Aerial Applications in Central NJ - seeding winter cover crop (1 of 2)

A couple of days ago I wrote about watching Downstown Aero Crop Service doing loading operations for seeding applications on nearby farms. I begin today by introducing the seeding program with part 2 coming on September 26th where Christian Bench Christian Bench, a Soil Conservation Technician with the  US Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service in Pittstown NJ provides more information about last week's seeding operations.

This was the first of a three year program, last done in this area some thirty years ago, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service. Farmers participating in the program will have a four-species cover crop applied by a Downstown Air Tractor 602 each September for three years. This is year one, aerial seeding operations occurred from late in the day on September 16th through the afternoon of September 18th. Farmers will receive monetary compensation (on a per acre basis) for participating in the program with farmers in the Neshanic and Musconetcong River Basins receiving additional compensation from the North Jersey Resource Conservation and Development Council.

The four species in the winter cover are: clover, tillage radish, triticale, and oats. Among the benefits of this winter cover seeding is providing soil nutrients. In the spring the idea is that nitrogen will be produced. Additional information on this aerial seeding program (including information about the program and a description of each species) may be found in this September 9 article from the Hunterdon County Democrat.

close-up of four-species winter seed cover

four-species winter seed cover

Aerial Applications in Central NJ - Preview of things to come

Last week I had the pleasure of going to a nearby airport, Alexandria Field, to watch my friends from Downstown Aero Crop Service with one of their Air Tractor 602's as the loaded the Air Tractor with seed that they were dispersing over select farms in Hunterdon, Somerset, and Warren Counties in New Jersey. I'll be writing more about this operation in my next article on September 24. But I thought I'd provide a preview of things to come by sharing a few photographs with you.

Air Tractor 602 piloted by Edward Carter, Jr just before landing

Loading her hopper with seed

Update on Boles and King Fire (California)

direct link to video and article on News10 ABC

For those of you in and around the areas that have been burned by the Boles and King Fire in California, I've had several friends comment to me about the fire. Thanks to the firefighters in the air and on the ground who have worked these fires.

Boles Fire

According the latest update from the CAL FIRE Boles Fire incident page, the Boles fire has burned 479 acres and is at 90 percent containment with 150 structures being destroyed.There is a nice report from KTVU about some firefighters who tried to save a home in Weed destroyed by the Boles Fire.

King Fire

As I write this, the King Fire has burned 76,376 acres and is at 10 percent containment. Recall that when I posted on Wednesday, September 17th, the size of the fire was at 18,544 acres. It grew by more than 40,000 acres over Wednesday night into early Thursday morning (September 18th). Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today wrote about the growth of the King Fire in an article he wrote yesterday (September 18th). See also, coverage from  CBS13 Sacramento early morning of September 18th (with video).

Current updates:
CAL FIRE
InciWeb
King Fire Updates on Facebook (should be publicly available)

More Articles:
Wildfire Today on arrest of man suspected of starting the King Fire
KQED (PBS) on King Fire
KCRA video report on air attack
News10ABC (Sept. 19th) on the King Fire

California wildfires

Boles Fire in Weed, Siskiyou County, Califonia

direct link to youtube video from KCRA news 

I first learned of the Boles Fire in Weed California last night from some friends. Very sad. One hundred fifty homes destroyed. As I write this, according the CAL FIRE Boles Fire incident page the Boles fire has burned 375 acres and is at 25 percent containment. I'd like to thank Bill Gabbert of Wildfiretoday for his usual outstanding reporting, I got the video from the article that Bill first posted on September 15th the Boles Fire (which he updates), which is where I learned about the video that I am sharing here. 

King Fire, Eldorado County, Eldorado National Forest, California 

The King Fire has burned 18,544 acres and is at five percent containment according to this CAL FIRE incident report on the fire. CNN has a video report on the fire that may be found here (article and video accessed on Sept. 17). Bill Gabbert reported on a fire shelter deployment at the King Fire here, all CAL FIRE firefighters are accounted for with no reported injuries. 

I understand that tankers are or were working both the King and the Boles Fires.

Here is a video of one of the DC-10 tankers working the King Fire. The video was posted by the NWS in Sacramento CA, video credit to Jason Clapp:

direct link to video

Sliverado Wildfire, Cleveland National Forest, California

Over the weekend, I heard about the Silverado Fire as I watching a cable news outlet. As I write this, the Silverado Fire has burned 968 acres in the Cleveland National Forest in California, and is at 80% containment. Evacuations are in place. I found these two videos showing footage of the Silverado fire thanks to my friend at the NJ Forest Fire Service Section B10 webpage, he has a wonderful videos of the week page where he posts a few new fire videos weekly.


direct link to video from loudlabs news


direct link to video from Kevin Byrnes

Curiosity Arrives at Mt. Sharp on Mars

I am taking a time out to share some exciting news about what one of my favorite Martian Rovers -- Curiosity -- has been up to these days. After two years she has arrived at the base of Mt. Sharp. on Mars. I did get advance notice of a press conference yesterday where this was announced but a prior commitment kept me away from watching the press conference on live stream. A press release with photographs from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory may be found here.

Post by NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover.

Station Fire - 5 years later - moving on (at least for now)

Yesterday I spent quite a bit of time going through my files on the Station Fire, as well as reviewing sources on the Internet that had written about the Station Fire as it was being fought as well as investigations and concerns raised in the aftermath of the Station Fire. Bill Gabbert of  Wildfire Today wrote a series of articles on the Station Fire (the link is for articles with tagged "Station Fire" with the most recent article being listed first).

At this point all I will say is that I learned a lot about wildland firefighting following various sources who covered the Station Fire while the fire was raging as well as the aftermath of the fire. I think that, at least for now, it is best for me stop here. The fire burned over 160,000 acres. Lives were lost, people were injured, houses were destroyed, residents were evacuated. For the victims of this and other wildfires, I will remember. It doesn't feel like enough, but at times it is the best that I can do.

I've been exploring some things which are tangental to the Station Fire. Perhaps I'll be back sometime later and offer my reflections on the tangents that I am exploring.

Station Fire - 5 years later

As I continue to do the background work on the post(s) that I will write later this week on my reflections on watching live stream of the aerial and ground assault on Mt. Wilson, I leave you with a couple of videos to watch. In addition, I going back to the posts that I made five years and doing some editing or removing posts where the videos (mostly from local news organizations) are no longer available.

I may have one or both of these videos five years ago, but if so a rerun doesn't hurt.


direct link to video sample of Station Fire video from Alan Simons


direct link to Mt. Wilson Cam time lapse video uploaded on Sept 1, 2009

Station Fire - 5 years later - Assault on Mt. Wilson part 1

direct link to video

I was intending to write today offering my reflections of watching airtankers and helos dropping on the Mt. Wilson Observatory and then seeing aerial wildland firefighters on top of Mt. Wilson fighting the fire. Five years ago this week, I spent hours watching this on live stream.

As someone who loves the night sky, historic Mt. Wilson Observatory holds a special place in my heart. Go here to read about the history of Mt. Wilson.

As I was preparing to write my reflections, I found an e-book, Diary of a Fire -- The 2009 Station Fire Threat to Mount Wilson Observatory, written by Harold A. McAlister. McAlister is the Director of Mt. Wilson, and the e-book comes from his blog. Edited to add on April 8, 2018, unfortunately this e-book may no longer be available.

Station Fire - 5 years later - Remembering Ted Hall and Arnie Quinones

A little over five years ago, on August 30, 2009, I was following the Station Fire (latest post is first). One of my good buddies had told me that Los Angeles TV news outlets where showing live stream over the Station Fire from news helos that were flying over the fire.

Sadly, one of the first live streams that I saw were aerial shots from the news helo in the area where a tragic accident occurred that resulted in the death of two fire fighters: Ted Hall and Arnie Quinones. There is a nice page devoted to Ted and Arnie and the incident that took their lives on Always Remember.

As the five year anniversary of the Station Fire rolled around, I found myself thinking (again) about Ted and Arnie. So, in sharing my reflections of the Station Fire with you, I start be remembering Ted and Arnie. And remembering Ted and Arnie's families, friends, colleagues and all who knew and loved them.

Helos and their dip site (in support of 790 Fire in the Skylands Wilderness Area)

direct link to video on youtube

I found this amazing video quite by accident about 30 minutes ago. I love watching helos dipping. What makes this video special is seeing how the water gets to the dip tanks that you will see later in the video.  You will see to Air Cranes dipping.

According to the about this video information on youtube:

They had to pump water up hill 500 feet to transfer tanks,add bleach to kill any parasites then pump it up hill another 300 feet to the dipping tanks. This site was built on a hill side above Parker Creek a tributary of the upper reaches of the S. Frk. of the Rogue River. The Heli Dip Site was being utilized to fight the 790 fire in the Sky Lakes Wilderness Area. Site was built due to its close proximity to the fire and the short turnaround times. They where coming in every 4 to 5 minutes for re-loads.

For information about the 790 fire, which has burned 2,292 acres and is at 20% containment as I write this. go to the 790 fire page on inciweb.

Unlabor Day

I took a couple of days off from my labors including this blog. I hope that everyone here in the U.S. who was or still is traveling over the long Labor Day weekend is safely home. Now it is back to the grind for many, school and all that.

I'll be back later today or tomorrow with a post.

Happy Camp Complex Fire (CA) -- Temporary Helibase (Aug. 21, 2014)

direct link to NewsWatch12 video on youtube

This video shows a temporary helibase that was set up at the Illinois Valley Airport in support of the Happy Camp Fire on or about August 20, 2014. I don't know if the helibase is still operating. I do know that as I write this that the Happy Camp Complex  (started on August 12 by lighting), burning in Klamath National Forest (CA) has burned 44,549 acres with only 20 percent containment. Evacuations are in place, see Bill Gabbert's article that he wrote earlier today with information about the evacuations along with some maps.

The video that I embedded above interested me because I got to see some of the activities on the base, the images of all the helos from type 1 to type 3, and the temporary control tower. More importantly, the video speaks to what I consider an important safety issue, the fleet of helos was grounded the morning the video was shot (I believe on Thursday Aug. 21) because of a smoke layer over the Happy Camp Fire. The smoke layer, caused by an inversion, had the effect of grounded the helos because it wasn't safe to fly. I wrote about inversions in an article on January 12, 2010 (includes link to other articles in a series I wrote on Flying Fires: Fog, Smoke, and VFR or IFR)

Being somewhat geeky, I was wondering what kind of information I might be able dig up about smoke conditions over the Happy Camp Complex Fires in Klamath National Forest. I came across the California Smoke Information Blog thanks to some information posted on Inciweb's Happy Complex page (accessed on 8/29/14 about 4:45 PM). I was able to find a Smoke impact summary for the Klamath National Forest uploaded on August 21st. They also shared a Happy Camp Smoke Video (8/21/14) that I am embedding below:



The most recent smoke impact summary (August 29, 2014)  from the California Smoke Information Blog is posted here. These reports go into smoke and weather conditions at Klamath.  I'll let those of you who are interested read the reports that I have linked to here. Interesting stuff in the reports.

DC-10 Tankers in OR and CA

direct link to video and report from KTVL

I have been thinking about the wildland fire crews working the fires in Oregon recently, and was looking around for wildfire news from Oregon when I came upon this recent video report on the DC-10 tankers at Rouge Valley Tanker Base in Oregon. So, I am sharing it with you. The DC-10 tankers with their ability to lay down a long line of retardant are an important weapon in the aerial wildland fire fighting arsenal working to support the crews on the ground.

Speaking of the DC-10, Bill Gabbert of Fire Aviation has a nice article an article that he posted today on DC-10 tankers that you might want to look at.

When I hear from my friend Steve Konrad I'll post something here. It is the middle of fire season, so I may not hear from him for a few weeks. Recall that I've shared some of his videos here, for example this video from Sept. 2013 and another video from Sept. 2012 showing a back burn at night.

Junction Fire, Madera County CA (100% contained)

direct link to video

In my daily wonderings on the internet this morning< I came across the video that I embedded above. You see engines responding to the Junction Fire in Oakhurst, CA on August 18th along with some footage of the fire itself. As coincidence has it, a short time later I saw that a friend of mine had sent me a report from ABC30 (KFSN), updated on August 22nd, the report with two videos plus fire photos may be found here at ABC30 (KFSN). If you look at the  KFSN videos, you will see some nice footage of one of the DC-10 tankers. A Suburban Propane facility was damaged by the fire with two propane tanks exploding. Residences and outbuildings were destroyed.

I checked the CAL FIRE incident web page  (you might have to scroll down a bit to see the summary report for the Junction Fire) for an update on the Junction Fire. The fire started last Monday, Aug. 18 and is now contained having burned 612 acres. A total of 47 buildings were reported as destroyed, I'm not quite sure of the exact breakdown of residences and outbuildings destroyed. Evacuations were in place and were lifted last week. The final detailed report for the incident may be found here (I'm not quite sure how long this link will work but it should work for awhile after I post this article).

While the fire was contained by the time I found the video and KFSN news report, I was struck by the number of people impacted by this wildfire. While some lost their homes, and the CAL FIRE incident report mentions three injuries, I suppose that it could have been worse. In addition to seeing footage of one of the DC-10 tankers working the fire, I saw some footage somewhere (not in the KFSN report I linked to) of a helo and bucket working the fire. Perhaps other aircraft worked the fire as well.

More on eastern crews working western USA wildfires

I wrote about eastern and southern state wildland firefighting crews working western wildfires in an August 18th post. I'd like to thank one of my buddies who helped me out by pointing the way to where I could keep current on eastern USA state crews working wildfires outside their state. I'm keeping it simple by focusing on eastern crews. I go to the webpage for the Eastern Area Coordination Center and access two files, one under logistical operations-crews and the other under predictive services-intelligence.

Under logistical operations-crews, I access a report (updated daily when crews are on assignment) called the Interagency Resource Representative IARR Report (this link may access a different document than the one I am referring to). This report lists all eastern wildland firefighting crews that are on assignment outside the eastern area. the fires where they are working, and what they are doing. The crews are listed by a short identifier. Some of the identifiers are easy (I think) to figure out as I'll see the state abbreviation followed by S and in some cases a number.

For example, as I write this, NJS #2 (a crew from the New Jersey designated as #2) is working the Deception Complex fires in Oakridge OR. Other crews from the eastern area that are working the Deception Complex include (assuming that my identification is correct) include crews from the following states: Minnesota, Michigan, Maine, and New Jersey. There are three other crews working that fire that I'm not including because I am unfortunately unable to decipher their short identifier.

A crew from Pennsylvania is listed as traveling home, they were working the Happy Camp Complex of fires in Happy Camp, CA.

A Wisconsim crew is currently assigned to the Initial Attack in the Mt. Hood National Forest in Estacada, OR.

Crews from Delaware and another crew from Pennsylvania are being released from the Upper Falls Fire (Winthrop WA) and will be reassigned.

A second crew from Michigan that was working the Johnson Bar Fire (Kooskia, ID) has been demobilized and is returning home, as is a second crew from Minnesota (had worked the Seepay Fire in Ronan, MT).

Finally, a second document that may be helpful, is found under predictive services-intelligence. It is the current morning briefing and includes a summary of eastern crews out on assignment along with current wildfire activity in the eastern area.

Added 8:50 PM on Aug 22, 2014: The National Interagency Coordination Center (NICC) has a map where the different Geographic Area Coordination Centers are mapped (GACC). While I believe that the NICC site and the other GACC sites also have a predictive services and a logistics page, they may be set up differently. However, you may be able to find information about where wildland firefighting crews in your area are working.

Rim Fire one year later - debate over plans for forest recovery

In my wonderings, thanks to Michael Archer's Wildfire News of the Day on August 19, 2014, I saw this interesting story (hopefully embedded above) on a debate surrounding forest recovery in the aftermath of the Rim Fire of one year ago. I wrote a two part series last November on the Burned Area Emergency Response on November 6, 2013 and November 11, 2013 (with video of burned area).

A direct link to the National Public Radio article and audio may be found here. I post this without comment, I'll let you decide what you think about this debate.

Hurricane Camille -- 45 years ago (Aug 16-21, 1969)

direct link to video on youtube

Some of you know that I have an interest in weather and meteorology stemming from my interest in aviation. So, I thought I'd pause today to remember Hurricane Camille, a category 5 Hurricane that hit the Gulf Coast in August 1969.

Hard to say how well I remember Hurricane Camille, because I have heard about the damage she left on the Gulf Coast. After she was downgraded to a low pressure system she dumped over 25 inches of rain in a corner of Virginia. I was getting ready to return to high school (20 miles north of Baltimore) at the time so the rains that hit Virginia were south of us. I suspect that heard about her through TV news reports.

A map of her track may be found here on the facebook page of the US National Weather Service Mid Atlantic River Forecast Center.

Wildland firefighting crews from the east and south helping out west

direct link to video report and related article from NECN

As many of you know, wildfire fighters from around the U.S. are working wildfires out west. The video report above is an interview by NECN of MA Fire Warden David Celino and MA state fire fighter Roy Liard. The crew from MA worked the Chiwaukum Complex Wildfire in Washington, returning from a two week deployment late last week. Another article about this deployment may be found on Gazettenet.

A wildland firefighting crew from Alabama (article from the Gdsden Times returned from a two week deployment last week. They were working the Carlton Complex Wildfire in Washington.

Wildland firefighting crews from Delaware (article from the State of Delaware) and Pennsylvania (article from the Patriot News). I suspect that the New Jersey Forest Fire Service may have sent wildland firefighting crews to help fight wildfires out west, but I have no article to link to at the moment. 

I'd like to thank all of my friends from the east and the south and all the other crews that I am leaving out who are deployed out west to help fight the wildfires. I think all of you are wonderful. Thanks so much! Stay safe everyone. 

Added on August 21, 2014: After I posted this article, I found a short article dated August 15, 2014 about the New Jersey Forest Fire Service sending an engine (and crew) to help with the wildfires burning out west, go here for the story from 1strespondernews. 

Smokejumpers: Redding California

direct link to video

I have a deep and abiding respect for all of our wildland firefighters, in the air and on the ground. I always enjoying watching videos of smokejumpers and when this one came across my desk today, thanks to my friends at the NJ Forest Fire Service Section B-10 website weekly video page I knew that I had to share it with you.

Thanks to all smokejumpers everywhere for all you do.

Stay safe out there.