Pausing to Remember attacks of Sept. 11

I am pausing to remember the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. I offer my thoughts and prayers on this day for all who died in the attacks, for the first responders and others who are still living with the after effects of the attacks.

Morgan Fire -- Smoke Plume Weather

The Morgan Fire near Mt. Diablo east of Oakland has burned 1,500 acres and is 10% contained. The fire started yesterday afternoon. If you want more information on this fire, Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today has an article on the Morgan Fire here, SF Gate has an article with some photos reported on the Morgan Fire earlier today, finally NBCBayArea reports and videos on the fire (including the video I embedded below). When I was checking out NBCBayArea's reporting on the fire, I was intrigued by the short video on smoke plume weather as relates to the Morgan Fire.  I thought that some of you might be interested in this video, so I am embedding below. I don't know how long this embed code will work, however, I enjoyed what the meteorologist had to say about smoke plume weather so I am giving this a shot. I'll try to remember to check back here periodically to see if the embed code continues to work.

Geronimo and Del Rosa Hotshots

I was looking around on Inciweb's page for the Rim Fire a little while ago because I wanted to check out their photo page. I figured that since this is such a large fire that there would be several pages of photos, and I was right. InciWeb had 144 photos on 15 pages. Perhaps you will want to take a look at some of these photos.

There was a method to my madness, so to speak. That is, I was thinking about the post I made yesterday about the Rim Fire, where I embedded a video from Sunshine Pictures showing the Geronimo Hotshots working the Rim Fire. I wanted to share a couple more videos of Hotshot crews at work, so I thought I'd start with the Geronimo Hotshots.

The Geronimo Hotshots are from San Carlos AZ, here is a short video:

direct link to video

When I was on the photo page from Inciweb's Rim Fire page, I saw a photo of the Del Rosa Hotshots. I believe that they are the oldest hotshot crew in the nation.

direct link to video

To my friends on the fire line, stay safe out there. Thanks for what you do for us.

Rim Fire (CA) - on the fireline

There have been a few thousands wildland firefighters on the ground along with various equipment working the fire. I was looking around for some video of groundpounders working the Rim Fire when I came upon a great Vimeo channel from Sunshine Pictures devoted to the Rim Fire, the page may be found here. I hope that you spend a few minutes checking out their channel. Sunshine Pictures says this, in part, about the video clips on this channel:

The clips are educational in showing wildland fire suppression tactics at work on the ground along with the general conditions of smoke and fire.

Sunshine Pictures promises more videos to come, and I know that I'll be going back to check out their channel. It is in the spirit of education that I embed one of the videos from Sunshine Productions here.

Here is one of the videos from Sunshine Pictures on their vimeo channel devoted to the Rim Fire. Depending on the browser that you use, you might have trouble seeing the embedded video, if that is the case, click on the link that says Geronimo Hotshots. According to the info that accompanies the video, "The first clips show the crew digging a small chunk of line in a thick duff layer. The next clips show the crew linking or putting a ring around a spot that had escaped the main fire line."

Geronimo Hotshots from Sunshine Pictures on Vimeo.

Rim Fire (CA) - Sept. 3 update

The LA Times is reporting that the Rim Fire is at 75% containment, having burned 235, 841 putting it less than 5,000 acres shy of being the third largest fire in Californian history, go here to see the LA Times article.The latest update from Inciweb on the Rim Fire may be found here. Full containment is estimated to be a few weeks away.

Here are a couple of articles that Mike Archer of Firebombers Publications shared yesterday and today. As I was writing this article, I saw that Mike Archer linked to the above LA Times article today.

time lapse video on flickr by Jeff Sullivan

USA Today (9/2/13) article on the fire referencing # of personal, equipment and helos working the fire

KMPH 9/1/13 report and video on the role of Fresno AAB and a hotshot crew

Fox News (9/2/13, Associated Press) on how weather has affected firefighters working the fire

Stay safe everyone!

Revised on October 12, 2015 to removed a dead link.

RIP Tanker 09: I remember

direct link to video

I had only been writing my blog on aerial wildland firefighting for about three months and was reading about Neptune's P2-V tankers in early April of 2009 when I learned about the crash of Neptune's P2-V T-09. Information about the crash was in some material that I had. So, I made my first of many posts about fatal tanker and helo crashes on April 4, 2009 in a post called In Memoriam: Tanker 09. Words escaped me at the time and they still do.

Tanker 09 crashed while working the Smitty Fire on Sept. 1, 2008. Five years ago today. Lost that day, but not forgotten were:

Gene Walhstrom

Greg Gonsioroski

Zachary Vandergriend

I think of you often, especially when I go on one of air experience flights. I pray for your family and friends often. I know that you are flying in favorable tail winds. 

There is a nice page on T-09 on Always Remember

Aerial application cockpit footage from an AT-502

A friend of mine sent me a link to the video that I am embedding here. He knew that I would enjoy the footage, which I did. And he thought that some of you might enjoy this footage. Allow for a tad under 17 minutes to watch the video which includes some classic rock audio, including "Sky Pilot".


direct link to video

Rim Fire (CA) - Aug 28

The Rim Fire has burned 187,466 acres and is at 23 percent containment per the latest update available to me from Inciweb at the time I first wrote this article. (Inciweb's incident page for the Rim Fire is no longer available).

Rim Fire Time Lapse (video uploaded on Aug 23, 2013)

direct link to video on youtube

Another look at a California National Guard UH-60 Black Hawk from the 1-140th Aviation Battalion (Air Assault) working the Rim Fire shot from the helo by Mater Sgt. Julie Avery.

direct link to video on dvidshub

DC-10 dropping on Rim Fire

direct link to video on youtube

Rim Fire Photo gallery from KCRA

Bill Gabbert (Wildfire Today) on virtual tour of the Rim Fire area
Bill Gabbert (Fire Aviation) photos of Nat Guard Helos arriving to work Rim Fire


More articles:
Article from U.S. Air Force on MAFFS deploying to CA to help with wildfires with pictures
LA TImes article on Rim Fire, may soon be sixth largest fire in CA history

Revised on October 12, 2015 to remove dead link.

Rim Fire update - 8/26/13

I wrote this past Friday (Aug. 23) about the Rim Fire, I follow up on that post here. According to the latest information available from inciweb about the Rim Fire  (8/26/13, 3:30 PM EDT), this fire has burned 149,750 acres with 15 percent containment (see note at bottom). Tankers deployed to the fire include but are not limited to MAFFs, DC-10 tankers, and helos. Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today continues to provide updates about the Rim Fire here.

I am embedding two videos, the first is shot from a UH-60 Black Hawk Helo from the 1-140th Battalion (Air Assault) of the California Army National Guard (videographer, Sgt. 1st ClassJesse Flag. More information about the fire, the crew of the UH-60 and what you are seeing on the video may be found on the about this video page for this video (from California Guard). I happened to find this video on youtube earlier this afternoon, however Mike Archer of Firebomber Publications also mentioned this same video in today's edition of Firebomber Publications. The link that Mike shared for this video is from OC Breeze, and this same video may also be found on dvidshub.

The second video is footage of MAFFS 6 working the Rim Fire. MAFFS 6 is from the Channel Islands (CA) Air National Guard. Bill Gabbert shared this video along with two other videos of MAFFS working the Rim Fire on Fire Aviation on Aug. 23, 2013.

direct link to video

Revised on October 12, 2015 to removed dead link. Specifically, I removed the link to Inciweb's incident page on the Rim Fire. If I recall, incident pages on Inciweb are removed 6 to 12 months from the time of the last update to the incident page.

Rim Fire (near Yosemite in CA)

The Rim  has been burning since Aug. 17 and is at 2 percent containment. KCRA is reporting that the fire grew to 105,620 acres over night, go here for their report. I understand that tankers and helos working the Rim Fire include (but are not necessarily limited to) at least one of the DC-10 tankers, C-130 MAFFS, and helos.

KCRA has good coverage on the Rim Fire and other fires in northern CA. Here are some links that you might be interested in:

• video report from McClellan Tanker Base
• report on Rim Fire (8/23/13, 7:36AM PDT
• slide show of Northern CA Fires including Rim and American Fires
• Live Wire on No.CA wildfires

Other pages:

• Wildfire Today article on Rim Fire
• Wildland Fire hotlist continuing incident thread on Rim Fire.

Revised on December 10, 2015 to remove dead links including dead link to inciweb page on Rim Fire.

Next Generation Tankers: Coulson, Minden, and Erickson Aero Air

Because of some work being done on my house, I was sitting in the dark for much of the afternoon while the Electrician did some work on our electric service. Power now restored. Then had to take care of some other business relating to this same construction project before the end of the day. I've been meaning to post something about a couple of the Next Generation Tankers, so this seemed like a good time to do it.

Coulson

Coulson recently released this video of their C-130 Next Generation Tanker doing a partial drop


direct link to video

Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today and Fire Aviation has posted a few articles with some great pictures of Coulson's C-130 Next Generation Tanker, go here to read his articles about Coulson's C-130

Minden

Minden Air has also released a video of their BAe-146 Next Generation Tanker, which they have dubbed the Fireliner.


direct link to Minden's article with this video.

Minden has redesigned their webpage, and they have a webpage for their Fireliner that includes specifications. Bill Gabbert wrote about Minden's Fireliner here.

Erickson Aero Air Tanker MD-87


direct link to video

Finally, Bill Gabbert of Fire Aviation wrote an update on the Next Generation Tankers on July 10.
Those of you who have not already read Bill's update might want to take a few minutes to check it out.

Douglas Complex (OR) -- video from the fireline

direct link to video on youtube

My friend, Steve Konrad, sent me a link to a video that he recently uploaded to youtube. He is a member of the Tom Fery #1 crew that was deployed to the Douglas Complex fire in OR in late July and early August. Please take a moment to go to the youtube link for this video and expand the about this video description to read more about what Steve says about the video, especially the thank-you to the people of Glendale OR for their support and kindness According to his description, you will see

the crew dig hand line in initial attack,remove burning hazard trees and call in air support on what was then the largest fire in the nation at over 45,000 acres.

Oh and you also see what I think is a Kaman K-1200 helo with a longline.

I'd like to say a special thank-you to Steve and the rest of the fine folk on the Tom Fery # 1 crew for allowing us to see what it is like to work a wildland fire on the ground. Stay safe!

Idaho wildfires update

Video that I originally embedded here is no longer available and the link is removed (8/2/15)

Continuing to follow up on the wildfires burning in Idaho, see my earlier posts on Aug 13 and Aug 15, there continue to be a few large wildfires burning in Idaho, see the Idaho page on inci web for current information. These are the three largest fires:

Beaver Creek Fire -- 92,754 acres burned -- 6% contained
Elk Complex -- 125,033 acres burned --  50% contained
Pony Complex -- 149,384 acres burned -- 90% contained

My thoughts and prayers are extended to all affected by the wildfires in Idaho and the groundpounders and their friends in the air. I understand that there are tankers and helos working the fires

From the Idaho Statesmen: article dated Aug 17, photo gallery, and video

KBOI report from August 16 on evacuations resulting from the Beaver Creek Fire.

Aerial footage of wildfires in Idaho

I'm not sure how long this embed code from KTVB in Boise, Idaho will work. Nonetheless, I was interested in this footage that I just came across thanks to Michael Archer's Fire Publications Blog, so I am sharing it here. The footage, shot on August 14, shows the extent of the destruction from the wildfires that are currently burning in Idaho. I wrote about the Idaho wildfires the other day.

.
 direct link to article with video from KTVB

Images from the Silver Fire (CA) now contained

I came across this video the other day in my wonderings on the web. It was shot on or about August 8, raw video of the now contained Silver Fire. This is footage of the fire itself, groundpounders, a tanker and helos, and images of the destruction caused by the fire.


direct link to video from PE digital on youtube

MAFFS training

It is a little late for MAFFS training, but I was looking for something a little different to post today as I was busy today with an ongoing construction project at my home.

Enjoy!

Idaho wildfires tanker and helo activity

direct link to video

I am sure that some of you no doubt know about the multiple large wildfires burning in Idaho. Bill Gabbert has been doing a nice job of reporting on these fires here. The two largest are the Pony Complex (143,900 acres burned) and the Elk Complex (98,413 acres burned). A complete current listing of wildfires on federal lands in Idaho may be found on inciweb's Idaho page. I came across the video that I am sharing with you here yesterday evening of tanker and helo ops in Idaho so I am sharing it with you.

Opps, almost forgot. Pennsylvania and New Jersey are among the states that have sent wildland firefighting crews to Idaho to help out, see this report (dated Aug. 6) from WGAL news 8 for more info.

update on Silver Fire (southern CA)

I want to follow up on the Silver Fire that I wrote about last Friday (Aug 9). I understand that wildland firefighting crews, both on the ground and in the air, are making progress on the Silver Fire that has burned 20,292 acres near Banning Pass in Riverside County CA. As I write this the fire is at 95 percent containment. A total of 48 buildings have been destroyed including 26 residences. Twelve people have been injured, 11 firefighters and one civilian. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Full containment may come later today. See the latest update from CAL FIRE for more information

A story that I just found on KABC in LA  on the Slive Fire may be found here.

Revised on October 12, 2015 to remove a dead link.

A-26 tankers in Canada: what’s coming up and when

I recently gave some examples of A-26 Invader Air Tankers that began their service in the U.S. before going to Canada. (see part 1 on August 5 and part 2 on August 7)I’m still working on this part of my series on A-26 tankers in Canada as I write this. That being said, I know that I’ll have articles about three Canadian companies that flew A-26 tankers -- Conair, Kenting, and Air Spray -- focusing on their A-26 operations. In addition, I’ll be writing one or more articles on some specifications and (hopefully) other flight characteristics of A-26 tankers. I’m still in the process of doing some research on the flight characteristics of A-26 tankers in Canada. I’d like to post the rest of this series when I have all articles completed. So, I’m not quite sure when I will be resuming this series, perhaps a couple of weeks, perhaps longer.

Silver Fire (southern CA)

direct link to video from the Envenomater1 on Youtube

I am taking a short time out from my series on the A-26 Invader Tankers, to return either later today or tomorrow, to share this on scene footage of the Silver Fire shot on Aug. 7 by Nick Mitchell (aka the Envenomater1).

As I write this article, the Silver Fire has burned 16,000 acres in Riverside County CA near Banning Pass, 27 structures (26 residences) are destroyed. Six people, five firefighters and one civilian, have been injured. The fire was first reported on August 7 about 2 PM PDT and is currently at 25 percent containment. See this CAL FIRE incident page for more information.