Update on (civilian) air tankers in the United States.

It is past time for me to write about the situation with the 2013 Federal Tanker Contracts, I do so now.   

Legacy Tankers

You may recall that the United States Forest Service (USFS) awarded the Legacy Airtankers contracts earlier this year. With the announcement of the Legacy Airtanker contract awards there were:

one P2-V on contract from Minden Air,

six P2-V's on contract from Neptune Aviation, and

one BAe-146 on contract from Neptune Aviation

for a total of eight air tankers on national contract.

On May 13th of this year. the USFS entered into a short-term contract for Neptune Aviation's T-41 (a second BAe-146 tanker). So that made nine air tankers on national contract, see the 2013 Airtanker List dated May 23, 2013:

T-48, P-2V, Minden

T-44, P-2V, Neptune

T-07, P-2V, Neptune

T-05. P-2V, Neptune

T-06, P-2V, Neptune

T-43, P-2V, Neptune

T-45, P-2V Neptune

T-41, BAe-146, Neptune

T-40. BAe-146, Neptune

Next Generation Tankers

Let's see, now we get into the Next Generation Tanker Contract awards. On May 6th, the USFS issued a notice of intent to award Next Generation Airtanker Contracts to:

Minden Air Corp (Minden, NV) -- 1 BAe-146

Aero Air LLC (Hillsboro, OR) -- 2 MD87s

Aero Flite, Inc (Kingman, AZ) -- 2 Avro RJ85s

Coulson Aircrane USA -- 1 C130Q

10 Tanker Air Carrier, LLC -- 1 DC-10 (only aircraft certified to fly as a tanker as of 6/26/13)

To quickly bring us up to date on the evolution of these Next Gen Tanker contracts, Neptune Aviation did not receive a notice of intent to award a Next Gen Tanker contract from the USFS and filed a protest  several days after the USFS announced the intended recipients of the Next Gen Tanker Contracts. On May 31, the USFS awarded Next Gen Contracts to Minden, Coulson, and 10 Tanker Air Carrier (these lines were not under protest), and one of the DC-10 tankers went on contract shortly there after. Neptune Aviation withdrew their protest on June 7, and the USFS announced their final awards under the Next Gen Tanker Contract adding Aero Air LLC and Aero Flite.  The contractors have between 60 and 90 days to get the remaining six aircraft awarded Next Gen Contracts certified, meaning that the all seven Next Gen Tankers should be certified to fly fires sometime in August, if not sooner.

So with the addition of the one DC-10 tanker (the only one of the seven with all of her certifications) under the exclusive-use Next Gen Tanker Contract we had ten tankers on national contract on or about June 7.

Very Large Airtanker Call-When-Needed Contracts

On June 14th, the USFS awarded a Call When Needed (CWN) Contract  to 10 Tanker Air Carriers second DC-10 as well as to Evergreen's 747 tanker (20,000 gallon capacity). This is the first time in three years that Evergreen has had a CWN contract. Bill Gabbert broke the news here and reported on the activation of 10 Tanker Air Carriers second DC-10 on June 14. I'm not sure when one of Evergreen's 747 tankers will be ready to be activated.

The finally tally of civilian tankers on contract to date

is eleven: seven P2-Vs, two BAe-146 tankers from Neptune, and two DC-10 tankers (one under the Next Gen Contract and the second under the CWN contract).

I am not certain when the Evergreen 747 will be ready to be activated under the CWN contract, so I'm not yet linking her with an activation date.

The six remaining Next Gen Tankers still have to certified and should (hopefully) be flying fires sometime in August if not sooner. 

More information

Bill Gabbert of Fire Aviation has covered the various national tanker contracts (Legacy, Next-Generation, and VLAT Call-When Needed) in some detail, you might want to check out his Fire Aviation site or his Wild Fire Today site. Mr. Gabbert has written a number articles going back to 2011, a good starting point is the article that he wrote on June 17, 2013.

Mike Archer of the Fire Publications Blog has reported on these contracts over the last year plus.

American Helicopter Services and Aerial Firefighting Association

Associatied Aerial Firefighters

Neptune Aviation looking for international contracts

In today's Firebomber Publications article, Mike Archer lead off with a press release from the American Helicopter Services & Aerial Firefighting Association announcing that Neptune Aviation is pursuing international contracts for their BAe-146 tankers.

The press release says in part:

According to Ronald Hooper, Chief Executive Officer of the Missoula, Montana-based company, Neptune Aviation Services submitted a formal bid last January to provide one BAe 146 to the Australian National Fire Agency. If the bid is successful, the tanker would be deployed to Australia to assist in firefighting activity, along with a pilot, copilot, two mechanics, and a corporate liaison who would function as the interface between the company and the fire agency. The contract, said Hooper, would coincide with the length of Australia’s fire season, which runs from November through January. 'We expect to find out in August or September, if our bid is successful,' he noted.

Hooper also reported that over the past few months, the company has fielded inquiries from the national firefighting agencies of Spain and Brazil.

More wildfires in Colorado

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

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

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

Reflections on a special flying boat, the Hawaii Mars (aka the Martin Mars)

Yesterday I saw an article from Canadian Skies reporting that this summer (2013) may be the last summer that Coulson's Martin Mars (known as the Hawaii Mars) may be on contract with the British Columbia Forest Service (BCFS). That is, it seems that this may the last summer that the Hawaii Mars is on what is known as a direct-award contract with the BCFS. Unfortunately, the Canadian Skies article is no longer available online (revised on Oct. 12, 2015) I found another article, this one from the Times Colonist (dated May 10, 2013) reporting that 2013 is the last summer that the Hawaii Mars will be awarded a direct-award contract from the BCFS. Finally, I found reference to another report this one from the Alberni Valley times (5/10/2013) Coulson's Martin Mars webpage, but was unable to access the Alberni Valley Times article. 

I don't wish to engage in speculation about the future of the Hawaii Mars, nor am I exactly in the position to have knowledge of how the BCFS contracts for aircraft used in wildland firefighting operations. I love the Hawaii Mars and you holds a special place in my heart. I have never seen you in person, I have a couple of videos showing you working fires at home. And I had the opportunity to watch a live stream of you firebombing run over Mt. Wilson on the Station Fire. The Mt. Wilson Observatory is a historic place that is near and dear to me, and Hawaii Mars you were but one of the aerial players working in support of the firefighters on the ground on the Station Fire. Together, all of you helped to save that special place. And other special places that I don't know about.

Hawaii Mars and crew, I love you. I know that all of you at Coulson who are a part of your team love you and take care of you to keep you in flying shape. You worked well on the wildfires in Mexico a year or so, I saw you in action in Mexico on Mighty Planes on cable. You have done good work in British Columbia in past years. And of course there is your work in the U.S.

I don't exactly know what to say. As I said, I won't engage in speculation. I want what is best for you and your crew.

Enjoy these two videos of the Martin Mars known as the Hawaii Mars doing what she does best. Allow about ten minutes to watch both videos.

Martin Mars taking off from Lake Elsinore in Southern CA (Nov 2007)

direct link to video on youtube from LakeElsinoreCAM

Martin Mars making drop on Mt. Wilson during aerial firebombing operations during the Station Fire, late Aug 2009 (Video is from ABC 7 in Los Angeles CA)

direct link to video on youtube

Revised on October 12, 2015

DC-10 tanker working Doce Fire (Prescott AZ)

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

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

T-06 taking off at KPRC (Prescott AZ)

direct link to video by MongoLikeCandy01

Gotta love the sound of those engines! :-) Perhaps going to drop on on the Doce Fire (link to inciweb, may be slow loading) currently burning near Prescott AZ?

Aerial Agricultural Operations

As some regular readers of this blog know, I got interested in aerial agricultural operations last year and with the help from my friends at Downstown Aero, I have begun to learn more about the world of aerial agricultural operations. Last year I subscribed to Ag Air Update, a publication of the National Agricultural Aviation Association (NAAA). I encourage any of you who are interested in learning about agricultural aviation to check out either site. Ag Air Update has a weekly Ag Air e-mailed news update that I subscribed to a while back, if you are interested, you may subscribe on the Ag Air Update homepage.

I'll be writing about ag aviation from time to time, including but not limited to what my friends at Downstown Aero are up to. At present Downstown is in their busy spraying season, spraying blueberries and cranberries. Rains and winds have meant that they have to do catch up work in order to keep on track. I hope to go down to the Pine Barrens in the next week or so to get a first hand view of what they are doing and to get some pictures. 

You may recall that Downstown has a contract with the New Jersey Forest Fire Service to provide SEATs during the spring fire season. When Downstown's SEAT's are finished with the spring fire season, they are used for aerial spraying operations.

I learned about the two videos that I am embedding below from this weekly Ag News weekly news update. They are trailers for an Australian documentary on aerial agriculture called Seasons. There is some great footage of aerial agricultural operations that I thought you might enjoy. 

Watch this one first:

direct link to video

Then watch this video:

direct link to video

Reflections on following wildfires on the radio

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

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

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

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

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

Stay safe out there.

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

About the CL-415

Enjoy this video on how the CL-415 water scooping firebomber works.

 
direct link to video

On contract in California


direct link to video

About the C-130 MAFFS

There are eight Air National Guard/Air Force Reserve C-130s spread arose four military installations that can be equipped with a modular airborne fire fighting system (MAFFS). These C-130 MAFFS are used for aerial firefighting when all commercial air tankers are already committed or are not available. Up through June 7, 2013, I am not aware of any C-130 MAFFS that have been called up for aerial firefighting duty. You may download a fact sheet describing the MAFFS from this NIFC link (a MS Word docx file. The Air Force Reserve Command (302nd Airlift Wing at Peterson AFB, CO) has their own fact sheet describing the MAFFS that you may find here. Bill Gabbert of Fire Aviation wrote a very informative article on Ten Things to Know About MAFFS, I certainly learned something from his article.

The 302nd Airlift Wing provides two C-130s that can be equipped with MAFFS units. The remaining three military units providing two C-130s each are: the 153^rd Airlift Wing, Wyoming Air National Guard, Cheyenne; the 145^th Airlift Wing, North Carolina Air National Guard, Charlotte; and the 146^th Airlift Wing, California Air National Guard, Port Hueneme.

Loading the modular airborne fire fighting system (MAFFS) onto an Air National Guard C-130

direct link to video

C-130 MAFFS in action

direct link to video

C-130 MAFFS in action

direct link to video

British Columbia Forest Service: History of Aviation

As promised, I am following up on the article I posted on June 7, 2013

where I shared a link to a video history of the British Columbia Forest Service (BCFS). Today I will share links to information about the history of aviation in the British Columiba Forest Service.

Over a year ago a friend from British Columbia and retired tanker pilot told me about a three-part history of aviation in the BCFS that is available from the folk at the BC Forest Service Centenary Society. I have read most of this three part history which is chock full of some really great photographs. Here is the three part history (links to pdf files):

• History of Aviation in the BC Forest Service: -- Part 1: Transport, Supply and Reconnaissance
• History of Aviation in the BC Forest Service: -- Part 2: Air Tanker Operations
• History of Aviation in the BC Forest Service: -- Part 3: Helicopters

I share another historical video from BCFS100ca from the mid 1980s on fire management techniques In British Columbia, called On the Fire Line. This is the description from the video's about page:

Date produced: 1986
Description: An historical look at wildfire management techniques and technology at use in the mid 1980s. A perspective following the devastating 1985 fire season.

The video shows all aspects of fighting wildfires in British Columbia in 1985 including but not limited  to how Conair's tankers helped slow the spread of the wildfire in support of the firefighters on the ground. When I say all aspects, I mean just that from deploying ground resources, to behind the scenes fire management, to aerial resources, to how wildfires are fought and contained. to the role of the public, to a discussion of large fires, and more. While historic in nature with some great footage of Conair's airtanker fleet from the mid 1980s (DC-6 and Firecats), the message is timely. The 30 minutes that you will spend watching the video is well worth it. 

History of the British Columbia Forest Service

As some of you know, I have been spending some time learning more about aerial firefighting in Canada. I have always been a bit of a history buff, so I like to spend some time learning more about the history of the provincial forest services in Canada and their history.

I have a couple of friends from British Columbia, so I have naturally been interested in learning more about British Columbia.

One of my friends turned me on to a website celebrating the 100th anniversary of the British Columbia Forest Service, the British Columbia Forest Service's Centenary (BCFS) Website. I have spent some time exploring their site, and could easily spend hours more on this site. One of my friends from western Canada told me that they had some videos, so I went to this page on the BCFS Centenary Website and found a link to a 26 minute video where I learned about the history of the BC Forest Service. Embedding has been disabled by the folk from BCFS Centenary. You can go to youtube and watch this video (1988?) -- A Proud Past: the 75th Anniversary of the BC Forest Service.

On Monday June 9, I'll share some information from the BCFS Centenary Website on the history of aerial firefighting in British Columbia, so stay tuned.

Updates: New Mexico wildfires and Powerhouse Fire (CA)

An update on the Thompson Ridge and Tres Lagunas Fires still burning in New Mexico.

NM wildfire update and fire forecast

The Thompson Ridge Fire is at 10 percent containment, having burned 14,430 acres. According to the latest news update on inciweb (June 7, 2013), three air tankers and four helicopters are available to provide to help the ground crews fight the fire. Meanwhile the Tres Lagunas Fire has burned 10,040 acres and is 34 percent contained. Seven helicopters are working the fire. Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today wrote an article about these two fires today that you might want to check out for more information on the fires, some photos and maps.

Following up on the Powerhouse Fire (Southern CA), acreage burned has been downgraded to 30,274 acres. Current containment is at 84 percent. All evacuation orders have been lifted. A total of 24 residences were destroyed.

revised on June 7, 2013 at 8:50 PM EDT

Powerhouse Fire: Ground and Air Attack

direct link to video

Funny how things happen. I have spent some time the last couple of days looking for a short video showing tankers and helos working a fire AND firefighters on the ground for a project I am working on. I came upon the video I share above which has all the elements that I was looking for plus some fire footage. It is a tad long for the project in question. But that won't stop me from sharing this here. It is a great video by Firegroundaction, footage from day 3 (June 2) of the Powerhouse Fire. Allow a little under eight minutes to watch the video.

As I write this, the Powerhouse Fire has burned 32,032 acres and is at 70 percent containment.

DC-10 Tanker 911 to AZ and wildfires in New Mexico

Some of you may have already seen the video (below) from ABC15 in Phoenix Arizona that was previously reported by Michael Archer in today's Fire Publications Blog, or perhaps you saw this same video on Bill Gabbert's Fire Aviation Site. I thought that some of you who have not seen this video might be interested. Tanker 911 (DC-10 tanker) left California yesterday where she had worked the Powerhouse Fire (65% contained, burned 32,032 acres) for Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport in Arizona where she was deployed to work on the Thompson Ridge Fire in New Mexico. She carries 11,600 gallons of retardant.

direct link to video and news report

Fires currently burning in New Mexico include the Tres Lagunas Fire (15% containment, 9,000 acres burned and the Thompson Ridge Fire (5 % containment; 9.394 acres burned. The Los Alamos Daily Post has an article (dated 6/4/13) and some photos of the Thompson Ridge Fire that may be found here. Here is a report from the Los Alamos Monitor (updated on June 5 with videos of news conferences about the fire) on the Thompson Ridge Fire and T-911's work on that fire.

Bill Gabbert of Fire Aviation reports on more details on T-911's arrival at Phoenix, her work on the Powerhouse Fire in CA and her work on the Thompson Ridge Fire here, thanks for your reporting Bill. Thanks to Michael Archer's Fire Publications Blog for leading me to some of the articles about the fires in New Mexico.

NASA has posted a satellite image of the Tres Lagunas and the Thompson Ridge Fires that may be found here.

T-11, I will not forget you

I want to pause and remember T-11 and her crew who crashed on June 3, 2012 while working the White Rock Fire near Hamblin Valley Utah. There were no survivors

Pilot: Todd Neal Tompkins
Co-Pilot: Ron Edwin Chambless

I will never forget you. Your sacrifice will not be forgotten. I know that you are flying in favorable tail winds.

Edited on October 24, 2017, I had originally shared a CNN video report where T-11 was one of the tankers making a drop. This was meant to be a tribute to T-11 and her crew. Gone but not forgotten. May you continue to flew in favorable tail winds.

I offer my loving intentions to Ron and Todd's family, their colleagues, and all who loved them.

Powerhouse Fire (Southern CA) - update #4

I've been spending a lot of time continuing to look around to find footage of tankers and helos working the Powerhouse Fire for you. Earlier today I was reading about the Powerhouse Fire somewhere on the internet and saw a reference to a nice video of T-911, one of the DC-10 tankers, dropping on the Powerhouse Fire. So, I went on some TV news sites from Los Angeles and found this video with some footage of T-911 from KABC in Los Angeles (from a late night broadcast on Sunday June 2).

I've been having some trouble with the embed code from KABC, it works in chrome and safari on my Mac but not in firefox. The direct link worked at the time I posted this article.

direct link to video and associated report

According to the latest inciweb update for this fire (this page is updated periodically so you may find different information) the fire has burned 29,584 acres and is at 40% containment.

Southern California Public Radio (89.3 KPPC) has a couple of nice pages of photos, from a report on Sunday, June 2 and more photos from their most recent report earlier today (Monday, June 3). Last night I watched about 30 to 45 minutes of live stream from a news helo over the Powerhouse Fire. Some of the tankers were a little hard to identify with certainty because of the distance, but I think I saw some of CAL FIRE's S-2T tankers. I took the photo below last year when I visited Ramona AAB

CAL FIRE S2-T, T-70 at Ramona AAB

And I did see a really nice close-up of one of Neptune Aviation's  P2-V airtankers. I believe it was  T-07, but even if I got the wrong tanker it was one of Neptunes P2-V's.

I wrote earlier articles on the Powerhouse Fire on

Friday, May 31
Sunday, June 2 (12:50 PM EDT)
Sunday, June 2 (6 PM EDT)  {videos include some footage of tankers and helos working the fire}

Powerhouse Fire (Southern CA): update #3

Some footage of the Powerhouse Fire. You will see T-41 and a helo (working at night) in the first video. In the second video (from KABC), you will see one of the destroyed houses, a Sikorsky S-64 making a drop and some aerial footage from a news helo. Containment is now at 20% with 19,500 acres burned, see the latest report from Inciweb.




direct link to video

Powerhouse Fire (Southern CA) - update #2

I just accessed a report on the Powerhouse Fire from Inciweb, reporting that the fire has burned 19,500 acres in steep terrain with 20 percent containment. Inciweb also reports that eight airtankers including one of the DC-10 tankers and eight helicopters have been working the fire. Evacuations have been ordered and an evacuation center has been set up.

I believe that the video embedded below from KCBS is dated late Saturday night, June 1 and the details reported may have changed. I include it because they had some nice footage of the fire.

direct link to video from CBS Los Angeles

LA Times article on Powerhouse Fire (June 2 at 8:53 AM PDT)

Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today continues to provide updates on the Power House Fire here. I had heard on my local radio this morning that some structures have been destroyed by the Power House Fire. Thanks to Bill's reporting, I found a link to a story from KABC in Los Angeles reporting on that some structures have been lost, the story may be found here and KABC has a photo gallery of the fire.

Powerhouse Fire (Southern CA)

While I have not posted recently about wildfires burning in southern California, I was aware of both the White Fire which is now 100 percent contained, having burned 1,984 acres in Santa Barbara County and the Magic Fire which burned 149 acres in Valencia (LA County). I was just reading about the Powerhouse Fire on Bill Gabbert's blog Wildfire Today. I understand from Bill's latest update at 8:15AM PDT this morning, the fire has burned 1,500 acres at 15 percent containment. 

I also went to KCBS in Los Angeles where I found a very nice photo gallery:

Powerhouse Fire « CBS Los Angeles

Finally the Wildland Fire Hotlist has a thread for this fire that may be found here.

Note on Sunday, June 2: I had embedded a video from MyFoxLA reporting on the fire earlier on Friday morning which has since been taken down. I just provided an update on this fire that may found here.

Air Attack: Florida Fire (CA) Aug 2011

direct link to video from the envenomater1

I don't know about you, I've been in the mood to watch some footage of tankers and helos working a fire. Allow about 13.5 minutes for this video, footage from late August 2011 of air operations over the Florida Fire in San Bernadino County CA. You will see a couple of the Canadair Scoopers (415 CL) that CAL FIRE contracts for as well as a couple of Grumman S2-T's and a couple of helos.

Lethbridge Alberta wildfire of Nov. 27, 2011

Some of you may know that I've been trying to learn a bit more about wildland firefighting in Canada. I've been focusing recently on Alberta. So, I did what I often do and ended up on youtube where I found two videos of what I hope are the same wildfire, a wildfire that burned in Lethbridge, Alberta on Nov. 27, 2011, an extremely windy day with winds blowing up to 120 km/hour (about 75 miles per hour). A brief description of that fire may be found here and an article from The Star. I came up the first video, about 5 minutes of impressive footage. Wanting to learn a little more, I did a quick search on youtube and found the second footage, taken from the air on what I believe was the morning after the fire.


direct link to video


direct link to video

10 Tanker Air Carrier moving headquarters to Casper Wyoming

DC-10 tanker bombs Little Bear Fire

direct link to story and video from KRQE in New Mexico

direct link to video

Late last week, 10 Tanker Air Carrier announced that they will be moving their headquarters from Victorville CA to Casper Wyoming, specifically to Casper/Natrona County International Airport this summer, perhaps as early as June.  You may recall that it was only about three weeks ago that the US Forest Service announced that 10 Tanker Air Carrier received one of five intent to award contracts under the Next Generation Air Tanker Contract, go here to read my article of May 7, 2013.

One of 10 Tanker Air Carrier's two DC-10 tankers was based at Casper/Notrona County International Airport last September when she worked the Sheep Herder Fire.

For more information see:

Star Tribune, Wyoming's News Source

Press Enterprise

Fire Aviation on 10 Tanker's move to WY

Virginia Hills Fire (Alberta Canada) of 1998

Continuing with what my article on Alberta Canada's forests, (here) I thought that some of you might enjoying watching this fifteen minute video on the Virginia Hills Fire (1998) in Alberta Canada.


direct link to video

Initial Attack Revisited

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

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

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

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

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

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

Updates: Germann Rd. Fire (WI) and Grand Fire (CA)

I want to provide some updates on two wildfires that I wrote about recently.

Germann Rd. Fire (Douglas County WI): According the latest update (on May 15) on Inciweb, the fire was at 100 percent containment at 9 PM on May 15. Final acreage burned is 8,131 acres, and the likely cause of the fire was logging operations equipment.

Grand Fire (Kern and Ventura Counties CA): This fire has burned 4,358 acres and is 75 percent contained as of this morning's latest updates from Inciweb and CAL FIRE.  Hungry Valley State Park and the Piru Creek Recreation Area remain closed this morning, and roads into both parks are still closed.

Note: Inciweb links are sometimes unresponsive due to high demand, if this happens try waiting and going back at a later time.

From NIFC - weather and winds

direct link to video

I took a slight break today and then spent some time doing some more background work on the Douglas A-26's service as a tanker. Working on this series has been taking a little longer then anticipated. In the meantime, some of you know that I have gotten interested in weather from working on this blog as well as my interest in aviation. So, I leave you with this video on weather and winds affecting wildland firefighting from NIFC.

Grand Fire near Frazier Park CA

direct link to report from CBS Los Angeles with video


direct link to timelapse video on youtube

The Grand Fire, burning near Frazier Park CA (Kern and Ventura Counties) started on May 15 around 1 PM PDT. From what I understand from this thread at the wildland fire hotlist there was quite an airshow yestersterday afternoon with a few helos, five CAL FIRE S-2's (74, 78,76,81. 90) Two P-2s (T-5, T-44) and Neptune's BAe-146, T-41.

According the latest CAL FIRE incident report for the Grand Fire as of 10:53 PM PDT on May 15, the fire had burned 3,000 acres and was 10 percent contained.

There are media reports that the fire is burning near some power lines and that there are some evacuations for campgrounds in place.

Germann Rd. (Wisconsin): Fire

The largest wildfire in Wisconsin, the Germann Road Fire, has burned 9,026 acres in Gordon and Highland (Douglas County) and has destroyed seventeen homes and at least 30 outbuildings. The fire, which started near a logging area on Tues. May 14, is 90 percent contained. I understand that SEATS from WI and MN have worked the fire and possibly other aerial resources as well. Red Flag Warnings remain up in WI until 9 PM Wed. May 15.

updated on July 18, 2013: video that I had embedded here with a report on the Germann Road Fire is no longer available. :-(

Some links for more information:

WI DNR press release dated May 14
WI DNR webpage on Germann Road Fire (with links for more information)
WI DNR press release dated May 15

Inciweb on Germann Road Fire
Inciweb Map of Germann Road Fire

Media Reports
WDIO short video report
WDIO report - 17 homes lost, 9026 acres burned
Star Tribune
MyFoxTwinCities with photos
Wbay

Elsewhere
Wildfiretoday on Germann Road Fire
Wildland Fire Hotlist Eastern Area - Germann Road Fire
Photos on Flikr of Germann Road Fire

History of Alberta's Forests

A couple of days ago I was writing about wildfires in Canada, saying that I was in the process learning more about wildfires in Canada. In my wonderings on the webpage for Alberta's Environment and Sustainable Resource Development, I found the video that I am embedding here (47 minutes) on the history of Alberta's Forests. Wanting to learn more about Alberta I watched the video. I thought that some of you might enjoy watching some or all of the video. The video discusses some history as well as talking about wildland firefighting and the use of airplanes and helicopters to fight fires. Enjoy!

direct link to video

P2-V cockpit footage

Shortly after I devoted this blog to aerial wildland firefighting in early 2009, I wrote a series on the Lockheed P2-V tanker. As a part of that series, a devoted an entry to some link's from Neptune Aviation's website of the photo galleries that had up at that time and a link to 16 minutes of footage from a P2-V tanker flying fires. Both links were dead, and I just updated those links. I enjoyed watching the footage again and thought that some of you might enjoy the footage as well.

direct  link to video

Learning about wildfires in Canada

I want to make a point of paying more attention to the wildfire situation in Canada. I am still learning my way around Canadian wildfire information websites, so please bear with me. I begin by looking for articles about wildfires in Canada, and I found some articles in today's Firebomber Publications, three articles concerning wildfires in New Brunswick, Canada:

Cleanup efforts underway after forest fire destroys homes in N.B. | CTV Atlantic News

Forest Fire in East St. John N.B. - News 889

New Brunswick forest fire contained, evacuees sent home | CTV News

And a fire in Alberta, Canada: Wildfire near Nordegg Alberta

A couple of week ago when I was poking around on the internet looking for wildfire information in Canada, I came across the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System website from Natural Resources Canada. You will see links for a few maps on the page you land on including fire weather, fire behavior maps, fire hotspots and an interactive map showing fire conditions. I was interested in the wildfire situation report, the one I saw was dated May 8 where 943 wildfires have burned 943 hectares or approximately 2,330 acres. This report was helpful to me as I found links to agencies in New Brunswick and Alberta. I found a link on the Alberta ERSD site reporting on the one hour evacuation notice for Nordegg Alberta.

I'll be posting more about wildfires in Canada as the season progresses and will continue to try to learn my way around various information available on the web. So stay tuned. In the meantime stay safe out there.

Springs Fire (CA) - helos, a dozer, and T-44 dropping

direct link to video - helos dipping


direct link to video - helos dropping and dozer footage


direct link to video - a dozer, helos, fire footage, lead plane with smoke, T-44 dropping ( at 7:02)

I've been busy with some other work today, so I thought you'd enjoy these videos of the Springs Fire, which according to the latest update from CAL FIRE has burned 24,451 acres with 95 percent containment. Full containment is expected on May 9.

USFS Issues Notice of Intent to Award Next Generation Airtankers

Yesterday (May 6th), the US Forest Service (USFS) announced a notice of intent

to award five companies Next Generation Airtanker Contracts. The contract is for five years with five one year options (years 6 through 10). What is known as the awards abstract, listing awards for the first five years and the five option years may be found here. Tankers under this contract must be turbine or turbojets and carry a minimum of 3,000 gallons of retardant. Those who received the awards are.:

Minden Air Corp (Minden, NV) - 1 BAe-146

Aero Air LLC (Hillsboro, OR) - 2 MD87s

Aero Flite, Inc (Kingman, AZ) - 2 Avro RJ85s

Coulson Aircrane USA (Portland OR) - 1 C130Q

10 Tanker Air Carrier, LLC (Adelanto CA) - 1 DC-10

Of the seven aircraft, only the DC-10 tanker is currently flying. The hope and expectation is that the six remaining tankers will come into service within a year. You may notice that Neptune Aviation is not on this list. Last year, the USFS issued a notice of intent for Next Generation Airtankers with Neptune Aviation being one of those receiving an intended award. When protests were made challenging these June 2012 intended awards were upheld by the U.S. Office of Government Accountability the USFS reopened the bidding. 

It is important to note that Neptune Aviation has what is known as a Legacy Air Tanker contract with the USFS for six P-2V's and one BAe-146. Minden has one P-2V under the Legacy Air Tanker contract.

Two articles on the Next Generation Airtanker Contract awards thanks to Mike Archer at Firebomber Publications from

Elko Daily Free Press announcing the Next Gen awards

Billings Gazette on Neptune Aviation's situation.

BIll Gabbert of Fire Aviation has a nice article announcing the Next Generation Airtanker awards, a summary of the events of the last year, and a chart of specifications of current (including those receiving the May 6th Next Gen Awards) and potential air tankers.  Bill's article, which is worth reading, may be found here.

Wildland Fires in CA and Tanker Tidbits: May 6

I was still a little under the weather this weekend and then catching up with some personal business today. But I have been following the wildfire situation in California. Here are some updates for you. Some of you may have been following these fires on various news outlets.

• KCRA is reporting that the California wildfire season is off to an early start, you may read the KCRA report (with a video) here.
• I wrote about the Springs Fire that is burning in Ventura County, CA on May 3. According to the CAL Fire incident page on the wildfire (no longer available), tt has burned 28,00 acres and is 80 percent contained. Evacuations orders have been lifted.
• The Panther Fire has burned 6,864 acres in Tehama County CA, and is at 60 percent containment. Three people have been injured.
• CAL FIRE activated T-910, see this article from The San Bernadino Sun, she dropped on the Gorgonio Fire. According to CAL FIRE's current incident reports the Gorgonio Fire burned 510 acres in Riverside County CA. The fire was started on May 4 and contained on May 5.
• According to the Department of Defense (article no longer available), two MAFFS from the Channel Islands were activated to help out with these California wildfires.

Revised on October 12, 2015 to remove dead links.

Springs Fire - Ventura County CA

The Springs fire, started on May 2, has burned about 10,000 acres and is at 10 percent containment. According to the incident information from CAL FIRE which I obtained at 4:30 EDT on May 3 (info is updated once or twice a day and may be different):

• damaged structures: 15 residences, 15 outbuildings, and 5 commercial properties
• 4,000 residences, 300 commercial properties and 50 outbuildings are threatened
• Evacuations in effect
• Aircraft: 6 airtankers and 8 helicopters

According to this LA Times article airtankers were grounded for a time yesterday due to high winds. Red Flag warnings are in effect today for LA County.

updated on July 18, 2013: video that I had embedded reporting on the Springs Fire is no longer available. :-(

Springs Fire on wildland fire hotlist

Springs Fire In Camarillo « Photo Galleries « CBS Los Angeles

direct link to slide show below from my foxla

A visit to NJFFS Air Attack Base at Aeroflex-Andover-pt 3 (Huey Delta 6)

These are some photos of a 1966 Bell UH-1H Huey, delta 6. According to the folk at Aeroflex-Andover, she spent six years in Vietnam. She has a new paint job, isn't she purty? She carries crew to fire, has a long line and a cargo net for supplies. She carries a 325 gallon bucket, the bucket is cinched to about 80 percent of capacity and she carries partial fuel (206 gallon capacity, carries about 180 gallons) to save weight. On average, she can make 20 drops on a single tank of gas. It does not show in one picture, but her tug is a De lorean Tug. I got to sit in her left seat to get the cockpit photos for you.

NJ Forest Fire Service "Delta 6", UH-1H Huey

NJ Forest Fire Service "Delta 6", UH-1H Huey

NJ Forest Fire Service "Delta 6", UH-1H Huey

NJ Forest Fire Service "Delta 6", UH-1H Huey: stowed bambi bucket

NJ Forest Fire Service "Delta 6", UH-1H Huey

NJ Forest Fire Service "Delta 6", UH-1H Huey

NJ Forest Fire Service "Delta 6", UH-1H Huey

NJ Forest Fire Service "Delta 6", UH-1H Huey

NJ Forest Fire Service "Delta 6", UH-1H Huey: can view bucket ops in mirror

NJ Forest Fire Service "Delta 6", UH-1H Huey

De Lorean tug

De Lorean Tug

Air Tractor 602 (NJFFS Charlie 1) dropping

Hopefully I will be back later on this afternoon with more photos from my trip to the New Jersey Forest Fire Service Air Attack Base at Aeroflex-Andover. In the meantime, enjoy this short video of Charlie 1 (Air Tractor 602) dropping on a marsh fire in Cape May County on April 27.


direct link to video