Mt. Wilson timelapse (Sept. 4-7)

While I was sans internet access, a friend shared this youtube video of photos from the Mt. Wilson webcam (timelapse) taken from Sept. 4 through 7. I share this with you now.

on retardant and aerial firefighting

I saw a good article on inciweb last week about retardant and aerial fire fighting. It is called Retarding the Flames, and it is one of the news releases in conjunction with the Station Fire:

One of the most dramatic sights on a wildfire is the vision of an air tanker releasing its red payload of retardant near the fire. Behind this picturesque vision is a long history of science in the development of a valuable tool for firefighters - the use of fire retardant. Today retardant is used when appropriate to help suppress wildland fires.

Aerial drops of retardant have come a long way since the first recorded water drop in 1930, when a Ford Tri-Motor airplane used a wooden beer keg filled with water. Now air tankers can drop 500 to 2000 gallons of retardant at a time to help suppress fires. Helitankers, which are helicopters with built-in tanks, can drop up to 2000 gallons; retrofitted DC-10s have an 11,000 gallon capacity, and Boeing 747s 20,000 gallons.

Fire retardant is just one of many tools in the arsenal of firefighters. Like any other tool, it must be used under the right conditions and for the right job in order to be effective. Firefighters consider many factors in deciding which tools to use at a particular location and time to suppress a fire. Characteristics of the terrain, weather variables such as temperature, humidity, wind direction and force; the types of vegetation in the fire area; proximity to homes and other buildings; and the first priority of safety of the public and firefighters are all factors in choosing the right tools for the particular circumstances.

Retardant drops are most often used in extreme fire conditions. The retardant is usually dropped just ahead of the advancing edge of the fire and the flanks of the fire. This cools and so slows the fire, helping firefighters on the ground. It reduces the rate of spread and the intensity of fires, and slows larger, more damaging, and therefore can reduce the cost of fires. Often, using retardant to fight fires is the most effective and efficient method of assisting firefighters in protecting people, resources, private property and facilities. The remoteness of many wildland fires can delay the arrival of firefighting ground forces. Retardant drops can rapidly reduce the intensity and spread of the fire until firefighters can safely take action. Topography in the fire area and windy conditions are some of the factors limiting the effectiveness, and therefore the use, of retardant.  . . .

Go here to read the complete article

Station fire from space

I have seen individual images of the Station fire from satellites, but not a compilation of images. It is short. Check it out.

More fire footage

And more fire footage uploaded to youtube on September 1.

Fire footage

While I am wondering around in the land of no internet access, I am leaving you with some video footage of the recent fires in Southern California.

Tanker 21 drop near Mt. Wilson

Awesome video of an AeroUnion Orion P-3, tanker 21, making a drop near Mt. Wilson, uploaded on September 6.

Updated on August 3, 2015: The US Forest Service terminated its contract with Aero-Union for their Lockheed P-3's, going out of business a month later. (see my articles of July 30, 2011, August 17, 2011, and January 18, 2012). 

Mt. Wilson Observatory and Airtankers

Here is another image taken by the Mt. Wilson Observatory webcam sent to me while I was sleeping last night. You can see the Station Fire burning in the background.

Speaking of Mt. Wilson, the website that I have referred you to for updates on how the station fire is affecting Mt. Wilson is written by staff of the Observatory, including the director. They write of the aerial assault near Mt. Wilson. The retardant lines laid by these airtankers. In addition to benefiting Mt. Wilson, these retardant drops were laid in hopes of keeping the fire out of Big Santa Anita Canyon, Sierra Madre, and Monrovia. I encourage you to visit their fire webpage for their impressions of seeing this aerial assault up close and personal as well as ground operations. They also have a picture page with some awesome photos of airtankers up close and personal. I was interested in the photo of one of Minden's SP-2H tankers, as I have never seen a photo of one of their tankers.

In closing, I'd like to offer these observations that an aviator friend, who has flown fires in southern california offered very early this morning (about 5AM, my time):

The fire continues burning to the East. We're at 154,655 acres and a good hold is on the Western flanks. The Eastern portion is being handled as best they can, but there is minimal access to the area. That means tankers, helo's and a VERY long hike for the handcrews.

September 8, 2014: dead links removed

footage from cockpit of CL 415 and AirCrane

Bill Gabbert posted a link to some incredible footage shot by a camera inside the cockpit of a CL 415 and an Air Crane. Go here to check it out.

The Mt. Wilson webcam was back in service yesterday. Someone sent me this image last night and I am posting it here. Updates on the fire as affects Mt. Wilson may be found here.

On pets and wildland fire (and other disaster) evacuations

I was checking out a media outlet in Sacramento CA this morning checking on a small wildland fire that burned over night in the Cleveland National Forest. After checking out the fire story, I saw the story of badly burned cat that got separated from her owner after their house burned to the ground during the 49 fire that burned in Auburn CA over the weekend. Someone in the sheriff’s office found the cat and took her to a vet who has been treating the cat for severe burns. So, the Sacramento media has been doing their part in trying to reunite the cat and her owner.

I have always had animals and this story got me thinking about my own cat, Rocky. It got me thinking about what I can do to keep Rocky safe and to ensure that if some disaster happened and we were not able to evacuate to a shelter with Rocky. I would someone to be able to find us. You never know what might happen that will lead to an evacuation. If he were injured, we would want to know about it, to be able to comfort him. What can I do to protect Rocky and to give us a chance of being reunited if we had to leave Rocky somewhere or if he went into hiding as the flames approached?

Here I write about wildland fires, which often require evacuations. I read the story about the burned cat and saw the pictures and read the vets appeal to reunite the cat with her owner. I don’t want that to happen to Rocky. As I get to know those of you who are air tanker pilots, helo pilots, ground crew, engine crew, smokejumpers, etc., I know that you care about protecting people, property and animals. I know that you care about the innocent victims of fire who are animals.

So, I offer this advice from a member of the wildland firefighting community to honor all the pets as well as our feline friend in a veterinary hospital near Auburn CA.

Sometimes an animal's survival instincts are better than a humans. While I agree 100% that the family pet should be the first thing carried out with the family, yes, it's not always possible. Advanced notice gives one time to round up the animals and cage them...they're easier to catch. In the imminent danger of an approaching fire, animals sense the danger and panic (we as humans) unconsciously put out. One of the big reasons why pets go hide in the heat of the moment. Even if there's a family argument, a pet will seek refuge away from the battle. It's part of their nature.

What can we do to insure our pets are safe during a time of crisis?

• Whether you've been told to evacuate or not...if there's a chance you might be asked....crate your pet during the calm before the storm.

• ID chips are cheap insurance for keeping everyone together after the crisis.

• With a bit of training, most animals will respond to a specific command to go to their crate. Never make "time out" in an animal carrier a form of punishment. Keep a favorite blanket and toy inside the carrier, as this makes the crate more of a reward for good behavior than a punishment for bad. Remember, neither humans nor animals like that long walk to the woodshed!

• Make sure the carrier is tagged with the pets name, vet info., and owners contact information. Some evacuation centers don't allow pets to stay with their owners. At least if you become separated, there will be a chain of information to start the reuniting process.

Not much involved here, just a bit of common sense.

On the advice above, I'm not sure that I can train Rocky to go into a crate, but that is the nature of cats.

I am getting a chip implanted in Rocky. It isn’t expensive. A little "insurance." In Rocky’s case, the chip is injected under his skin between his shoulder blades. The chip has a unique code. We register our contact information and alternate contact info in a national database. The chip can be read with a scanner device. At least we have done the best that we can do, and won’t be saying that we shoulda made sure Rocky had a chip.

AirCrane at Station Fire

The helitanker in the video is an Erickson Air Crane, under contract (with the US Forest Service?). To the best of my knowledge it is not a LA County helitanker. It is probably under contract. I believe that Erickson has a contract with LA County.

One of the lighter moments of the hours that I spent watching live footage of the Station Fire came with watching the AirCranes working the fire. One reason is because I got to know one of Erickson Air Crane's senior pilots, Kenny Chapman through my writings. I know that Kenny was based in California a couple of months ago, I don't know if he still is. And if he is, I don't know if he is or was working the Station Fire. But I thought of him every time I saw an AirCrane make a drop.

The levity came early Tuesday evening after I watched about ten minutes of footage of the Martin Mars before and during her drop on Mt. Wilson. After the drop, they switched to shots of AirCranes (Erickson and others) using their snorkle tubes to fill their tankers. Some shots were of the helitanker filling their tanks from a pond. Others showed them filling from tanks, sometimes known as dip tanks. You know the sound you can make when you are drinking a bottle of soda from a bottle , when the bottle is almost empty? You want to get every last drop of soda. Well the guys in the news helo were making that noise as the helitanker was filling its tanks from the dip tank. I cracked up, made me laugh out loud.

I made a post a couple of months ago where I embedded a video of an AirCrane filling its tank from a dip tank, it may be found here.

Tankers don't always carry full loads

I want to briefly mention something that I will spend more time writing about later after I have had a chance to do some research as well as talking to my aviator friends. That is, more often than not, tankers and helos will not carry a full load of retardant or water in their tanks due to aeronautical concerns. So, when the reports are saying that the Martin Mars can carry 7,200 gallons of water/gel mixture or that the Evergreen 747 supertanker can carry 20,500 gallons of retardant, they will carry these loads under "ideal" circumstances. The word "ideal" may be a misnomer, but it will have to suffice for now.

So, the Martin Mars was, as Bill Gabbert pointed out the other day, was carrying a smaller load of water (about 4,600 to 5,500 gallons). Chances are the Evergreen 747 supertanker was carrying a smaller load of retardant. Those of you who are aviators, or firefighters more familiar with aeronautics than I will know that one of the main reasons that tankers (and I assume helos) carry a lower load is because of something called density altitude. I will be writing some articles later about density altitude. I had begun discussions with some of my fire aviator friends several weeks ago about points such as density altitude and retardant coverage levels. I am beginning to revisit these issues.

One final point, while I am on the subject. When the Fox newscasters were covering the other day about the Evergreen 747 supertanker's retardant drops, one of them said that the supertanker could lay down a retardant line 3 miles long. This was also under "ideal" conditions and when the load is dropped in one run. I will add here that they were reading from specifications and other data on the supertanker, as they should. Having read specs myself, what I have to remember is to read words like "maximum" or the data sheet might say something like "the supertanker can drop a retardant line up to three miles long." Point being that I have to remember to think about these words as I listen to newscasts or read articles online.

Returning back to retardant line laid by the Evergreen 747 supertanker, the supertanker split the load into two runs, as all tankers are able to do. Likewise, at full capacity and under ideal conditions, the Martin Mars can cover 4 acres with its water/gel mix. If I understand things correctly, each water/gel load dropped by the Martin Mars covered less than 4 acres. Again, in later articles, I will try to write more about this issue.

I will also be writing about other aerodynamic issues relating to retardant and water drops. In some sense this planned series of articles will be a continuation of the short series of articles I wrote several weeks ago on wing stalls as relates to retardant drops. I won't link to this here, but if you look at the labels on the lower left side of this page, you will see a label that says "aerodynamics." If you click on that label you will get all my posts on aerodynamics to date, including posts on wing stalls.

Look for this series down the road a bit.

More on Martin Mars

Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today has recently made this post of two videos of the Hawaii Mars in action. I am embedding one video here, with thanks to Bill for sharing this on his site. According to Bill, this video is shot from cameras on the lead helicopter and from cameras on board the aircraft. I like this video for its unique perspective as I am especially intrigued by footage taken from inside the cockpit of a tanker or a helo. Bill also provides some information about the history of the Martin Mars, those of you with an interest in aviation history will want to check this out. You will also want to check out Bill's post to see the second video that I did not embed here, a longer video (almost six minutes) of Monday's drop on Mt. Wilson where they talk a little about the aircraft itself and its capabilities.

For those of you who keep track of these things, this post updates and replaces one that I made late last night and have since deleted.

September 8, 2014: dead links removed.

So. CA wildfires: photography

I offer two links for you to two very different photography collections of the Station Fire that has burned over 140,000 acres outside of Los Angeles California. The first collection is posted on the website of the Boston Globe in an easy to view format where you can scroll down the page to view the photos. These photos and other photo collections like this on other media outlets on the web reminds me that there are a large number of firefighters working to contain the fire. It helps me to put a face on those of you are or were fighting the fires. Other images remind me that fire destroys. And still other images show that the fire is being fought on the ground with the support of aviation resources in the air. You may go here to view these photos.

September 8, 2014: Dead links removed.

dc-10 working So. CA fires

I believe that this is the DC-10 tanker known as tanker 911. This video was uploaded to youtube on August 31. I believe that T-911 is working the Station Fire.

And here is a link to another you tube video uploaded on August 31. Here you will see T-911 making two consecutive drops on the Station Fire. Embedding is disabled on this video

Mt. Wilson Observatory Redux

This is the last webcam picture taken from the Mt.Wilson observatory webcam website at 1:49 PM PDT on Sept. 1. The note on the webcam says:

Note: The Mount Wilson webserver has gone down, most likely due to a backfire infiltration of a pull box containing telephone lines that bring us our T1 internet service. The will be no more updates from the Towercam, the last one being upoaded at 13:49:06. ... Solar observer comment posted on September 1, 2009 at 10:32 P.D.T.: Current weather conditions: smokey

For news on the status of the fires on Mt. Wilson, go here.

Martin Mars makes drop on Mt. Wilson

direct link to video

After eating dinner I decided to come in and watch some more live video streams out of southern California. I lucked out and saw the Martin "Hawaii" Mars circling over Mt. Wilson. What a magnificent airplane, literally two of a kind. After about five to ten minutes of watching the video, with some nice closeups of the Martin Mars, it came in for its dropping, dropping water (with foam) near the transmission towers.

Remember the capacity of the Martin Mars is 7,200 gallons and it has a 600 gallon foam tank. For more information on the Martin Mars, go here.

In the meantime I am watching streams of helitankers working the fires, loading and making drops.

update:8:10PM EDT
I would like to thank Huufs for pointing me to myfoxla video that I just embedded as well as the video from abc on youtube. Thank-you Huufs

updated on Sept 6, 2013
It seems that the myfoxla video may no longer be available, so I am, hopefully, including a video from youtube of the Martin Mars making a drop on Mt. Wilson

Early thoughts on the wildfires in So. CA

I have spent several hours over the last three days watching live video streams from CBS2/KCAL9 or MyFoxLA of the Station fire burning in and near the Angeles National Forest outside Los Angeles. I want to say from the outset that there is absolutely no way that my watching the live video streams (or you tube videos or any other video of wildfire fighting) is equal to the experiences of fighting these fires either on the ground or from the air. It does not and can not replace being there. But from my vantage point and given my age, this is the closest that I am going to come. I am profoundly moved by what I have watched. This is real stuff folks. This is not the type of video where I can sit on my couch eating popcorn watching a movie on cable or on DVD.

On Sunday, I started out by watching retardant drops by tankers and water drops by helos. Any excitement I felt by watching the aerial attack was replaced by horror as I saw the live feed of the news helo showing live footage of the accident site where two fine firefighters died. I will never forget those images and the words of the helo reporter. I hope I never do forgot. Two people died the other night. A few months ago I was watching live footage of a house being engulfed in flames. This was someone's house. I watched backburning operations this afternoon. And interspersed with these shots are shots of the fire itself, impressive flame heights of I don't know how high. And as I have watched this footage over the last three days, I understand that much of the fire is in extremely inaccessible terrain.

But I have also seen with my own eyes that this inaccessible terrain is sometimes inaccessible to the tankers that can help because the smoke makes it too dangerous to fly. For example on Sunday afternoon, I saw a P-3 make a drop on on side of Mt. Wilson (more on that in a later post) but there was smoke on the other side of the Mountain. One of tanker pilot friends told me yesterday as I was watching yet another video stream of the wildfires that a tanker pilot could see to approach the drop, would barely be able to see while making the drop, and has zero visibility leaving the drop because of the smoke. These conditions, he pointed out, made it unsafe for the tankers to fly.

I am only now beginning to absorb what I have seen, and I am not sure that my words can adequately convey the very profound impact that watching these live video streams has meant to me. I will share more reflections in a day or so.

On aerial firefighting strategy

Just before I originally wrote this article I was on the CBS2/KCAL9 website to get an update on what is happening on the wildfires burning in southern California. Always on the lookout for how aerial resources are being used, I watched an informative video (no longer available) where an LA County Fire Captain (Mark Wayland (sp?) is being interviewed. A portion of the interview, the first part, is focused on the use of aerial resources. In particular, the reporter asks why the two CL 415 super scoopers that arrived in southern California have not yet been used. As I understand it, the answer in brief, is that the super scoopers are more appropriate for initial attack (new fires) and are not appropriate for wildfires such as the station fire and other wildfires currently burning because the water they drop can conflict with the retardant lines. Listen to the video for the Fire Captain's responses.

Edited on September 8, 2014 to remove dead links/

Evergreen 747 supertanker drop

Bill Gabbert has some pictures of the Evergreen 747 supertanker's earlier drops this fire season.

There was  a 12 minute video from myfoxla that is no longer available. As you will see on the video, the Evergreen 747 is known as tanker 979 (the number on the tail). The first drop in this run is about 3 minutes and 30 seconds into the video. Tanker 979 split this load into two drops of 10,000 gallons each that Fox captured in this video. Think about it, she dropped 20,000 gallons of retardant without having to return to her base at McClellan for reloading. For those of you who are interested, the first of these drops occurs at about 3 minutes and 30 seconds into the video

Updated on September 8, 2014: The wonderful 12 minute video that I embedded here when I first wrote this article is no longer available. At least I couldn't find it. 

Updated on August 3, 2015: According to Bill Gabbert's May 2nd (2014) article on Fire Aviation it seems that Evergreen has declared bankruptcy.