TBM Avenger - part 3 - Firefighting

I believe that both of the TBMs shown in these two short videos were Forest Protection Limited TBM's. The forums on the War Birds Information Exchange has a good thread on the TBM Avenger with lots of good photos and history of TBM's that were used in firefighting. At the time I wrote this, the tread was six pages long, go here.

Enjoy!

TBM Avenger - Part 2 - more history

A friend who is an aviation historian tells me the aircraft that you see in this video clip:

First off the deck is a TBM; next, you are looking down at a Curtis SB2C "Helldiver". The next two off after the Helldiver are TBMs. After the two TBMs there is a quickflash of something launching, possibly a Hellcat. The aerial shot is of, (1) a SB2C Helldiver, and (2) Hellcats in formation.

The Air & Space Magazine (Smithsonian, Nov 1, 2001) has a nice article, available online on the history of the TBM Avenger, it may be found here. The article is by Marshall Lumsden. You will read about the military history of the TBM as well as Forest Protection Limited.

TBM Avenger - Part 1 - History and Specs

An article from wikipedia on the Avenger, including a listing all the variants, may be found here. The wikipedia article includes specifications (citation needed) for what they refer to as a TBF Avenger.

Go here for a short military history of the Avenger including specs for the TBM-3. For specs on the TBF-1 Avenger (an early model), read this military factory article.

TBM Avenger - introduction

This series of articles on the TBM Avenger is perhaps long over due. Pretty early on in my writing about aerial wildland firefighting, I learned that TBM Avenger's (most were TBM 3's) were widely used in aerial firefighting beginning in the mid to  late 1950s and into the 1960s by the California Department of Forestry (CDF) and the US Forest Service. According to my aviation historian friend:

"CDF used the TBM until the early 1970s. In other parts of the country, the flew into the late 1970's.  California was the first state to quit using them (citing safety concerns of single engine aircraft). When the S2 came online in 1974-75, the TBM's were grounded in California."

Hearing good reports from the U.S. about their use of TBM Avenger's for firefighting, Canadian aerial operators began to use TBM's in 1957 for aerial spray operations targeting pests, notably  spruce budworms. I'm not quite sure when Canadian aerial operators began to use TBM's for firefighting, but Forest Products Limited (FPL), the last operator of firefighting TBM's in Canada, started to use TBMs for firefighting in the late 1970s. For more information on the history of TBM Avenger's use and acquisition in Canada go here. FPL's company webpage may be found here.

In late 1999, Forest Product Limited began to sell off their remaining TBM fleet as they began to purchase AT-802s and 802F's for use in firefighting. For a list of FPL's purchases, losses, and sales  (loss and sales data through 2004) see this web page.

By early 2010, one of the remaining unsold FPL TBM's had crashed, two are listed in their aircraft chart (accessed on July 16, 2010), and one may be sold but still on the FPL site (see "A few facts" near the top of the FPL purchase, loss, and sale page. The two TBMs that I saw listed on the FPL aircraft chart (cited above) are C-FIMR (#23) and C-GLEL (#13)).

But the story of the Avenger began long before the plane was converted to fly as an air tanker or for pest control. Her history goes back to the early days of WW II. So, I begin this series of articles on the TBM Avenger by looking at military uses of this noble aircraft.

The series:

• Wed. July 28: Part 1 history and specs
• Fri. July 30: Part 2 more on history
• Mon. Aug 2: Part 3 Firefighting 1
• Wed. Aug 4: Part 4 Firefighting 2 Hemet-Ryan 1964 to 1971
• Fri Aug 6: Part 5 Firefighting Avengers up close and personal
• Mon. Aug 9: Part 6 Former firefighting TBM 3E at Naval Air Station Museum in Wildwood NJ

NJ Incident Management Team Type Two

Some information, in the form of a weblink, about the NJ Incident Management Teams, found its way into my e-mail the other day. I was interested in the information on the site, and what this team does, so I am passing it on to you. The NJ Forest Fire has two incident management teams used for wildland fires within NJ, and are also available to other NJ agencies. The website has some good photos on the incidents -- wildland fires -- that they have been assigned to, as well as maps. Go here to check out the site. Perhaps you will want stay awhile to check it out.

B-25 Mitchell: around the 'net

I am going to wrap up, at least for now, this series on the B-25 Mitchell air with links to sites focusing on the use of the B-25 as an air tanker.

Larry Kraus sent me these two links a few weeks ago because he thought that the links would help me with my research, and they did.

• North American B-25 Survivors.
• forum thread on B-25 tanker pilot exploits.

Another friend sent told me about scalefirebombers, a website serving as a reference for those who build air tanker models. Among other things, they have a good collection of photographs of many aircraft that served as air tankers, including but not limited to the B-25 Mitchell with lots of photos of taken in both the U.S.A and Canada.

Enjoy!

WA wildfire (update 1)

KNDU has a couple of nice short videos showing the Cowiche fire, Flying over the Cowiche Fire and Aerial Footage of the Cowiche Fire, go here, and you should find a story and a video gallery with the two videos. Each is about one minute. I am unable to get the scripts that KNDU supplies to work in this post, so I have given up. Sorry.

Local media in WA are reporting here and here that the Cowiche fire in WA (west of Yakima) has been downgraded to 6,200 acres. I don't know acreage from official reports.

KNDU has a webpage devoted to the fire with links to photos, video clips, and reports.

Wildfire in WA

A fire near Cowiche WA, reported on Sunday afternoon July 18 around 2:30 PM (PDT), is now burning in the order of 10,000 acres. References to reports on the fire from the wildland fire hotlist have been removed because the link is no longer working. 

In the first clip (KNDU) shown here, from this morning, you will see footage of a heavy tanker(s) working the fire. I believe that the heavy tanker(s) are an Aero Union P-3. The you tube video was taken on Sunday, July 18. Note - you must enable javascript to see both the KNDU clip and the youtube video.

Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today reports on this fire here. He has a good map of the fire.

A media reports on this fire may be found here

This has been a busy week for wildfires in Washington. The fire near Cowiche follows on the heals of the 19,291 acre Swakane Wildfire that was first reported around noon on July 10, 2010, it is 75% contained at the time I wrote this (3PM EDT on July 19, 2010). Note the link to the Swakane Wildfire on Inciweb has expired. 

Note, I made a revision Monday evening, changing the embedded video to one from KNDU's morning news report. Dan't ask, it is complicated. :-)

Edited and revised on November 30, 2015 to remove expired links. 

Lightening caused fires in So CA (Thursday evening 7/15/10)

When I came home on Thursday night at what was around 6:30 PM PDT, a friend had sent me link to an online scanner out of Hemet CA (courtesy of Radio Reference), so I was listening to the scanner while several fires caused by lightening strikes in southern CA were burning. This included listening to communications between air attack and tankers. It was interesting and I listened some more yesterday.

The fires that I heard mentioned by name were the Cactus, Skinner, and Saddle Fires.

For those who are interested, the Riverside County Fire Department incident page also has a link to a page showing a map and any photos (only the cactus incident had a photo, of a helo): Cactus map and photo, Skinner map, Saddle map.

Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today writes that the MAFFS II were used for the first time at the Skinner Fire, go here to his article.

For some brief stats of these fires go here.

Note: The Riverside County Fire Department works in cooperation with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. As I understand it, Ryan Air Attack Base (aka Hemet), is within the organizational structure of the Riverside County Fire Department.

B-25 and other war birds

You may want to go here and read what the person who posted this video to youtube has to say about the history of this video clip, along with a few words about the planes. To do this, click the arrow to the right of the description about the video to read the full text. The comments are also interesting.

I believe that the planes that you will see  in the beginning of the vieoe, in order are:

TBM Avenger
Vought F4U Corsair
Grumman F4F Wildcat

B-25s
1. Pacific Princess. More information on the Pacific Princess may be found here.
2. Heavenly Body
3. In the Mood

The fighter at about 9:20  in is a F-14 Tomcat.

The plane near the end (9:55 in) is a C-130 with JATO jet assist on take-off.

Enjoy!

Flying in the nose compartment of a B-25

I hope that you enjoy this video, flying in the nose compartment of the B-25 Mitchell known as the Tondelayo

B-25 Airtanker in Action (1984)

Here is video shot in 1984 of B-25 Mitchell Airtankers fighting a fire in the Canadian North West Territories. Enjoy! I believe that the last of the B-25 tankers retired from fire service in the early 1990s.

Rudy Billberg: B-25 air tankers in Alaska (1960s)

In my lead in to this series of articles on the B-25, I mentioned that my inspiration this series was reading a book by Rudy Billberg, In the Shadow of Eagles: From Barnstormer to Alaska Bush Pilot, A Flyer's Story. Rudy, born in 1916, grew up and learned to fly in northern Minnesota. If you read his book than you will know how true it is when he writes of his journey as an aviator from barnstorming to being a bush pilot in Alaska. Among other things he spent a few summers in the 1960s flying B-25's fire tankers for the Bureau of Land Management in Alaska.

I got to know the B-25 through Rudy's writing of summers flying B-25 tankers. By the time he flew the B-25 air tanker, I think that he had been flying for almost thirty years. He also spent at least one summer flying Smokejumpers in a DC-3. Rudy has this way of making many of the planes he flew "come alive." And his writing about the B-25 was no exception:

It was a thrill to fly the B-25. When empty, that airplane performed like no other (Billberg, 248).

He goes on to talk about the process of dumping borate (the retardant that he used). Borate was heavy, about 11 pounds per gallon. The tank capacity on the B-25 was 1,000 gallons for a total load of 11,000 pounds. Speaking of borate, he says:

This is much heavier than the 3,000 pound bomb load the airplane was designed to carry. ... Flying this overload would have been extremely dangerous except for one thing: if an engine failed, even during takeoff, the borate could be dumped in six seconds. (Billberg, 249).

He goes on to talk about drops on a fire:

When dumping borate on a forest fire, I had to really be on my toes, for I commonly had to fly as low as 200 feet. The fire was often on a hillside, in a hole, or in a mountain valley. Two possibilities that I always had to keep in mind were engine failure and gate failure. ... Sometimes I circled a fire for 20 minutes or more figuring out how to get out of a run if an engine or a gate failed. It was the kind of flying that took all the forethought and concentration I could muster. (Billberg, 249-50).

Note: The B-25 tankers flew for only a couple of seasons in the lower 48 before being permanently withdrawn from service for safety considerations. In addition to their service in Alaska, the Canadians used B-25 tankers until the early 1990s.

Billgerg, Rudy (as told to Jim Rearden). 1992 (third edition 1999). In the Shadow of Eagles: From Barnstormer to Alaska Bush Pilot, A Flyer's Story. Anchorage AK: Alaska Northway Books.

NJ Wildfire: Cedar Bridge Fire video

This is a very short video shot at the Cedar Bridge Fire (just north of Warren Grove in Ocean County, NJ) on June 26. From what I understand the NJ Forest Fire Service had one of the helos performing aerial back firing operations. I do not know, if at the time the video was shot, the helo was performing these aerial back firing operations or doing something else. The fire was contained at 890 acres early last week.

Enhanced Fire Danger in NJ

Return of the oldest B-25 to America

This is a short video on the return of "Grumpy", a B-25 WWII bomber (serial # 43-3318) to the U.S. For more information go here.

B-25 series to resume

I will soon be resuming the series of articles that I began last week, if not today than sometime over the weekend.

Kudos to the NJ Forest Fire Service

Well I go away for a few days and came back to heightened fire concerns here in NJ. I reported in the NJ Forest Fire Service section on the right side of this page about two major fires, a 900-acre fire over the weekend, and a 400-acre. And this is a few weeks after the end of our spring fire season in NJ, and the last of the SEATs went off contract in the middle of May.

Now I go to either the NJFFS Section B-10 website or the NJ Forest Fire Service webpage to get fire stats, at least for most weeks. And I keep a spreadsheet with the numbers. So according to my spreadsheet, from Jan 1 through June 13,1,600.75 acres burned. The math on the two fires that I spoke of is simple, 1,300 acres burned in a few days in late June. During a dry spell. Now the acreage burned that I report for this week, 2,553.75 acres burned does not include the 400-acre fire that I spoke of. That fire began on Monday at Ft. Dix. Nor does it include the other, probably numerous smaller fires that have kept the NJ Forest Fire Service Crews busy the last couple of days.

And things may not get better before next week, as we continue with dry weather through next week. I will be making daily posts early in the AM reporting on that days fire weather, so check out that section on the right side each day.

If you check out this post on the wildlandfire hotlist, you will see that Division B of the NJFFS is going to level 1 patrols starting tomorrow and at the same time is moving to stage 1 campfire restrictions.

I believe that the fire in the video is a brush fire in the Lakewood, NJ area on June 24.

I post this today to thank all in the NJ Forest Fire Service who work so hard to keep us safe here in NJ. Nice job everyone. Stay safe and know that you are appreciated.

T-44 overshoots runway at Jeffco - crew uninjured

When I got back home yesterday, I had four e-mails from friends telling me about that Neptune Aviation's T-44 overshot a runway (or a taxiway??) at Jeffco Airport (aka Rocky Mountain Metro Airport) in Broomfield Colorado on Saturday, June 26. I am happy to say that the media is reporting that the pilot and co-pilot walked away uninjured. Early indications are that there may have been a hydraulic problem that led to brake failure.

Air tanker operations from the tanker base at Jeffco were suspended after the crash on the 26th. Tanker operations from Jeffco resumed sometime on Sunday, June 27th.

Kudos to the pilot and co-pilot!!

The video that I embedded here is from 9News (kusa) in Denver Colorado (from their 10 PM broadcast on June 26). Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today reports here about the removal of T-44 (Sunday, 6/27) from the road where it came to rest crashing through a fence and the resumption of air tanker operations on Sunday, June 27.

June 29
Those of you who pay attention to such things will notice that I had originally posted links to four articles about the T-44 crash that my friends sent me while I was away. Much of the pertinent information in these articles duplicates information reported on in the video that I embedded above. For example, one of the articles is the text version of the 9NewsDenver video that I embedded here. In the interest of brevity, I am deleting links to these articles. I am also deleting a link to a video that more or less duplicates information from Wildfire Today that I have already linked to.

I remain very grateful to my friends who kept me informed while I was away. You are the best!

B-25 in WWII Pacific Theatre

I am posting a four part video series shot by WWII troops from "Lefty's Wolk Pack", 7th Army Air Force, 41st Bomb Group, 48th Bomb Squadron in the South Pacific. Allow about 20 minutes for all four. The B-25's are shown in parts 3 and 4.

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4

Major Fire in the NJ Pine Barrens: Cedar Bridge Fire

I was out of town for a few days, back today, and only just found out about the Cedar Bridge that is burning in the NJ Pine Barrens. I'll write more about this tomorrow.

From what I understand it has burned about 800 900 acres in Barnegat Township NJ, see a map of the approximate location here (courtesy of the Press of Atlantic City). and is 70% contained As of 1600 hrs on 6/27 it is 100% contained. It is in a remote area, so no evacuations were necessary.

The NJFFS Section B-10 website has a brief note about the fire and some links to photos and an article from the Press of Atlantic City. A thread on wildland fire with situation reports may be found here and another thread with other discussions on the Cedar Bridge Fire may be found here.

A brief report from CBS-3 in Philadelphia may be found here.

I believe that I have summarized the latest information about this fire and its containment. I'll make a follow-up post if I get new and updated information.

About the B-25: Doolittle's Raid

April 18, 1942. 16 B-25 Mitchells led by Lt. Col. James Doolittle on a bombing raid to Toyko. USAAF crews underwent extensive training in San Francisco before sailing on the carrier Hornet. The plan was that the B-25’s would launch from the Hornet 400 miles from Tokyo on April 18, 1942, bombing Tokyo after night fall and then flying to a friendly air field in China. Unfortunately, the Hornet was discovered by Japenese forces when she was 650 miles from Tokyo. The B-25’s took off early, carrying as much extra fuel as possible. Although they arrived in daylight, the raid was a success. They did achieve a measure of surprise. The damage was minimal, but the Americans had made a statement.

The B-25s did not fare well. All or most were lost when they ran out of fuel. The crews either bailed out or crash landed, with most surviving including Doolittle.

About the B-25 Specifications

I found a couple of websites that provide an overview of the development of the B-25 in the late 1930s for use as a medium bomber including information about the different models of the B-25 from the B-25A to the B-25B used in the Doolittle Raid through models C-H, to the B-25J that was eventually used as a fire fighting air tanker, and later models. These websites may be found here and here. Both sites are worth checking out, I hope that you take a few moments to do so.

At least some of the B-25’s that, after being modified, saw service, in some cases limited service, as fire fighting air tankers were model J’s. Fortunately, this site, that I referred you to in the preceding paragraph has specifications for a B-25 model J that I am reproducing here.

North American B-25J “Mitchell” Medium Bomber

Dimensions
Wing span: 67 ft. 7 in.
Length: 51 ft
Height: 16 ft. 4 in.
Wing Area: 610 sq. ft.

Weights:
Empty: 19,530 lb.
Gross: 26,122 lb.
Maximum take-off: 35,000 lb.

Performance:
Maximum speed: 285 mph (458 kph) at 15,000 ft.
Cruising speed: 230 mph (370 kph)
Service ceiling: 24,200 ft
Normal range: 1,350 miles with 3,000 lbs. of bombs
Maximum range: 2,200 miles with ferry tanks

Powerplant:
Two R-2600-29 Wright ‘Cyclone’ 14 cylinder, air cooled radial engines development 1,700 hp each for take-off.

Armament:
Eighteen .50 caliber M-2 Colt-Browning machine guns. Up to 3,200 lbs. of bombs.

B-25 Mitchell: coming attractions

Two things happened recently that drew my attention to the B-25 Mitchell, a WW II medium bomber that saw limited use as an air tanker in the lower 48 and more extensive service as an air tanker in Alaska and Canada. The first thing was reading a book, In the Shadow of Eagles: From Barnstormer to Alaska Bush Pilot, written by Rudy Billberg. I’ll write more on Rudy in a little later article next week. For now, suffice it to say that Rudy flew a B-25 for a few fire seasons in the mid 1960s in the State of Alaska. The second was watching Pearl Harbor recently on cable, where I watched the dramatic re-enactment of Dolittle’s raid on Japan in early 1942 using B-25’s.

There is a long list of historical aircraft, most of them former military aircraft, that have seen service as air tankers at one time or another. It has been on my mind for awhile now to write about some of these aircraft, its military (and/or civilian use), its use as an airtanker, and restored versions.

After reading Rudy’s book, I got interested in the history of the B-25 and quickly found out about her use in Dolittle’s raid. So when Pearl Harbor was showing on cable recently, I took the opportunity to watch the portion of the movie with the dramatic re-enactment of Doolittle’s raid. And I saw the B-25’s used in the movie.

Given these two events, I decided to write about the B-25. I am still in the process of working out this series of article as I write this, but I do have the next couple of articles worked out:

June 23: About the B-25
June 25: Dolittle’s raid
June 28: B-25 in WW II, South Pacific Theatre

DC-7 aircraft jacks (3 of 3)

Larry Kraus sent me some photos of T-62 over the Memorial Day weekend of T-62 undergoing maintenance in preparation for the summer fire season. Of interest are the very large (500-ton?) jacks used under the main landing gear and under each wings. Needless to say, these jacks are not carried on T-62!

DC-7: aircraft jack (2 0f 3) and self sufficiency

I continue where I left off in my preceding post where Larry Kraus was explaining to me about the tailwheel/nosewheel stand used by Butler's DC-7 airtankers. Larry describes this unique stand that he carries on his tanker (T-62):

If we didn't have this stand, we'd have to find a full sized jack to change the nose tire. It's actually pretty ingenious. It can be broken down into pieces and it weighs less than 70 lbs. I know this because we had to send one to Rapid City once by UPS Next Day Air when it was accidentally removed from T62 during maintenance and not returned and we had to change the nose tire.

For changing the main tires, a 30-ton hydraulic jack is used that is carried aboard T-62. According to Larry, the 30-ton hydraulic jack

fits under the center of the bottom of the main landing gear strut where there is a jacking point. Using the 30 ton jack we can change tires and brakes. We carry spare tires and spare brakes.

The spare tires (a nose tire and a main tire) as well as the spare inboard and outboard brakes act as both ballast and spares.We just have to carry the used tire and brake in the airplane as ballast until we can replace them with new ones. Getting the tire back in the airplane can be a challange without a fork lift. Getting the new one out of the airplane isn't easy either,but gravity works better going down than going up.

I don't have a photo of the 30-ton jack that is carried on T-62, but Larry found this 30-ton hydraulic jack on an internet search, which he says is similar to the one he carries on T-62:

He also sent this link, to ColumbusJack / Regent, a company that sells various aircraft axle jacks and related equipment.

In the photo of the jack adaptor that he uses as a tail stand and for the nose wheel jack, Larry has added a drawing in blue, showing where the 30-ton hydraulic jack fits in the picture.

Finally, Larry speaks of his need to be self sufficient:

Small general aviation airplanes wouldn't carry a jack around as they have no need to be self sufficient away from their home base. We pretty much have to carry any and all spare parts and tools with us. Most fixed base operators have no idea of our needs. Whenever we go to someplace that isn't used to our airplane and try to order oil they'll ask "How many quarts do you need?".....We work in drums....

You can figure our oil consumption as varying between about 2 and 5 gallons per hour per engine in a fire fighting operation. Multiply that by 8 hours for a full day and you'll see that, even at 2 gallons per engine per hour,we'd need 64 gallons of oil. We also carry a portable oil pumping system (with a small gas engine driven pump) that attaches to the top of an oil drum with appropriate fittings and has a 50 ft hose with a shut off nozzle.Again, getting the drum of oil into the airplane (it weighs about 350 lbs) is a challenge. On the Oregon contract, we can get by without carrying extra oil in the airplane because we only fly from bases that are set up for our operation.The engines have 46 gallon oil tanks.
I want to point out that I do not know what the other airtankers under national or state contracts carry with them.

DC-7 tanker: aircraft jacks (1 of 3)

Last December, I wrote a series of articles up close and personal with a DC-7 air tanker, thanks to the help of the pilot of T-62, Larry Kraus. A couple of months ago, Larry Kraus sent me a couple of pictures of (Butler's) T-66 as it was sitting on a ramp outside of Butler's maintenance hanger in Redmond with it's retardant tanks removed. According to Larry, the retardant tank was on a dolly in the maintenance hanger getting some repair work. These two photos are shown above. I looked at these photos and asked Larry what was hanging from T-66's tail.

This is Larry's reply:

It's a home made combination tail stand and nosewheel jack adapter.Sometimes when it snows heavily around here,enough weight in wet snow will accumulate on the horizontal stabilizers and elevators to cause the tail to squat down enough under the weight to lift the nosewheel off the ground. This is undesirable, especially if the wind is blowing.

So, with the tailstand in place, the tail can't settle enough (before the tailstand touches the ground) to lift the nosewheel clear.If you look closely at the pictures,you'll see holes in the vertical shaft of the tailstand and a metal pin inserted near the top.The shaft is actually two concentric shafts (a smaller diameter one inside the outer shaft) that can be adjusted to lengthen the shaft and the pinned to the new length by aligning the holes in the shafts.

Larry goes on to explain how this device is attached to the DC-7:

The "Y" shaped fixture that connects the tailstand to the hole in the tailskid (with another pin) is removable. The actual top of the shaft is concave to mate with a jacking adapter that's permanetly mounted on the airplane just aft of (behind) the nosewheel well on the belly of the airplane. 

In the photo below, Larry has put in a blue arrow showing the location of the nosewheel jackpad underneath the boarding ladder in the picture.

And Larry sent me a photo of T-66 as showing the repaired retardant tank just before it was put back in T-66. The retardant tank is below T-66 on the dolly.

Next up: more jacks used on the DC-7 tankers, changing tires, and self sufficiency

An airplane ride in the winds

On a windy day late last February, I went on what some in general aviation call a scenic ride. It was my first scenic ride. I wrote this a few days after the flight.

In the world of Cessna trainers (172P) the day of my first scenic ride dawned with strong winds. The folk at the general aviation airport canceled student pilot's flights. As I was going on a scenic ride, my ride was not canceled. I did have the option to cancel without penalties. I did not. One of the phenomenon that I wanted to experience was strong winds so I went up. Winds on the ground were about 15 to 20 knots (from 290 degrees) and winds aloft were about 30 knots. We started out flying into the winds towards the Delaware Water Gap in the Appalachian Ridge.

It was a bumpy ride, especially after we arrived at the Ridge and just before Mike turned the plane around. The winds at the Ridge were the strongest of the trip. I thought about the strength of the winds as the Cessna was knocked about a bit. I was glad for Mike's skilled piloting and knew that the winds we were experiencing were within the safety margins for the Cessna. I was grateful for the opportunity to experience, in small measures, some strong winds and turbulence. At this point, the ridge (about 1,200 feet give or take) was about 1,500 feet below us. We were flying at 2,800 ft and broken clouds were about 500 feet above us. There was a tower of some sort on the PA side of the ridge.

At the same time, I knew that Mike was not pushing the envelope in taking me up. And I had confidence in his abilities as a pilot. I knew that I would be safe. I was mostly afraid that I might get air sick and I did not! I knew that the winds that we were experiencing were nothing like the winds and mountain turbulence that tanker pilots experience. I am not going to try to think that what I experienced comes close.

So what can I say? I can say that I have respect for the power of winds and turbulence. As a passenger, I trusted Mike's abilities. I trusted the Cessna trainer. I found myself reflecting that the tanker business is not easy.

Flying is all about the wings.

On other matters, I spent a lot of the flight looking out the window and not watching what Mike was doing with the yoke and the rudder pedals. And when I go up again, I can watch what he is doing instead of the scenes from the windows.

I observed other maneuvers. Early in the flight, after we got to straight and level flight and Mike trimmed the plane (I did watch this), he took his hands off the yoke and I saw that the Cessna did reach stable straight and level flight on her own (positive dynamic stability, I think).

Flying is all about the wings.

I felt slight creepy when Mike demonstrated a power off stall at a fairly low angle of attack. I heard the stall warning. Mike was explaining what he was doing as he was flying. In fact he explained everything he did. Anyway, the creepiness passed as I saw and made a mental note that Mike knew what he was doing. A short time later, he put the nose down a little and the stall warning ceased. He powered up, put the flaps up (I think that he put the flaps down to 10). And we flew on.

Flying is all about the wings.

When we turned around at the Ridge, I asked Mike if we were turning at a 20 percent bank angle. We were. I was looking at the wings out the window as we turned. Later on he demonstrated patterns at 1,000 ft. AGL. I looked out the window and noted that he was crabbing into the wind. I noted the steeper bank angle as I was looking at the wings.

Flying is all about the wings.

As we approached the airport and entered into the pattern for landing, we again crabbed into the wind at the appropriate points. As we were on final, I asked Mike how far out we were. He said about one quarter of a mile. I said so we can glide in to landing in case the engine fails? He said, that is right.

Flying is all about the wings.

Mike did a nice job piloting the airplane. I learned a lot during this flight by watching him fly the plane and listening as he talked about what he was doing. Just as important I thoroughly enjoyed my first scenic ride.

Air Tractors battle grasshoppers

On earlier occasions, I have written on here and here about the important role that Air Tractors play in aerial firefighting, both in their role as SEATs and in post fire remediation (e.g. applying hydromulch. The various models of Air Tractors also play an important role in crop dusting and/or insect control.

When I got my paper copy of the New York Times this morning and turned to the national news, I saw a picture of an Air Tractor being used in grasshopper control. I was reminded that plagues of grasshoppers and locust are not just something that I read about when I was studying American history and reading the devastation caused by very large swarms of grasshoppers and locusts during the dust bowl of the 1930s and earlier. This is not about Pa Ingalls always finding a way to feed his family when the grasshoppers ate his crops. For farmers in many sections of this country, farmers are worried about the possibility of grasshoppers damaging their entire crop. One of the important tools in our arsenal are the Air Tractors and other agricultural planes along with their pilots. With that in mind, I thought that some of you might enjoy this article and the accompanying photo slideshow.

wildfires bloomed in Station Fire burn area

I ran across a link to an LA Times story and photo gallery on wildflowers blooming in the area of Station Fire burn. The wildflowers do not hang around for long, so they may already be gone, but seeing these photos made me smile.

Thanks to a post from May 25, 2010 wildland fire hotlist forum thread on the Station Fire for bringing this to my attention.

Rambling Chief has a new website

Some of you probably already know that Rambling Chief has a new website. Nice job! He has moved his blog over to the website, and is in the process of implementing other new features, including a forum page, links to online video streaming, and a very nice video page that he is calling wildfiretube. Be sure to make a visit.

Rambling Chief, you are doing a great job with this website. This has to be a labor of love. Thank-you!

Update #2: Rio Fire (NM) and Gilles Creek Fire (AK)

I want to take a few moments to update you on the two wildfires that I wrote about last week.

Delta Complex Fire (formerly the Gilles Creek Fire and other fires (AK)

To the best of my understanding, the Gilles Creek Fire has been merged with a few other nearby fires (Big Swede, Healy River, South Fork of Healy, and the Upper Gerstle Fires) under the Delta Complex Fires. The inciweb page for the Delta Complex Fires may be found here. The inciweb page for the Gilles Creek Fire is no longer being update, but there are several nice photos of this fire on the this inciweb photo page. The wildland fire hotlist has created a new thread for the delta complex fires that may be found here.

At the time I write this article, inciweb is reporting the all the fires comprising the delta complex total 27,546 acres with the Gilles Creek Fire coming in at 19,400 acres and 50 percent containment. As I understand it, the link that I have provided from inciweb will link to the latest incident information for the Delta Complex, so the information that I provided here will be superceded by later information.

Rio Fire (NM)

The New Mexico Fire Information Center is reporting that the Rio Fire is 100% contained at 2,200 acres. The fire was caused by humans over the Memorial Day weekend from multiple abandoned campfires. I am not sure how long this final report of the Rio Fire by the New Mexico Fire Information Center will be available. An alternate source of information is this thread from the wildland fire hotlist forums or the InciWeb. As of this writing, the inciweb page was last updated about noon EDT on Sunday, June 5 with a report that the fire is 85 contained. There are a few photos from the fire on this inciweb incident photo page.

A map of the fire (dated June 5, 2010) may be found here.

Cerro Grande Fire 10 + years later

In early May of 2000, a prescribed burn in Bandelier National Monument broke containment, eventually burning about 48,000 acres, destroying 235 homes. For a retrospective, including photos, KRQE has a webpage with links to photos, a couple of video reports, including the one I embedded above, and other information marking the tenth anniversary (in early May) of this fire. The first tanker you see looks like it is a P2V-5 (from Neptune Aviation?) and the second tanker appears to be a PB4Y-2.

The fire threatened but did not burn Los Alamos National Labs, they have a webpage with links to information about the fire. Here is a link to the Wildland Fire Staff Ride Library page on the Cerro Grande Fire. The Los Alamos Amateur Radio Club was involved with emergency communications during this fire, you may find their report on this fire here. Wikipedia has an entry devoted to the Cerro Grande Fire.

Update: Gilles Creek Fire (AK)

Inciweb is reporting that the Giles Creek Fire has grown to 17,800 acres and is 35% contained. The photo page on inciweb for this incident has been updated with new photos, check it out!

And speaking of photographs of wildland fires in Alaska, check out this photo page on picasa for other photographs of wildland fires in Alaska. There is pretty cool picture of what looks like a CL-215 water scooper.

Update#1: Wildfire near Jemez Mountains, New Mexico

The wildfire, known as the Rio Fire, that is currently burning near the Jemez mountains in New Mexico has burned 2,000 acres according to a KOB-4 news report that may be found here. The fire is 10 percent contained, and 83 structures are threatened.

Look for the latest update on the Rio Fire at New Mexico Fire Information website. According to the press release issued mid-day on June 2, four air tankers and four type-1 helos were working the fire on June 2 (along with a lead plane) in support of several wildland firefighting crews. Wildland Fire has a good thread in their hotlist forums on this fire, with details from earlier press releases on the fire along with other information.

Edited on June 3 to correct a bad link and provide an additional link for further information.

Wildfire near Jemenz Mountains in New Mexico

I ran across information about the fire shown in the video clip (courtesy of KOB-4 in Santa Fe, NM) when I was reading this thread on the wildland fire hotlist forums. I was interested in this particular fire because the folk who were making the post reported tanker and helo activity -- three P-2V's (the type II tankers) and one P-3 (the type I tanker, and a type I helo. Thanks to the link that they provided, I was able to the video clip that I embedded here.

Evacuations of nearby communities were ordered last night.

Gilles Creek Fire (AK)

Fire season is underway in various parts of the U.S. and Canada. I am always interested in noting the role of air tankers in wildland firefighting in support of the crews on the ground working to contain and then control the fire. It is my intention to report on individual fires from time to time where aerial operations are working hand in hand with ground crews.

The Gilles Creek Fire In Alaska, started by lightening on May 26 has burned about 16,400 acres as of May 31. I noted when I was reading this thread from the wildland fire hotlist forums (for Alaska), that two CL-215 scoopers had been deployed to this fire. See, for example, these photos from the inciweb photo page for this incident.

The Alaska report from the BLM for Monday May 31 reported on the role of the CL-215's: "the CL-215's worked with dozers and other equipment to reestablish containment lines."

The current Alaska report may be found here. You will see a long list of fires in the Alaska report. The Gilles Creek fire (AK-DA- Gilles Creek #219). I found the entry for the Gilles Creek fire by searching the pdf document for "Gilles Creek".

The Gilles Creek Fire is only one of several fires burning in Alaska. For more information on wildland fires in Alaska you may want to check out Alaska Wildland Fire information from the Alaska Dept. of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry, or the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center, both sites have links to the report that I linked to in the preceding paragraph.

The Fairbanks Daily News Miner reports on how firefighting agencies in Alaska are mustering resources to fight wildfires in Alaska here.

Finally, you may find information on wildfires in Alaska on the Alaska IA hotlist forum from wildland fire.

Happy Memorial Day

I want to pause on this Memorial Day and say a heartfelt thank-you to all veterans out there, past and current. Thank-you for your service to your country, and for all you do to help to keep us safe.

About hotshot crews

This short video - documentary by a hotshot crew member provides a good overview of life on a hotshot crew. For a description of the different types of wildland fire (U.S. Federal Government) ground crews, including type 1 interagency hotshot crews see this webpage.

Wildland firefighting: Station Fire Redux

There are some fires that I will never forget and the Station Fire that burned in Los Angeles County last August and September is one of them. I was watching live streaming and exchanging e-mails with a friend when they found the bodies of Firefighters Hall and Quinones. This is something you don't forget.

I watched live feed over a couple of days as the airtankers and helos and later the ground crews fought the fire at the Wilson Observatory.

Thank-you Wildland Firefighters

Australia: Tribute to wildland firefighters

near miss: airplane versus terrain

I recently ran across this video on the wildland fire hotlist forums.

Some terminology:

VFR refers to visual flight rules.
IMC: instrument meteorological conditions (i.e. I can not see).
IFR: instrument flight rules, flying with instruments when you can not see.
scud running: flying in VFR conditions or under the clouds to avoid IMC conditions.

Here is a Dept. of Interior "Lessons Learned" Aviation safety advisory on inadvertent flight into instrument meteorological conditions.

Fire shelters redux

Perhaps the most important piece of personal protection equipment outside of fireproof clothing that every wildland firefighter carries on her or his person is the fire shelter. Training in the proper use of a fire shelter can be a life saver.

Addendum on May 24, 2010: A friend of mine who is a wildland firefighter tells me that the video shows how they practice with their shelters. They use fans to simulate the wind, and it is a lot harder to work with the shelter with the wind blowing on you. He goes on to say that the video makes it look a lot easier than it is.

Remembering the Zaca Fire

This is a nice 9+ minute photo montage, photos by Cathy L. Gregg, showing a two month time line of the Zaca Fire. The Zaca Fire burned for two month an and around the Los Padres National Forest in California before being contained on September 2, 2007 at 240,207 acres. It was not officially declared out until Oct. 29, 2007.

The videographer, has a nice short history of the Zaca Fire in the information portion of the youtube video page that may be found here.

Some of you may remember that it is following and the writing about the Basin Complex Fire that burned 162,818 acres in Los Padres National Forest in July of 2008 that got me started on writing about wildland firefighting. It was not long afterwards that I first heard about the Zaca Fire. You may go here and here to find out more about the Basin Complex Fire.

I like the video, Remembering the Zaca Fire, because it is a nice montage of photos showing ground crews and air resources working together to contain the fire.

Fighting wildland fires with handtools in Tennessee

This is a nice video that I found recently on using handtools to fight wildland fires in Tennessee. They show each tool, describing how the tool is used. But they go a step further, using some graphics to show the fire while describing how to fight a wildland fire in the often steep terrain found in the Tennessee mountains. While some of the specifics in this fifteen minute video, e.g. the use of a portable leaf blower to blow away leaf litter, are specifically applicable to the hardwood forests in TN and/or the steep terrain, I enjoyed this glimpse into the hard word involved in fighting wildland fires. And I hope that you do as well.

I would caution you to keep in mind that this video only talks about the use of handtools. Remember that there are a variety of tools in the arsonal used by wildland fire fighting agencies, such as dozers, and various trucks and water tenders, and lets not forget the support of our friends in the sky -- tankers and helos.

Wildland firefighting: training is important

This video clip that I have embedded provides a quick overview of wildland fire training crew training sponsored by the Oregon Department of Forestry.

I am not a wildland firefighter, nor will I be, so I can not speak from personal experience on the matter of training. Nor can I speak to any State and/or region specific differences among training courses. As I understand it, some of the training is nationally mandated, with some leeway for State and/or regional specifics. For example, issues concerning how to stay safe are important to wildland firefighters everywhere.

But I suspect that there is enough similarity that the above video provides those of us who can not experience the training first hand to get an idea of what such training involves. So, it is in this spirit that I offer this video.

i was curious about the type of training offered by the NJ Forest Fire Service, and two of the Section website that I go to provide some answers, The NJFFS Division A Section 2 website has a training and information page.

Two of the publications referred to on the NJFFS Division A Section 2 website are the Yellow firefighter's Pocket Guide aka Incident Response Pocket Guide and the Fireline Handbook.

The crew info page found on the NJFFS Division B Section 10 includes a listing of NJFFS sponsored training courses.

wildland firefighting ground crews

I have been thinking recently about the role that airtankers and helos play in supporting the fire fighting crews on the ground. So, I am going to spend a little time here on the crews on the crews on the ground.

I found the video that I embedded above recently As you can see it is a video from the Oregon Department of Forestry recruiting wildland fire fighters. I like the video because it provides what I think is a nice overview of the kind of work that wildland firefighters do, including the physical demands. I also like the photography and videography.

I am not going to even try to speak for the hiring practices of the different wildland firefighting agencies, whether the be public (state or federal) or private. But some jobs on wildland firefighting crews are temporary, summer employment. And with the spring college/university terms finishing up, perhaps this means that recruiting for these jobs has already happened.

Kudos to the New Jersey Forest Fire Service

We are in the middle of our third day in a row of red flag warnings, I want to pause and say:

kudos to all at the New Jersey Forest Fire Service for all that you do protect us here in NJ.

I know that it has been a tough couple of days for you. You did a great job containing the major fire, Baffin Brook Fire in Pemberton Twsp. (Burlington County) over the weekend. A 450 wildfire is a major fire, at least for us here in NJ. But it could have been a whole lot worse. And no structures were damaged, and there were minimal injuries to one firefighter, I believe. There were numerous other fires of varying sizes on Saturday that kept you busy around the State. And after mid-afternoon that day, the high winds grounded your aircraft.

If I am correct, the wildfire activity yesterday (Sunday, May 9) were small in size and quickly brought under control.

Today, many of you are continuing to patrol your areas to watch out for early signs of wildfires on this day of red flag warnings covering much of the State. The winds are much lighter today, so I suspect that your SEATs are responding, as warranted on initial attack. I don't know what you are finding today, I guess I'll find out later. And as they say, no news is good news.

Thank-you and stay safe!

Update: NJ wildfire activity on May 8

The wildland fire that I wrote about yesterday in the Country Lakes section of Pemberton Twsp (Burlington County, NJ), was 100% contained at 9 AM this morning according to this post on the wildland fire hotlist forums.

The Courier Post, covering southern NJ has an article about the fire with a photo gallery.

There were a few fires in southern NJ (Division C), an update on those fires may be found at this post on the wildland fire hotlist forums. Finally, a 25-acre fire in Waterford/Atco was contained yesterday afternoon according to the wildland fire hotlist.

We are currently seeing Red Flag Warning conditions again in much of New Jersey. I have not been listening to today's scanner feed, so I don't what has been going on today. I have not yet seen any reports of fire activity today in either the wildland fire hotlist forums or the Section B10 website, which may only mean that updates have not yet been posted. I'll post something later if I hear of any sizable fire activity today.

NJ wildfire activity, May 8: videos

The video is from the ABC news affiliate (channel 6) in Philly. They reported 50% containment at 11 PM on May 8. Note that they are reporting that wind (gusts up to 40 mph) grounded the aircraft this afternoon. Something I myself heard when I was listening to the online scanner streams this afternoon.

Thanks to the webmaster of the NJFFS Section B10 webpage for the links!

Fire activity in NJ on May 8

As you know from my previous post, Red Flag Warnings are currently in effect for southern NJ; all of DE; and portions of SE PA, MD. and VA until 8 PM this evening (May 8, 2010). Enhanced fire weather conditions exist in portions of northern NJ as well. A fire weather watch is in effect for tomorrow. A wind advisory is currently in effect until 6 AM Sunday. As I write this, winds are gusting at about 30 to 35 knots.

There is what may be a major fire currently burning near the Country Lakes Area of Pemberton, NJ (Burlington County) near Rte. 70. I have been monitoring this thread on the Wildland Fire hotlist forums. In addition, I expect that the NJFFS Section B10 website will provide another update either later today or early tomorrow, depending on their ability to update their website. Obviously, if the webmaster is working the fire, those updates will come later. A report from NJ.com may be found here and a report from Philly.com may be found here. Photos from Philly.com may be found here.

I have been monitoring the online scanner feed for Division B of the NJ Forest Fire Service (available here) for most of the afternoon. In the time that I have been listening to this scanner feed, I have heard reports of numerous small fires.

Scanner feed for Division A of the NJ Forest Fire Service is available at this location.

Stay safe everyone!

Red Flag Warning

URGENT - FIRE WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
202 PM EDT SAT MAY 8 2010

...HIGH WINDS AND LOW HUMIDITIES INTO THIS EVENING..

DEZ001>003-MDZ008-012-015-019-020-NJZ012-013-015>023-027-PAZ060-
067>071-090000-
/O.NEW.KPHI.FW.W.0006.100508T1802Z-100509T0000Z/
NEW CASTLE-KENT-INLAND SUSSEX-CECIL-KENT MD-QUEEN ANNES-TALBOT-
CAROLINE-MIDDLESEX-WESTERN MONMOUTH-MERCER-SALEM-GLOUCESTER-
CAMDEN-NORTHWESTERN BURLINGTON-OCEAN-CUMBERLAND-ATLANTIC-CAPE MAY-
SOUTHEASTERN BURLINGTON-BERKS-CHESTER-MONTGOMERY-BUCKS-DELAWARE-
PHILADELPHIA-
202 PM EDT SAT MAY 8 2010

...RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM EDT THIS EVENING...

WITH LITTLE, IF ANY, RAINFALL FROM THIS MORNING, INCREASING
WINDS, AND LOWERING HUMIDITIES, FINE FUELS ARE DRYING OUT THIS
AFTERNOON. BECAUSE OF THIS, THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOUNT
HOLLY HAS ISSUED A RED FLAG WARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8
PM EDT THIS EVENING.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

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 THE POTENTIAL FOR RAPID FIRE GROWTH.

&&

$$

KRUZDLO

Update: NJFFS SEATs on Contract

As of May 5, 2010:

Division A (northern NJ)
Aeroflex -- Alpha 2 -- 300 Ag-Cat -- 4/3 through 5/12 -- 40 Days
Aeroflex -- Alpha 3 -- 300 Ag-Cat -- 4/3 through 5/12 -- 40 Days
Division B (central NJ)
Miller -- Bravo 1 -- 602 Air Tractor -- 4/3 through 5/19 -- 47 Days
Allaire -- Bravo 2 -- 300 Ag-Cat -- 4/3 through 5/5 -- 33 Days (off contract)
Division C (Southern NJ)
Downstown -- Charlie 1 -- 602 Air Tractor -- 4/3 through 5/12 -- 40 Days
Hammonton -- Charlie 2 -- 300 Ag-Cat -- 4/3 through 5/12 -- 40 Days 

Thank-you SEATs and Helos

The two larger wildfires that happened in NJ last month, the Owassa Fire and another fire known as the Weber Fire got me thinking about the important role that SEATs (single-engine air tankers) and helos (helicopters) play in wildland firefighting. The two fires that I wrote about are but examples where SEATs were deployed, working to support the firefighters on the ground. In the case of the Owassa Fire, a helo with a bucket was deployed as well.

These two fires gave me pause to consider and to remind myself that tankers of all sizes, including the SEATs and helos with buckets are making drops in support of the firefighters on the ground. It is all these resources working together -- NJ Forest Fire Service firefighters, municipal firefighters, and aerial resources that brought these two fires under control without damage to near by residences. Sadly a firefighter riding an ATV at the Owassa Fire had a severe head injury and the last I heard he was recovering.

But those two "larger" fires do not represent the only fires in NJ were SEATs and were used. There are other smaller fires where SEATs have made at least one drop. SEATs make drops on fires as small as one-quarter of an acre. This can happen when the SEAT arrives before the ground crews and makes a drop. Or perhaps the ground crews are having trouble accessing the fire for some reason so the SEAT arrives and makes a drop, knocking down the small fire until the ground crews can get in. When I see that a SEAT made one or more drops on a small fire whether it be three acres or 1/4 of an acre, I know that the SEAT pilot worked with the fire fighters on the ground and together the fire was brought under control during the initial attack phase. And I think, "nice going and thank-you!"

When the SEATs are not on contract, there are provisions for SEATs to be deployed to fires when conditions warrant. A recent example being the Paramount Fire that burned 540 acres in Barnegat NJ on March 20. SEATs were not on contract, but were deployed to the Paramount Fire. You were not "on contract", you were asked to come and make drops to support the crews on the ground and you did just that. That fire could have been a whole lot worse, it wasn't. No structures were loss and injuries to firefighters, if any, were minimal.

Thank-you SEAT and helo pilots!

Watching Fire Weather

By now you have probably noticed the changes that I have made to the layout of this blog, including a text box for the NJ Forest Fire Service on the right-hand side of the page. You have probably noticed that for the last month or so, I have been making daily updates reporting on fire weather forecasts in New Jersey. I got started on this exercise on or about April 3, around the time our contract aircraft (AgCats and AT-602) went on contract.

I developed a routine. One of the first things I do in the morning is to log on to the webpage for the Mt. Holly Office of the National Weather Service. More accurately, I log on to their webpage for emergency managers where they have a lot of useful weather related links including one to a page for the fire weather. So, I read the fire weather forecast and as appropriate also read any hazardous weather forecasts where Fire Weather Watches and Red Flag Warnings are reported. This started as a way where I could at least follow along on what the NJ Forest Fire Service and wildland fire fighting agencies in the adjoining States of DE, PA, and NY might be doing that day. I can say that on a daily basis, I do think about these wildland fire fighting agencies and hope that in some small way I honor what these men and women are doing to keep us safe in my corner of America.

However, in the process of reporting on fire weather forecasts I have learned how quickly fire weather concerns can develop. For example, on March 30, I wrote about yet another round of flooding concerns in NJ. If memory serves, there was little if any rain for the next week and the temperatures were on the warm side for early April. By April 5, we were under Red Flag Warnings, followed by a Fire Weather Watch on April 6 and another Red Flag Warning on April 7.

The Owassa Fire started the afternoon of April 7 to be reported under control on April 8. For more on this fire you may want to see the articles that I wrote here and here as well as a some video showing AgCats and a helo working the fire that I embedded in an article that you may find here.

Kudos to the New Jersey Forest Fire Service! Thank-you!

MAFFS II: update

In April 2009 (April 20 to 29), I wrote a series of articles about the modular airborne firefighting system (MAFFS) that may be found here, ending with an article on the second generation MAFFS unit. To summarize, MAFFS are Air National Guard or Air Force Reserve military C-130's outfitted with a modular airborne firefighting system (aka MAFFS). There are eight of these C-130s at four bases around the country. The MAFFS are only activated when all other "civilian" air tankers are committed to initial attack of extended attack incidents. There is a second generation MAFFS called MAFFS II.

Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today recently reported that the MAFFS air tankers and crew were in South Carolina for training and recertification. You will also want to read his reporting on the MAFFS II units here (January 2009) and here (April 2010). I know that some of you follow WildfireToday and will be familiar with his reporting on the MAFFS II. Those of you who are not familiar with Bill's reporting will want to take some time to read his excellent articles, with photos!