on the aircraft, the foam agent is mixed in at the specified ration.

The final specification that I want to write about is something called stall speed. I ran across this spec on the Air Tractor Company’s page for the AT-802F. Click on performance, note the three stall speeds. As I understand it from my correspondence with TL Stein, stall speed for an aircraft is the speed where the forward speed of the aircraft is not producing enough air flow over the wings to produce lift or support the airplane at its altitude.

When a pilot is landing an aircraft, the plane is just over stall speed.

If you have used the link above to look at Airtractor’s performance numbers for the AT-802F, you will note the following numbers:

Stall Speed, Flaps up: 105 mph (169 kph) at 16,000 lbs (7 257 kg)

Stall Speed, Flaps Down: 91 mph (146 kph) at 16,000 lbs (7 257 kg)

Flaps are usually on the trailing edge of the wings. If you fly on a commercial airliner and are seated at a window seat near the wings, you may have noticed that the flaps are in the down or extended position when the pilot is landing the plane. This reduces the stall speed allowing the aircraft to approach landing more slowly. In some aircraft, flaps may be partially extended for take-off. Conversely, if flaps are in the up or retracted position, stall speed is higher. For a discussion on flaps with pictures, see this wikipedia article .

I will be writing more about stall speed in my next post.

Australia Fires: update

Bill Gabbert posted this update on the wildfires in Australia in his blog on Feb. 10.

From what I read in Bill's post and elsewhere, the U.S. Government is sending wildland fire crews to Australia. I believe that this effort is being coordinated by the National Interagency Coordination Center. Check out this discussion thread on wildlandfire dot com for more information. Start looking at posts dated today (Feb. 11, 2009).

More videos of AT-802F in action

Here are links to two youtube videos showing the AT-802F in action:

1. phoscheck retardant drop. Phoscheck is a type of retardant (note the red tint in the retardant drop in this short video.

2. Croatia.

About AT-802F: Part 1

The single engine AT-802F, manufactured by Air Tractor, is widely used both in the United States and globally for wildland fire fighting for retardant and water/foam drops. The 802F is Air Tractor’s fire fighting model, equipped with special equipment adapted for wildland fire fighting, I’ll get to that a little later. There is also an 802, without this special fire fighting equipment, that is used primarily for agricultural use such as crop dusting. Go here for Air Tractor’s page on the AT-802. The “A” suffix added to the end, e.g. AT-802FA or AT-802A means that it is a single seat cockpit. There is an 802 and 802F that come equipped with amphibious gear for landing on water. These models are known as the AT-802 Fire Boss and the AT-802F Fire Boss.

Air Tractor has a web page on the AT-802F . I posted a link to the later page a couple of days ago, so if you have not checked out, check it out now. If for no other reason than to see some spectacular pictures of the 802F and the 802F Fire Boss in action.

I will be writing about the AT-802F (either the single-seat cockpit version or the two-seat cockpit version) as well as the AT-802F “Fire Boss”. These Air Tractor models have what is known as the Air Tractor Fire Retardant Delivery System (FRDS). I refer you to this link for more information on the AT-FRDS II system. I think it is self explanatory. What is notable about the FRDS system (aka the FRDS air tanker door system) is that it is the only SEAT door system that is approved for use by the Interagency Airtanker Board (IAB). All aircraft contracted for use for wildland fire fighting by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and other cooperating federal must meet IAB standards. TL Stein, aviation historian, tells me that

there are other systems available, including home-made systems in use that are not USFS or BLM approved. These other systems may be used by State aircraft or other 802’s not available for a nationwide tanker contract. Generally, the after-market and home made conversions are done on older aircraft where the installation of a FRDS system is not economically feasible or needed.

For a very good and short video of an 802F in action, including shots of the FRDS, check out this youtube video.

updated information (as of January 28, 2010). At the time that I wrote the above, I only knew about one approved SEAT door system approved by the IAB, the FRDS I system. Sometime in the last few months a newer model of the FRDS SEAT door system -- FRDS II -- was put on the market. At the time I wrote the original article, there was information available on the web through Air Tractor (I believe) on the FRDS I gate system that I linked to in February 2009. That link has since expired. With the advent of the FRDS II system I have not been able to find any obvious information on the net about the FRDS I system that is still being used in many AT-802F's (e.g. Queen Bee's). Moreover, I recently found out that there is another computerized SEAT gate system that has preliminary approval by the IAB, known as the Hatfield Gate. I expect to writing about the Hatfield Gate system in early February 2010, so stay tuned.

Australian Wildfires

If you are interested about reading about the wildfire storms in Victoria, Australia (Melbourne area), Bill Gebbert (we follow each others blogs), maintains a very good website called wildfire today with news relating to wildfires. He has written two posts recently about these fires. You may go here and here.

He has links to maps, some pictures, along with a short video clip from local media.

I found this link with information from CFA in Victoria on all the incidents in Victoria on and another link from CFS in South Australia. I obtained these links from this discussion thread on wildlandfire.com.

For my friend in the Melburne area, not a firefighter, we are praying for all of you. Please evacuate early if you need to evacuate.

__________________________________________________

By the way, I should have a section on who is following this blog. Bill Gebbert is the guy in the hard hat, just click on the picture and you will go to Bill's blog.

Air Tractor AT-802

I am going to be writing about a SEAT known as the AT-802F, manufactured by Air Tractor. The AT-802F is widely used in wildland firefighting both in America and internationally. I plan on making at least two and possibly more posts on this aircraft. I think that I have finished my research on the aircraft, but I have to plan out my entries before I write my first entry sometime this weekend.

In the meantime, to learn a little about this aircraft, go here to the manufacturer's website to see some pictures and look at some of their specs.

And for a video of an AT-802 in action, go here.

For more on helicopter firefighting

Early on in my research on the role of aviation in wildland firefighting, TL Stien sent me this link to a site with a whole assortment of links about aerial fire fighting and aviation operated by Thomas Eggleston. Included in the links, as an article by Thomas Eggleston on Helicopter Firefighting, focusing on the use of the bambi bucket. I found it very interesting and have added to my growing file collection. It may be found here (you will need adobe reader or another pdf viewer to read the file).

bambi buckets

Along the vane of a picture or a short video is worth a thousand words, here are three videos of helos (aka helicopters) with bambi buckets.

1. firefighting helicopter in El Dorado Hills

2. bambi bucket

3. bucket cam

With a special thank-you to TL Stein for sending these really awesome videos to me. Check them out. All of them.

prescribed fire or burns

Yesterday, I made reference to the fact (through supplied links as well as my text) to the role of helicopters in prescribed fire or burns without making reference to exactly what prescribed burns are. So, I offer three links, two State Forest Fire Agencies (NJ and Florida) and to the Everglades National Park where prescribed burns have been in place for quite a few years. I think that by reading this information you will get an idea of how prescribed burns are used, and what is involved in planning for prescribed burns.

1. New Jersey Forest Fire Service on prescribed burns (there is a link to video, I could not play the video when I checked the link, perhaps you will have better luck. I did watch this video several weeks ago and it is good.

2. Florida Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Forestry, Wildland Fire on prescribed burns.

3. Everglades National Park on prescribed burns.

This is not to imply that these are the only agencies doing prescribed burns, these are just the links that I had handy.

Huey's: part 2

In earlier posts I have written that Huey’s (and similar classes of helicopters) are used for water drops on wildfires and transporting wildland firefighters to remote or inaccessible areas to fight wildfires. To answer the question of how Huey’s may be used by wildland firefighters, I offer links to two webpages, California and Florida.

A word about California’s state fire agency, CAL Fire. CAL fire is what is known as an all risk fire department. I recently had the opportunity to ask a CAL fire employee what an all risk fire department is. He said:

An all risk fire department means that whatever type of an incident there is, CAL Fire is trained to handle it. Schedule A stations are counties in california that have contracted the state to handle there fire protection services so they are county employees but CAL FIRE trained. Schedule B are the Wildland guys. There primary concern is for wildland fires but can still go on house fires traffic accidents medical aides any emergency that may pop up.

The reason why I am mentioning the all risk aspect of CAL Fire is because CAL Fire Huey’s are used for non-fire emergency missions. You will note the mention of the non-fire emergency use of Huey’s when you go here to read about the CAL Fire Huey’s (loaned to CAL Fire through FEPP). This pdf file also has some specs for their Huey’s. Note that you will need adobe acrobat or some other pdf viewer in order to read this file.

Speaking about my own State of New Jersey, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) is available to respond to non-fire missions. For example, they helped with some tree work in the aftermath of a recent ice storm that left thousands of homes with out power in Sussex County New Jersey. I suspect that the NJFFS would make their Huey’s available to respond to non-fire emergencies as appropriate.

In my wonderings on the internet learning about and researching wildfires, I always find myself looking to say what is happening in Florida. I recently did a search and found a short description (and a couple of pictures) of how the Florida Dept. of Forestry uses aircraft on this page. They refer to aerial ignition, you may go here to find a brief definition (just scroll down and you will see the definition. I believe but am not sure that aerial ignition can be used in both prescribed burns and in fighting wildland fires. I'll try to find out some more specifics about aerial ignition and make a post about it.

In the meantime, I'll write about bambi buckets in a day or so.

Huey's: part 1

I have spent the last couple of days doing two things: getting ice off of my long driveway and reading about Huey (UH-1H) helicopters. I got interested in finding out a little more about Huey's because the New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) has two UH-1H helicopters. Huey's, manufactured by Bell, were widely used in the Vietnam war. These military helicopters were modified for use by federal and state forest fire agencies for wildfire fighting. The equipment (e.g. including but not limited to helicopters and land vehicles) that many State forest fire agencies use to fight wildfires are in the Federal Excess Personal Property Program.

According to the FAA registration database, the two Huey's used by the NJFFS are in the Federal Excess Personal Property Program. That is, according to the FAA registration database the owner of these two Huey's is listed as the USDA Forest Service FEPP. Under FEPP, the USDA Forest Service owns the equipment, in our case the Huey helicopters, and loans them to State foresters to fight wildland fires.

The two Huey's used by the NJFFS, known as Delta 5 and Delta 6, have 300 gallon bambi buckets. A bambi bucket looks like an upside parachute suspended from the belly of the heliocopter. If you go here and click on air operations in the menu at the top of the page, you will see some photographs of Delta 5, including a couple of Delta 5 with a bambi bucket.

Forest Fire Services in other States including but not limited to California (CAL Fire), North Carolina, and Florida use Huey's that are in FEPP.

The CAL Fire Huey's are equipped with water tanks and bambi buckets. To see a CAL Fire Helicopter making a water drop from it's tank see this you tube video. Note the long tube suspended from its belly used to fill the tank with water.

Huey's can also carry 10 passengers, and perhaps as many as 14, so they can also be used to transport wildland firefighters.

More on Huey's tommorrow.

SEAT dropping retardant

Check out this really cool (but short) video of a single engine air tanker (SEAT) dropping retardant (the red liquid) on a fire in Idaho. Remember that retardant slows down the fire.

I'll be writing more about retardant in a later post. I need to spend a little more time reading about retardants before I do so.

foam and the fire triangle

Three things must be present in order to have a fire: Fuel, heat and oxygen. This is also known as the fire triangle. All must be present to ignite a fire. Remove one element and the fire goes out. As I am finding out, in fighting wildfires, it is not quite that simple. And putting the wildfire out may take time.

The AgCats used by the NJFFS are loaded with 300 gallons of water mixed with 1/2 gallon of firetrol foam additive. As I understand foam is a suppressant. Suppress or smother the fire, and it has no oxygen. Retardant on the other hand is designed to slow down a fire.

A more technical explanation of foam is that:

"foam products form bubbles when mixing with water. They adhere to the fuels and reduce combustion by cooling, moistening and excluding oxygen." SEAT Training, SEAT 2: SEAT Operations. Aviation Fire Fighting Course. Slide 20 of 48 obtained from https://www.iat.gov/Training/modules/seat/seat2.html on January 27, 2009.

AgCat aka FireCat

In my previous post, I referred you to the web page of NJFFS Division A, Section2 that has several different pages of photos including a page of air operations photographs. I ask you to go back to the air operations page by clicking the link at the top of the home page. While you are looking at the photographs of the fixed and rotor winged aircraft, check out the four pictures of the FireCat, aka AgCat. Pay attention to the two photographs labeled "FireCat at Strawberry Field." You will see that what is known as the N number (on the tail) is N6620Q. The AgCat is a biplane manufactured by Grumman and Schweizer from the late 1950s through the late 1990s. The AgCats were built for crop dusting.

You may go here to see a video of an AgCat in action. I believe that this is NJ Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) contracted AgCat making a water drop.

Those of you have have read the previous entry of this blog may recall that the NJFFS contracts with Downstown Aero, located near Vineland NJ, for AgCats during the March through May fire season. In addition, Downstown makes AgCats available to the NJFFS later in the summer as needed.

Anyone can go to the FAA registry website and obtain some basic information on a particular aircraft (fixed-wing or rotor) by searching on the N number. If you want more information on the aircraft, you have to pay for it, which I did not do. According to the freely available information the AgCat N6620Q, a model G-164A with a Pratt and Witney model R-1340 engine, was manufactured in 1976.

I'd like to thank T Janney, aviation historian, for his help in showing me the FAA registry website, for helping sort out two engines commonly used in the AgCats, and for obtaining the design specifications for the AgCat model G-164A biplane. What is known as the airframe of the G-164A's was originally designed around R-985 450 HP Pratt and Witney engine. In some cases, as seems to be the case with the N6620Q, a Pratt and Witney model R-1340 engine was installed. There are 15 variants of R-1340 engines ranging from 425 HP to 600 HP. A variant known as the R-1340B (450 HP) is commonly installed on the model G-164A. The original design specifications of the G-164A are:

450 HP engine
speed: 128 knots
service ceiling: 13,000 ft.
empty weight: 2,690 lbs
max. take off weight: 4,497 lbs
wing span: 35.9 ft
wing area: 393 sq. ft.
length: 23.3 ft
height: 10.7 ft
tank capacity: 300 gal mixed with 1/2 gallon of firetrol foam additive
tank type: standard Gruman style dump gate / salvo time: 2.5

New Jersey State Forest Service: Airsupport

The New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) uses both helicopters and single engine air tankers (SEAT) in their air operations. I found good webpage from NJFFS Division A Section 2 with a page with some wonderful photographs of some of the aircraft that they use. Go to their main page and click on air operations in the menu at the top of the page. As an aside, I normally would provide a direct link to the specific webpage, however, I don't think that would work in this case.

A word on geography, the NJFFS breaks the state down into three divisions (A, B, and C), go here to see a map of these three divisions. Each division is divided into sections.

They have some really cool photos of firetowers in NJ, along with several photo sections (photo sections 1 through 3, featured photos, on the road, the scardo era, etc) and photos of the DC-10 air tanker. You can spend awhile on the site checking out all their neat photos.

Back to the aircraft. The NJFFS has a fleet of five state operated helicopters (rotor winged) in service including two UH-1H Huey rotorcraft with 300 gallon bambi buckets. What is a bambi bucket and does it do? Check out this you tube video of one of the NJFFS helicopters and bucket. The bucket suspended from the belly of the helicopter in the video is known as a bambi bucket (also refered to as a bucket). By the way, the video appears to be a demo drop. Helicopters with buckets such as the two NJFFS Hueys play an important role in wildland fire fighting.

In addition to the helicopters, there are two state operated fixed wing aircraft in service both Cessnas and a piper cub that can be put in service if needed.

During the spring fire season (March to May), the NJFFS contracts with Downstown Aero for nine AgCat biplanes (eight are their own, and one is leased from Merv Lewis of New York State). In addition to the AgCat biplanes, Downstown will be providing an Airtractor. These aircraft are what are known as single engine airtankers (SEATS). Both types of SEATS are used to drop retardant or foam on wildland fires.

For more information about Downstown Aero, see this article written in September 1999. Note the Dromader referred to in this article has been sold.

I will be writing about the AgCats in my next post followed by a post (or two about the Airtractors. So, stay tuned . . .

Note: For a complete listing of the equipment, including fixed wing and rotor aircraft used by the NJFFS, go here.

March 14, 2012, The last I checked the article about Downstown Aero that I linked to was no longer available on the web.

Looking at aviation in wildland fire fighting: Intro

I have gotten interested in the role of air support or the use airplanes and helicopters in fighting wildfires. My hope is to start writing about air support with a series of posts focusing on some of the types of aircraft currently in use in the United States in fighting wildland fires. In a perfect world I would post pictures, videos, and specifications of the aircraft. I'm not sure if I will be able to find videos of some of the aircraft that I want to write about If I'm not sure about the specifications, I won't post the specs. But, I am finding that it is not all that hard to find pictures of aircraft on the web from the websites of wildland fire fighting agencies.

Those of you who have seen pictures of wildland fires on television or in newspapers have probably seen pictures of single or multi-engine aircraft or airtankers flying over wildland fires. Helicopters are also used in fighting wildland fires. Both types of aircraft may be used in observation. Helicopters are frequently used to transport wildland firefighters. Then there is the smokejumper program where wildland firefighters parachute into remote areas to fight wildland fires. On the theory that a picture is worth a thousand words, I'm going to count on the pictures (or videos) telling a story of how the aircraft are used to fight wildland fires.

Because I am just beginning this endeavor, I'm not quite sure how long it will be between making posts on different types of aircraft used to fight wildfires. Given the volume of reading material that I have on wildland fire aviation, I suspect that I will have other aviation related issues to write about.

I am going to start with air craft used by the New Jersey Forest Fire Service, hopefully in within a couple of days. Stay tuned ...

Wildfire Magazine

I followed through on Bill Gabbert's comment to my blog earlier this week and have checked out Wildfire Magazine. As you may recall, it is the official publication of the International Association of Wildland Fire. A big plus is that at least some articles from issues dating back approximately six years are freely available. This is a big plus because I don't seem to able to have electronic access to the publication through my local library. I have downloaded a few articles, and have enjoyed what I have read.

For example, one of the nagging questions that I have had in some of my reading is wondering about some of the engines that are used in wildland fires. One example being that I had read about type 6 engines, wondering what they might be, and I found an answer in an article in the Sept. 2008 edition of Wildfire Magazine, Match Maker, where they describe seven types of engines as defined by the incident command system. Now, I was not necessarily planning on writing in my blog about engines used in wildland fire fighting, at least not now. But as I continue with my reading and my research on wildland fire fighting, I am slightly more familiar with some of the terminology in regards to engines. And that is always a good thing.

Out of Ashes: 15 to 19 mo after fire in NJ Pine Barrens

We took a trip to the NJ Pine Barrens this past Sunday, driving south on County Rte 539 through an area in and around the Stafford Forge Wildlife Management area that was burned in the May 2007 Warren Grove Fire. This fire burned in excess of 15,000 acres.

Looking at the google earth image, I believe that the fire started where the yellow pin is off of County Rte 539 in Warren Grove, NJ. To see a blog written at the time of the fire plus a more detailed map of the fire area see this blog from pineypower. The area where I took the pictures is about a five minute drive south of Bombing Range Road.

The photos are taken in an area of the Pine Barrens known as the Pine Plains, a forest of rare dwarf "pygmy" pitch pines. The pygmies stand about five feet tall, meaning that most adults can look out over the "tops" of the forest pygmy pines and scrub oaks. The "pygmies", as I like to call the dwarf pitch pines, are specially adapted to fire. That is, the cones require the heat of fire in order to open. If you look carefully at a couple of the pictures, you will see burned pines with open cones, those are the burned trunks of pitch pines (both dwarf and taller pitch pines. Out of the ashes comes life, literally. Look at the small pitch pines growing and the young scrub oak in two of the pictures (taken in late Aug. 2008).

You will notice the dead oak leaves in one of the pictures. I took that photo on Sunday. Many oaks hang onto their "dead" leaves through the winter, not dropping them until the spring when the tree is ready to leaf out.

Fire Management Today

In my wonderings on the internet looking at the webpages of various federal agencies with wildland fire fighting arms (forest service, bureau of land management to name but two), I came upon a periodical called Fire Management Today, published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. Under various names, this periodical has been in existence since 1936, with a break in publication during WW II.

It has gone under three different names, first as Fire Control Notes through 1961, then as Fire Management Notes through 2000, and now as Fire Management Today. In addition to containing a wealth of information about the world of wildland fire fighting, it is freely available on the web. You may go here, and use the drop down boxes to select the issue you want to download. It is a pdf file so you will need adobe acrobat or another pdf viewer (e.g. Preview on the Mac) to view the files.

A hint to finding articles, the first issue of each volume contains the index for the preceding volume. Volume 60, issue 1 has a 30 year index.

While many of the articles are written for the wildland fire fighting community in mind, I have used this periodical to learn about specific issues important to the world of wildland fire fighting. For example, I have spent the last few days reading several articles involving the use of airsupport in wildland fire fighting. While some articles have more technical information geared to professionals involved in air support, the fact that I am not familiar with this form technospeak does not hinder me.

I am certain that there are other periodicals devoted to wildland firefighting that I am unaware of. For example there was a periodical called wildland firefighter. As I understand it, the final issue of Wildland Firefighter was the May 2008 issue. Starting with the June 2008 issue, wildland firefighter is incorporated into the wildland/urban interface section of Fire Rescue Magazine, go here for more details. I suspect, but am not certain that internet access requires a subscription to the Fire Rescue Magazine. Alternatively, it might be available through periodical databases available at public libraries or University libraries. All I know is that I have not been able to find this periodical freely available on the internet and it does not seem to be listed in the periodical databases available to users of my public library.

Time out: new toy

Finally broke down and purchased a new Mac laptop. A 15 inch macbook pro. My old Mac powerbook G4 is almost 6 years old and I think that power supply might be going, and I can no longer use it on battery power. So it was time. Had the Apple store add memory, so it is fully loaded with memory, 4 gigs) and installed almost all of the updates. That took me most of the afternoon. So, between going to the gym, buying a new laptop, and installing updates most of my day is now gone.

In the meantime, I just entered various books, references, and reports on wildland fires in my bibliograhpic database software (Endnote X). Seventy documents, most of which I have either read or skimmed. I finished this task last night. So, I'll be back, hopefully tomorrow with another entry.

safety and new respect for wildfires

In all the reading that I have done to date about wildland fires, including a couple of blogs written by firefighters and (mostly) lurking on wildland fire (a website and discussion boards where wildland fire fighters –– and others –– hang out), there are two important points that I have come away with. One is the importance of the wildland fire fighter staying safe and the other is that fire is powerful and at times has a mind of its own.

I have written about safety here on this blog before, and I write about it again because it is something that I have seen stressed, in different ways, over and over again. I can talk about books, official investigative reports and other reports by fire researchers about wildland fires where fire fighters have died such as Mann Gulch (1949), Rattlesnake, South Canyon/Storm King, and the thirty–mile fire. Those are just the ones that I have read about. There are others that I have not read about. I will leave the analyses and comments on these analyses to those better able to speak to what went wrong in those fires where fire fighters died. What I can say is that reading about these deaths have given wildland fires a real and tragic face. So when I read posts on wildland fire where wildland fire fighters are either talking about safety or urging each other to stay safe, safety takes on a new meaning.

Related to safety, I think, is that I have come to see that fire is powerful, can be difficult to control, and at times can seem to have a mind of its own. I never did not respect fire, it is just that I have a great deal more respect for fire now than I did seven months ago.

All the more reason for wildland firefighters to stay safe and practice LCES:

Lookout
Communicate
Escape
Safety

Stay safe out there.

Time Out: catching up

In getting back into the swing of things, so to speak, after the holidays, I am a little behind with some other writing projects. My plans are, unless ole mother nature gets in the way, is to post something later tonight before I go to bed.

By mother nature, I am referring to what the weather channel -- you gotta love them -- is calling northeast nastiness.

Obama on wildfire policy

While checking out wildfire news on the Wildfire Today blog, I found this story on Obama's wildfire policy. The document can be found here.

I was especially interested in Bill Gabbert's (author of Wildfire Today) comment:

We don't recall any Presidential candidate having a specific, written position on wildland fire before this election.

I was interested enough to check out Obama's statement for myself. So, I thank Bill Gabbert and Wildfire Today for putting the statement out there. I'm not sure that I would have found it without his blog.

At this point, Obama's statement is just that, a statement of how he envisions the role of the federal government in wildland firefighting policy. I will be interested to see if, after Obama has been in office for awhile, there is any chatter about Obama's wildland fire policy on various wildland fire blogs and websites.

Speaking from the point of view of someone who is still learning about the world of wildland fire fighting, I hope that Obama is listening to and getting sound advice on his wildland fire policy from experts in the field, including those who are or have been wildland fire fighters.

2008 wildfire fatalities

For a summary of 2008 wildfire fatalities, see this post from wildfire today.

Kittatiny Ridge hike, Oct. 1995

In my entry of December 22, 2008, I wrote about the 750–acre wild fire on the Kittatinny Ridge of early September 1995. A few weeks later, after the fire was 100 percent contained, my friend and I took a hike up to the ridge to see the area of the wild fire for ours selves. I have noted in the images from Google Earth included above the approximate location of where we parked and where one edge of the wild fire was. As I write this, I am looking at a map of this area from the NY–NJ Trail Conference with a notation that the area that I am writing about is within the boundaries of the Worthington State Forest. Please keep in mind that I am going by memory, aided by the fact that I know what trail we took the ridge.

Remembering that we took a trail known as the Douglas Trail which joins the Appalachian Trail (AT) just over one–half mile south of Sunfish Pond and remembering looking to my right to see one portion of the burned area, I came up with an approximate location for one edge of the fire. You approach the Douglas Trail from River Road, off of I–80 west near the Delaware Water Gap (on the border of NJ/PA border). If you look closely at the topographical map, you might be able to make out a dashed line climbing the ridge not far from an approximate location of the parking area where we parked off of River Road.

If memory serves, in 1995 there was a backpackers camping area at the junction of the Douglas Trail and the AT. I remember that this was a cleared area. I mention this backpackers camping area because we ran someone who had some affiliation, either with the NJ Forest Service or with the NY/NJ Trail Conference. I availed myself of the opportunity to ask him how the fire started and s/he told me that it was an “illegal” campfire. The illegal notation is important because at the time of this fire, there was a Statewide ban on all outdoor campfires in NJ as well as similar bans in adjoining areas of NY and PA because of the drought.

It is possible, but I don’t exactly trust my memory on this point, that as I was glancing to my right and seeing the burned area, that this burned area was “across” the trail from the backpackers camping area. The backpackers camping area being one lilkely place for an “illegal” campfire.

My point being that I recall being saddened by the fact that fire was of human origin, but then I understand that many wildfires are of human origin.

My other point being that with the possible exception of hikes in the NJ Pine Barrens, this was the first time that I recall being up close and personal with an area that was burned in a wild fire. I recall the charred understory and the burned tree trunks (sometimes known as snags) devoid of much of their limbs.

We have since slacked off on our day hiking, and while I am pretty certain that we have visited this area of the ridge after the October 1995 hike, it may have been eight or nine years since we have been to the ridge. Since I have been both thinking and writing about this fire, I do want to hike up the ridge –– climbing 1,000 feet in elevation –– on the same trail this coming spring or summer. I am somewhat heavier than I was thirteen years ago, and I have problems with my knees. I want to see for myself how the area burned in 1995 has recovered.

I have always remembered the images of seeing these burned areas that had burned a month earlier, a reminder of the power of fire. And a reminder of the human origins of many fires.

Fire on Kittatinny Ridge (NJ): Aug 31, 1995

Up until September of 1995, I don’t recall ever seeing the aftermath of a wild fire (forest fire) up close and personal. Nor had one impacted me the way that what I will call the Kitattiny Ridge Fire did. I say impacted me because we did quite a bit of day hiking that summer and fall, and the Kitattiny Ridge (north of the Delaware Water Gap) was one of our favorite destinations. What follows are my recollections, with acreage burned and dates taken from newspaper reports.

Memory is a funny thing. I want to say that I have clear memories of the summer of 1995 being an extraordinarily dry summer, due to a somewhat prolonged drought. What I can say is that since I have been reading and learning about wild fires over the last several weeks, I am much more aware that extraordinarily dry conditions are one of the precursors of wild fires. Knowing this, I can replay my memory tapes from that summer of 1995 and know that it was only a matter of time before something happened. I think that I recall that most, if not all, of the parks, forests, and recreation areas prohibited campfires that summer.

I recall hearing and reading about a fire on the Kittatinny Ridge, north of the Delaware Water Gap when the news broke. See the image (from Google Earth) showing the approach to the Kitatinny Ridge from I-80 and the location of the fire (about two to three miles north of I-80 on the Ridge or just south of the two bodies of water.

A few weeks ago, I found a New York Times article dated Saturday, September 2 1995 jogged my memory. According to this article, the fire started on Thursday morning, August 31 near a camping area along the Appalachian Trail. Twelve hours later, firefighters had held the fire to about 90 acres. Then, sometimes Thursday night or early Friday morning, Mother Nature intervened in the form of a cold front and associated winds. The fire jumped control lines. The New York Times reported the fire as being “out of control.” By Friday afternoon (Sept. 1) somewhere around 300 acres had burned.

If memory serves, the fire was straining the resources of the local fire crews. At the time, I was not aware of the existence of the NJ Forest Fire Service, but I expect that they were involved in fighting this fire. I only remember thinking –– with a sense of respect –– that most of the local fire departments were (and still are) volunteer squads. I knew that there was a real battle going on the ridge between the fire and those who were fighting the fire. I remembering hearing media reports that resources from out of state, probably from adjoining states came to help us fight the fire.

I had an idea where the fire was, it was on the top of the ridge, and a few miles of the Appalachian Trail were closed down. I wondered how bad the damage was. I suspected, perhaps from television and newspaper accounts of the fire, that the fire had human origins.

In a NY Times article dated, September 5, 1995 (a Tuesday), it was reported that the fire was brought under control, but not yet contained, on Sunday, Sept. 3. The final tally, per the NY Times was about 750 acres burned.

The dry summer of 1995

I remember the dry summer of 1995. We were doing quite a bit of day hiking that summer and I was aware of the ban on camp fires in the areas were we hiked. Not because we did overnight hiking and were camping out, but because I paid attention to news reports on the effects of the drought. In addition, in areas where we were frequent hikers, I recall noticing low or dried–up streams.

I knew enough to know that dry conditions meant fire danger. Two fires that summer are fixed in my memory. The first fire was a fire that burned the Long Island Pine Barrens, I later realized the fire was known as the Sunrise Fire. The media reports of the Sunrise Fire made an impression on me because eastern Long Island was a second home for me. In all the years that I spent living first in New York City and later in New Jersey, I heard about fires in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey but I don’t recall hearing media reports of fires in the Long Island Pine Barrens. I’ll write more about this fire and its aftermath in a little more detail in later blog entries.

The second fire burned a few hundred acres in the kittatiny ridge in New Jersey, in an area where we frequently hiked. This fire, of suspicious origins, started after the Sunrise Fire. Stay tuned for more on this fire, especially its aftermath.

More on the Long Island of my youth

For the first several years of my life we were living in Massachusetts. When we traveled to Long Island from Massachusetts my Dad would drive to New London, Connecticut and take the ferry to Orient Point. Orient Point is at the end of the northern fork of Long Island. If memory serves, the drive to East Setauket was about one hour. I seem to recall that the area we drove through was predominantly farmland until we got just east of Port Jefferson. Depending on our exact route, it is possible that we may have driven along the northern edge of the Long Island Pine Barrens.

When I was fourteen we moved to Maryland and approached Long Island from the west, through Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens before getting to Nassau and then Suffolk county. When we got to my Grandparent’s house, we spent most of the time in the immediate area of East Setauket. So, it was not until I was in my late twenties that I went for a drive east, retracing some of the route to Orient Point. I had a desire to revisit the farmlands and open space that I remembered from my childhood.

I was in for an awakening. I drove to Port Jefferson and proceeded east. Port Jefferson was the same. The area east of Port Jefferson was not. New housing developments, shopping centers, and office complexes were built where open space once stood. After about 30 minutes of this, I turned around and went back. I don’t think that I made it as far as the northern edge of the Pine Barrens.

Speaking of the Long Island Pine Barrens, I never thought about them much when I was younger. Depending on our route, I may have only seen them a couple of times, and I don’t think we ever did more than drive by. They were so different from the forests of northern New England that I may not have even recognized them as forests.

I do remember driving out to eastern Long Island in the summer of 1994 and seeing the Pine Barrens from the highway. I knew that they were something special. But we did not get out to visit them. I regret that. We have not been back since.

copyright 2008 K. Tyler Miller

Grandma's house on Long Island

My home away from home up until I was thirty was my Grandparents home in East Setauket, NY on the north shore of Long Island not far from Port Jefferson and Stony Brook. There was a farm next to my Grandparents house, perhaps 30 or 40 acres. I can still remember strolling down the farm lane with my sister and my Grandmother when I was a little girl.

There were several nearby places to swim, at least when I was growing up. One was perhaps one-half to one mile down the road. It was nothing more than a patch of sand with a nearby dock where you could rent a rowboat and tool around the cove. Or at other times, we would walk the other way, go onto the beach and walk below the high tide mark. For the water front property owners owned down to the high tide mark. So, anyone could walk below the high tide mark. This was a great place to gather shells. And look for horse shoe crabs.

Finally there was a town beach that was a five or ten minute drive from our grandparents house. A beach with a float and a Good Humor ice cream truck. When we were teenagers, my sister and I would sometimes walk to the town beach, cutting through the old farm lane to the road leading to the beach.

The farm is long gone. It was sold after the elderly couple who owned the farm died. It languished for a few years untouched with only a new road going in from the street. I am going to say that it was sometime in the early 1970s when the farm was sold. This property was developed, not quite sure when, perhaps sometime in the 1980s

My grandparents house used to be the farm house. A sprawling house with an absolutely awesome porch on the side facing the cove. We would sit out there on nice evenings with my grandparents, walking on the railing trying not to fall into the holly bushes.

It was a simple time. With simple memories.

I returned later for visits, sometimes seeking sanctuary from whatever life was throwing at me at the moment. My Grandma and Grandpa would take me in for a few days. I'd watch tennis or baseball with my Grandpa and walk along the road on the shore with my Grandma. And eat. I still remember her macaroni and cheese and the toll house cookies she would make when we visited.

Memories of what seemed to be a simpler time.

John McPhee and Eddie Parker's cousin

One of the books that I have been reading is a book called The Pine Barrens written by John McPhee in 1967. As I understand it, this book was one of the movers that lead to the preservation of the NJ Pine Barrens through the Pinelands Commission. If any one you out there want to get a feel for the NJ Pine Barrens -- both the ecosystem and her people -- go and pick up this book.

Naturally, he has a chapter on wildfires. I want to cite one of my favorite passages:

One of the first lessons in forest-fire survival is: Get into burned ground. But this is not always easy. Head fires can also be as much as half a mile deep. Lateral fires can be only a foot deep, but they can also be a hundred feet deep. In 1936, a cousin of the fire watcher, Eddie Parker was caught in the middle when a head fire and a backfire came together. He had to time to get to burned ground. The last living thing he did was to kneel as he burned, and embrace a pine tree (McPhee, The Pine Barrens, p. 111)

I have never been near a wild or forest fire. If I was caught in a forest fire, I think that I would embrace a pine tree.

holiday fire safety

I was at the CAL FIRE website to see if there had been any recent wildfire activity in CA over the last few days because I had seen some posts about red flag warnings on wildland fire. CAL FIRE did not report any wildfire activity.

However, I thought this page on holiday fire safety to be a useful and timely reminder.

timeout: I'm back

I am back in town from my meeting and am starting to catch up with myself.

I can briefly follow-up on my last post about double-decker NJ transit trains. I realized on Saturday afternoon when I was riding back to NJ with a friend from out of town one perhaps disadvantage in the double-decker design. That is, the overhead luggage racks are smaller in the double-decker trains perhaps because the train has to be smaller in order to fit through the tunnels into NYC. Not a big thing for commuters who don't have luggage. But both my luggage and my friend's luggage did not fit in the luggage rack.

timeout: double decker trains

I am not exactly a frequent rider of NJ transit commuter rail, the last time I rode NJ transit trains was one year ago. The first thing that I had to do was to get myself to the train station and park my car. Finding parking near a train station in NJ is not always an easy thing to do. I am fortunate to have a good friend living within an easy walk of a train station who lets me park my car in their driveway while I am in NYC. What wonderful friends!

As the train pulled into the station, I noticed that the train was one of the new double decker trains that NJ transit rolled out a year or two ago. I sat on the top level and enjoyed a smooth ride. I was on a double decker over night Amtrak train a few years ago where you sometimes felt a slight swaying on the top deck. Not so on the NJ transit train. But I was only on this train for 30 minutes, a mere drop in the bucket compared to the overnight down south.

If memory serves, these double decker trains are a little shorter in height than other double deckers, e.g. Amtrak, in order to fit in the tunnels into Manhattan.

For someone who doesn't ride trains all the often, I certainly did enjoy the novelty of riding a double decker. I had been wanting to ride one of these double deckers but had no expectation that I would be able to. I wonder if I will ride a double decker on my return trip?

Reflections on wildland firefighting and where I am going

This is not going to come out right, but I'll try. The more that I read about fighting wildfires, the more respect that I have for wildland firefighter. The more I read, the more I realize that wildfires are very complex, that techniques that work to contain one wildfire may not work on another. After a few weeks, I think that I might be starting to get a handle on some of the lingo, different types of wildland fire fighters, the different agencies, the differences between fighting wildfires in NJ and those out west. However, I can not begin to put what I am learning into words. Rather, I hope that whatever little knowledge and insight I have might help me as I begin to pursue my own special interests in wildfires.

I'm just beginning to get a handle on where my interests in wildfires will take me. I ask for your patience as I have some more reading and research to do before I say anything here. It also might be a couple of weeks before I can say anything substantial about this new direction in this blog. I have some business to attend over the next several days.

I will keep up with the blog in some way over the next several days, but I may or may not be writing about my journey of learning about wildfires.

In closing, what I can say is that I have new found respect for those who fight fires, whether you be wildland firefighters, structure firefighters, or a combination of the two. And these words feel wholly inadequate.

Revisiting why I am writing about wildfires

I have been thinking about why I have been posting about wildfires on this blog as I continue to read books about wildland fires, read incident reports of certain wildfires (e.g. certain fires that had tragic outcomes), look at web pages from various federal and state forest fire agencies, and other prowl the internet researching wildfires and the people who fight wildfires.

The answer that I came up is, at least for now, that I am using this blog to write about some of what I have been learning about wildfires and the people who fight wildfires. In a way, I am taking you along on my journey into the world of learning about wildfires and the people who fight wildfires.

Sometimes I do no more than post links with some added sentences to make the post coherent. Other times, I have posted links where others have been writing about current wildfires such as the recent Santa-Ana wind driven wildfires in southern California. Or I have posted what I hope are accurate references to sites explaining terminology used by wildfire fighters and the agencies that employ them. I hope that I am getting "it" right. I may not be. And when I later recognize that I may have gotten something wrong, then I might edit the post in question and/or write a follow-up post.

There is much that I still have to learn, and where I am uncertain about my facts or if I recognize that I still have more to learn before I can write about a particular aspect of the world of wildfires, I do not post. There has been one occasion, as happened earlier today where I posted a reference only to delete the post later when I realized that I still had more to learn about issues that I was attempting to raise. So, I decided that the simplest thing was to delete the post.

When I first started writing about the Basin Complex Fire in CA in early July, I knew very little about wildfires. I have learned a great deal since that time, and have recently become aware that I have only scratched the surface of what there is to know.

What does containing a fire mean?

The LA Fire Department's news and information blog has a link to a good, short article about what it means when it is reported that a fire is 50% contained.

photos from So CA fires

Check out these photos from photographers at boston.com. I found the link to these photos from this thread at wildland fire.

In Memoriam: El Cariso Hotshots

I saw a reference to this post on the LA fire department news and information blog. This post tells a story behind the Sayre Fire story. That the command post for the command post is in El Cariso Park. El Cariso Park memorializes 12 members of the El Cariso Hotshots (wildfire fighters) who died in the 1996 Loop fire in LA.

Three So CA wildfires contained but . . .

Just checked the CAL Fire webpage. All three fires -- Tea Fire, Freeway Complex, and the Sayre Fire are contained. A total of 52,829 acres burned.

But the danger may not be over yet . . .

More red flag warnings for Southern California. At least through late Friday night. Found these warnings on the NOAA website for the Los Angeles, CA area:

RED FLAG WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOS ANGELES/OXNARD CA
240 PM PST THU NOV 20 2008

...RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 AM PST FRIDAY FOR THE SANTA
YNEZ RANGE AND SANTA BARBARA COUNTY SOUTH COAST DUE TO GUSTY NORTH
TO NORTHEAST WINDS AND LOW HUMIDITIES...

.HIGH PRESSURE WILL BEGIN TO BUILD INTO NORTHERN AND CENTRAL
CALIFORNIA TONIGHT IN THE WAKE OF A WEAK WEATHER SYSTEM PASSING
THROUGH THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST. THIS WILL BRING ANOTHER ROUND OF
GUSTY NORTHERLY SUNDOWNER WINDS TO THE SANTA YNEZ RANGE AND
COASTAL AREAS OF SOUTHERN SANTA BARBARA COUNTY THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING.
MEANWHILE...HUMIDITY VALUES ARE EXPECTED TO LOWER INTO THE TEENS
ACROSS WIND FAVORED LOCATIONS. THE COMBINATION OF GUSTY WINDS...LOWERING
HUMIDITIES...AND CRITICALLY DRY FUELS HAS PROMPTED THIS RED FLAG WARNING.

CAZ239-211800-
/O.UPG.KLOX.FW.A.0008.081121T0200Z-081121T1800Z/
/O.EXB.KLOX.FW.W.0033.081121T0000Z-081121T1800Z/
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY SOUTH COAST-
240 PM PST THU NOV 20 2008

...RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 AM PST FRIDAY DUE TO GUSTY
NORTH TO NORTHEAST WINDS AND LOW HUMIDITIES...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LOS ANGELES/OXNARD HAS ISSUED A RED
FLAG WARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 AM PST FRIDAY. THE FIRE
WEATHER WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.

AREAS OF NORTH TO NORTHEAST WINDS 20 TO 30 MPH WITH LOCAL GUSTS
TO 40 MPH WILL DEVELOP BELOW PASSES AND CANYONS. THE GUSTY WINDS
ARE EXPECTED TO AFFECT AREAS AROUND THE TEA FIRE IN MONTECITO.
AT THE SAME TIME... RELATIVE HUMIDITY VALUES WILL BE NEAR OR FALL
TO CRITICAL LEVELS WITH MINIMUM VALUES IN THE TEENS.

A RED FLAG WARNING MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS
ARE EITHER OCCURRING NOW...OR WILL SHORTLY. A COMBINATION OF
STRONG WINDS...LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY...AND WARM TEMPERATURES WILL
CREATE EXPLOSIVE FIRE GROWTH POTENTIAL. PLEASE ADVISE THE
APPROPRIATE OFFICIALS OR FIRE CREWS IN THE FIELD OF THIS RED FLAG
WARNING.

$$

RED FLAG WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOS ANGELES/OXNARD CA
240 PM PST THU NOV 20 2008

...RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 AM PST FRIDAY FOR THE SANTA
YNEZ RANGE AND SANTA BARBARA COUNTY SOUTH COAST DUE TO GUSTY NORTH
TO NORTHEAST WINDS AND LOW HUMIDITIES...

.HIGH PRESSURE WILL BEGIN TO BUILD INTO NORTHERN AND CENTRAL
CALIFORNIA TONIGHT IN THE WAKE OF A WEAK WEATHER SYSTEM PASSING
THROUGH THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST. THIS WILL BRING ANOTHER ROUND OF
GUSTY NORTHERLY SUNDOWNER WINDS TO THE SANTA YNEZ RANGE AND
COASTAL AREAS OF SOUTHERN SANTA BARBARA COUNTY THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING.
MEANWHILE...HUMIDITY VALUES ARE EXPECTED TO LOWER INTO THE TEENS
ACROSS WIND FAVORED LOCATIONS. THE COMBINATION OF GUSTY WINDS...LOWERING
HUMIDITIES...AND CRITICALLY DRY FUELS HAS PROMPTED THIS RED FLAG WARNING.

CAZ252-211800-
/O.EXT.KLOX.FW.W.0033.081121T0000Z-081121T1800Z/
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY MOUNTAINS / LOS PADRES NATIONAL FOREST-
240 PM PST THU NOV 20 2008

...RED FLAG WARNING NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 AM PST FRIDAY DUE TO GUSTY
NORTH TO NORTHEAST WINDS AND LOW HUMIDITIES...

THE RED FLAG WARNING IS NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 AM PST FRIDAY.

AREAS OF NORTH TO NORTHEAST WINDS 20 TO 30 MPH WITH LOCAL GUSTS TO
45 MPH WILL DEVELOP THROUGH PASSES AND CANYONS IN THE SANTA YNEZ
RANGE. THIS INCLUDES THE FOOTHILLS AREAS ABOVE MONTECITO. AT THE
SAME TIME... RELATIVE HUMIDITY VALUES WILL BE NEAR OR FALL TO
CRITICAL LEVELS WITH MINIMUM VALUES IN THE TEENS.

A RED FLAG WARNING MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE
EITHER OCCURRING NOW...OR WILL SHORTLY. A COMBINATION OF STRONG
WINDS...LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY...AND WARM TEMPERATURES WILL CREATE
EXPLOSIVE FIRE GROWTH POTENTIAL. PLEASE ADVISE THE APPROPRIATE
OFFICIALS OR FIRE CREWS IN THE FIELD OF THIS RED FLAG WARNING.

$$

GOMBERG

Tallies of So Cal fires as of Nov. 18

Cap't Mike of Firefighter blog posted these tallies today. Some of these figures are updates from the figures I found yesterday on Cal Fire, but he also included totals to day as well as some figures I did not have such as the numbers of fire fighters injured in each fire.

photos of So CA wildfires

The CBS affiliate in Los Angeles has a webpage where you can view slide shows of the fires.

images of So CA fires from space

This is a photo of the So CA fires taken from space courtesy of NASA. Check the link out for a close up with labels showing the three fires.

Southern CA wildfires, Nov. 17

Cal Fire is reporting the following (I checked these sites at 10:20 PM EST):

1. Tea / Montecito Fire is 100% contained, 1,940 acres burned, 210 residences destroyed and 9 residences damaged.

2. Sayre Fire is 64% contained, 11,207 acres burned, approximately 615 residences damaged or destroyed, civilian injuries reported

3. Freeway complex Fire is 60% contained, 28,889 acres burned, 155 residences destroyed, 104 residences damaged, and 1,000 residences still threatened.

Wildlandfire cites a report that four firefighters had minor injuries fighting the freeway fires.

CA wildfires redux

There is nothing that I can say about the current fire emergency in Southern California. Prayers for those affected by the fires and the firefighters.

For those who are interested, here are some places that you can go to read more:

1. CBS TV in Southern California has some good maps from google earth along with other news items about the fires.

2. California Dept. of Forestry and Fire Protection has an incident page with basic statistics about the fires.

3. Capt. Mike of the Firefighter Blog is blogging about the fires with some interesting accounts, and maps.

4. The wildlandfire website has some interesting threads on the fires including links to maps and, individual forum threads about the Tea / Montecito fires, Sayre fires, Freeway Complex fires. All of these threads are in their major incidents thread in their hotlist forums. As I may have mentioned in earlier posts, there are many wildland firefighters, their friends and families who use this site, forming a sort of community of wildland firefighters. I go and mostly lurk, learn, and say prayers.

Montecito CA wildfire

I was reading about the Santa Ana winds and a red flag warning on wildland fire forums the other day. So, I figured that sooner or later there would be something on the national news about wildfires in CA. As some of you may have guessed, I have been involved with other things the last couple of days so have not been following wildfires in CA as closely as I might.

At least 100 homes have been burned in these fires near Santa Barbara and the Governor has declared a State of Emergency.

Here are some places you can go to read about these fires:

1. LA Times

2. Firefighter blog

3. Wildland Fire website

Fire Safety Plan adopted in two communities in NJ Pine Barrens

In my wonderings recently on the NJ Pinelands Commission website, I found this draft version, Fire Safety Initiative: Stafford and Barnagat Townships (NJ). I skimmed it several days and was especially interested in plans to build fire breaks along residential areas in the two townships that are especially vulnerable to wildfires. I made a mental note to add spending some quality time with this plan to read up on what they are planning to do.

Just this morning, I was reading the posts in the general discussion forum on wildland fire when I came across a post in a thread on news from the NJ forest fire service community with a link to this Nov. 8th article from the Asbury Park Press reporting that Stafford and Barnagat Townships have officially adopted this plan.

One of the policy issues relating to wildfires that I am interested in relate to issues facing communities such as Stafford and Barnagat Townships in NJ who are on the wildland/urban interface. These two communities are in the NJ Pine Barrens near the Warren Grove military base. In May 2007, a fire, known as the Warren Grove fire, burned 10,000+ acres including portions of both townships. If I am not mistaken, the Warren Grove fire was started by a flare dropped from a military plan from Warren Grove on a training run. I believe that this fire safety plan was adopted, in part, in response to this fire.

Sunrise Wildfires (1995) Long Island Pine Barrens

Some of you, especially those of you in the NY and NJ areas, may recall that 1995 was especially dry, creating prime conditions for wildfires in this region. I have been reading about the wildfires that burned the Long Island Central Pine Barrens for 13 days in late August and early September of that year. Approximately 6,800 acres were burned.

The Westhampton Volunteer Fire Department has a webpage on this fire with a couple of photos. Some picture of the fire, from the Riverhead Fire Department may be found here.

For those of you who are interested in such things, a copy of the (Long Island) Central Pine Barrens Fire Management Plan, dated August 1999 may be found here.

Wildland fire fighting safety: LCES

Before leaving the subject of fire fighting safety, I would be remiss to not mention the acronym LCES that every wildland firefighter is familiar with:

lookouts
communications
escape routes
safety zones

More information on LCES may be found here.

________________________________

Note: on October 14, 2014 I checked the link above and it worked.

Wildland fire fighting safety: 10 orders and 18 watchout situations

One of the things that has jumped out at me in the reading that I have done to date on wildland fires is the emphasis on wildland firefighter safety. The safety of the wildland fire fighter is paramount. I quickly learned that there are guidelines in place to protect the safety of wildland firefighters.

The National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) is an operational group designed to coordinate programs of the participating wildfire management agencies publishes a document. They also publish a document, The Fireline Handbook, that I consider a manual of wildland firefighting. This handbook is but one of a long list of publications that one may download from the NWCG website. I downloaded a copy and do refer to it from time to time.

When I skimmed the Fireline Handbook (437 pages!), I quickly noticed the emphasis on firefighter safety. John Maclean talks about the evolution of the 10 standard fire orders in Fire and Ashes in referencing the task force referred to below. I suspect that it is no accident that the 10 orders were put in place after investigations into both the 1949 Mann Gulch and the 1953 Rattlesnake Fires. I am not sure whether the 18 watchout situations came to be as a result of the 1957 task force or if they came about at a later time. I include them here. (Revised on October 14, 2014 from http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/safety/10_18/10_18.html)

The original ten Standard Firefighting Orders were developed in 1957 by a task force commissioned by the USDA-Forest Service Chief Richard E. McArdle. The task force reviewed the records of 16 tragedy fires that occurred from 1937 to 1956. The Standard Firefighting Orders were based in part on the successful "General Orders" used by the United States Armed Forces. The Standard Firefighting Orders are organized in a deliberate and sequential way to be implemented systematically and applied to all fire situations.

Shortly after the Standard Firefighting Orders were incorporated into firefighter training, the 18 Situations That Shout Watch Out were developed. These 18 situations are more specific and cautionary than the Standard Fire Orders and described situations that expand the 10 points of the Fire Orders. 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.

The 10 Standard Fire Orders
1. Keep informed on fire weather conditions and forecasts.
2. Know what your fire is doing at all times.
3. Base all actions on current and expected behavior of the fire.
4. Identify escape routes and safety zones and make them known.
5. Post lookouts when there is possible danger.
6. Be alert. Keep calm. Think clearly. Act decisively.
7. Maintain prompt communications with your forces, your supervisor, and adjoining forces.
8. Give clear instructions and insure they are understood.
9. Maintain control of your forces at all times.
10. Fight fire aggressively, having provided for safety first.


The 18 Watch Out Situations
1. Fire not scouted and sized up.
2. In country not seen in daylight.
3. Safety zones and escape routes not identified.
4. Unfamiliar with weather and local factors influencing fire behavior.
5. Uninformed on strategy, tactics, and hazards.
6. Instructions and assignments not clear.
7. No communication link with crewmembers/supervisors.
8. Constructing line without safe anchor point.
9. Building fireline downhill with fire below.
10. Attempting frontal assault on fire.
11. Unburned fuel between you and the fire.
12. Cannot see main fire, not in contact with anyone who can.
13. On a hillside where rolling material can ignite fuel below.
14. Weather is getting hotter and drier.
15. Wind increases and/or changes direction.
16. Getting frequent spot fires across line.
17. Terrain and fuels make escape to safety zones difficult.
18. Taking a nap near the fire line.

source: http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/safety/10_18/10_18.html, accessed on October 14, 2014. Updated 10 and 18 above to reflect minor changes in wording made since November 2008.