The toolkit of NWS Incident Meteorologists (IMETS)

Among the tools that a NWS Incident Meteorologists takes to the field when deployed to a wildfire are weather balloons and RAWS. Learn about these two tools from recent posts from the US NWS IMET Office .

Weather balloons used by weather offices around the world, including National Weather Service Weather Forecasts Offices. The portable version is used by IMETs when deployed to wildfires.

Another important tool used by IMETs is the Remote Automatic Weather Station.

2020 wildfire season: NJ and PA engines deployed to California

First a brief update on the two crew modules from NJ deployed to Wyoming. The NJ Highlands module will be returning home tomorrow. The NJ Pinelands module is "assigned to the Freeze Out Fire near Sheridan, WY. 10 acre fire. Directing bucket drops, digging line. Most resources have left the area. Module is doing well. No new information. (obtained from Eastern Area Interagency Report (IARR) and the NJFFS Section B10 webpage on August 28, 2020 (note that information on these two dates is update frequently and what you see when you go to these sites may be different). 

Several engines and crew from the NJ Forest Fire Service and the Pennsylvania DCNR took four days to drive 3,000 miles across country to California to help out with the wildfires in that State.  I am very, very proud. You honor us with your service. Here is a short video from KSBW 8 showcasing the NJFFS engines that recently arrived in California, some of the engines will be working the CZU Lightning Complex. Another NJFFS engine is assigned to the Elkhorn Fire. I don't know all the fires that the engines are deployed to, and will see if I can find a complete list of the fires where the PA and NJ engines are deployed.

I am very, very proud of the modules and engine crews from New Jersey and Pennsylvania. You are helping provide much needed support to the crew in California fight wildfires. I can not be of direct help, but you are helping where we in New Jersey and Pennsylvania can not. You honor with with your service in California. Stay safe.

August 24 helicopter fatality: RIP Tom Duffy

I am deeply saddened to be writing about another wildland fire aviation fatality. On Monday, August 24th, a Kmax helicopter (type 1) crashed while doing bucket drops on the White River Fire in the Mt. Hood National Forest in Oregon. According to Oregon Live (August 25th), the KMax was on contract with the U.S. Forest Service. The only occupant of the Kmax, the pilot, was the only fatality. The wildland firefighting has lost yet another one of their firefighting family.

The US Forest Service had initially announced yesterday afternoon that they were not releasing the name of the pilot pending notification of the family. However, by early evening, the pilot was identified. 

The pilot was Tom Duffy (40) of Bozeman, Montana. He was identified in a press release from his Church, the Seventh Day Adventists. Thanks to Bill Gabbert of Fire Aviation for his August 26th article and the link to the Gleaner Now: Northwest Adventists in Action (August 25th) article about Tom Duffy. Tom was an active member of the Adventists in Bozeman Montana and a leader in their Northwest organization. He was deeply committed to the Adventists and much loved by the Adventist community in Bozeman and in their Northwest organization. He is survived by his wife, Robyn and his three children. 

Hearts in and outside of the wildland firefighting community that were already broken by the August 19th helicopter crash and the July 31st SEAT mid-air collision are broken yet again. 

Tom, you were doing good service making bucket drops from your KMax over the White River Fire when you died. You loved your family, your church, and your flying buddies. You died protecting the Mt. Hood National Forest, an area that had special meaning for some in my family. I thank-you for this. I will always remember your service and your sacrifice. I offer my sincere prayers for your family, church family, friends, colleagues and all who loved you.

August 19th helicopter fatality: RIP Michael John Fournier

On August 19th, Michael John Fournier died while making bucket drops with his helicopter over the Hills Fire in Fresno County California. The picture and tweet below are from CAL FIRE.

obtained on August 25, 2020 from pic.twitter.com/gZlV9E3cV5

We are deeply saddened to report the passing of a pilot aboard a Call When Needed helicopter that crashed yesterday, August 19th while providing support at the #HillsFire in Fresno County. We send our sympathies to the family during this difficult time. pic.twitter.com/gZlV9E3cV5

— CAL FIRE (@CAL_FIRE) August 20, 2020

While I am a little late in making this post, my prayers have been with Michael's family, friends, colleagues and all who loved him as they mourn his loss. I was very moved to read an August 20th report on ABC10 San Diego where he flew as a back-up news helicopter pilot. I know that his former colleagues loved him and miss him. Please take a couple of moments to read this article. I can not access the video in the report, happens some times, but there are a couple of photos of Michael. Here is an excerpt:

Timothy Gaughen, a former ABC 10News photojournalist, said working beside Fournier was one of the high points in his career.

"Fast, efficient, fun, it was always great. It was always enjoyable," Gaughen said. "There's certain people you remember from your career. I still remember it as if it was yesterday ... Just a pleasant, pleasant personality."

Gaughen said when it was time to get in the air, Fournier was an absolute professional.

You died flying a wildfire to help the firefighters on the ground. You died saving lives. Your service will not be forgotten, I will remember. I offer my sincere and heartfelt prayers to your family, friends, colleagues, and all who loved you. May you always fly in favorable winds. 

Update on fatal collision of two SEATs (August 20th) pilots identified

I wrote about the fatal mid-air collision of two single-engine airtankers over the Bishop Fire near Caliente, Nevada on July 31st. The Nevada Office of the Bureau of Land Management updated their press release about the crashes on August 20th to add the names of the two pilots killed in the fatal mid-air collision. They are David Blake Haynes and Scott Thomas.

David and Scott, I offer my prayers for your families, colleagues, friends and all who loved you and are mourning your loss. You were making drops on the fire to help the firefighters on the ground and to save lives. The sacrifice you made while flying the Bishop Fire will not be forgotten. I know that you are flying in favorable winds. Please know that I will always remember your sacrifice and that of your tankers.

2020 wildfire season: reflections on northern California wildfires (Aug 21st)

For the last couple of days, my thoughts have been on the severe wildfire outbreak in California. As I sit here in (for the moment) relatively tranquil New Jersey, I find that my words our wholly inadequate. A helicopter pilot was killed in a fatal crash on August 19th (ABC30 report), a PG&E employee also died. At least two other fatalities have been reported. As usual, Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today does his usual good job of reporting, here is his August 21st article. Thousands of people are under evacuation orders and this during a pandemic. 

Here is a brief summary from a CAL FIRE August 21st update:

Nearly 12,000 firefighters are battling nearly two dozen major fires and complexes across California. Overnight firefighters continued to make progress despite extreme weather conditions. Since the lightning siege started on Saturday, August 15, 2020 there have been nearly 12,000 lightning strikes. During this time-period, there have been more than 560 new wildfires, most of which have been contained due to aggressive firefighting. Those fires have burned over 771,00 acres in total.

Thanks to Mike Archer's Wildfire News of the Day newsletter for August 21st, I found a satellite image taken from GOES-17 of smoke over California from the wildfires. I obtained the image on August 20th from NASA's Earth Observatory website. They say in part:

The map below shows the concentration of black carbon particulates—commonly called soot—at 12:30 a.m. on August 20. Black carbon can harm humans and other animals by entering the lungs and bloodstream; it also plays a role in global warming. The black carbon data come from the GEOS forward processing (GEOS-FP) model, which assimilates data from satellite, aircraft, and ground-based observing systems. In this case, GEOS-FP assimilated fire and aerosol observations with meteorological data on air temperature, moisture, and winds to project the behavior and extent of the plume.

I want to acknowledge and thank all the wildland firefighters in the air and on the ground working in very difficult conditions. I understand that there may not be enough of you. You are working very hard. I offer my prayers for all the residents affected by these fires and for the firefighters. Heed evacuation orders. Stay safe. Take care of each other.

2020 wildfire season: SEAT on initial attack in Wyoming

 Thanks to my friend at the NJFFS Section B10 and their newly redesigned website who now posts fire videos of current interest on their home page (changes daily). Late last week they shared a nice video, just under five minutes of a Single Engine Airtanker (SEAT) flying initial attack on the Brandel wildfire, a smaller wildfire in southeast Wyoming. I was intrigued about the video of this SEAT (T-889) flying initial attack on this fire with great videography that intrigued me, so I knew I had to write about this video. Here are a couple of images from Google Earth to provide a geographic reference.

Actually, there is not much that I can say about this wildfire. The video was uploaded on August 13 over the Brandel Fire which burned 60 miles south east of Casper Wyoming. I did an internet search and *think* I found a short article about the Brandel fire on Oil City News (August 7th) that provided a couple pieces of additional information: the fire started on August 7th and burned 168 acres near Wheatland, WY at the time the article was written. I have no further information on this fire. From watching the video (there are some radio communications), it appears that in addition to T-889, three other SEATS flew initial attack on this fire: T-832, T-862, and T-864. In addition, it appears that two helicopters were working the fire.

If I am correct in reading the credits at the end of the video, T-889 and 832 are based at the Casper (WY) SEAT Base, that is at the Casper/Natrona County International Airport. In addition to hosting a SEAT Base, the airport also hosts a base to support Large Airtankers, see this August 4th Facebook post for more information.

Direct link to video by High Speed Productions on Youtube

About the National Preparedness Levels (wildfires in the United States)

 I suspect that many of you have heard various websites refer to the National Preparedness Level, a five level scale where as you go up the scale from 1 to 5. I find the current National Preparedness Level on the main fire info page of the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) . Rather than try to do a perhaps inadequate job of explaining this to you, I thought that I go to the horses mouth, so to speak. I don't know about you, but I do find it useful to know what each level means, so I went to the NIFC website to learn more. We are currently at Preparedness Level 4, and depending on when you read this, the preparedness level may be higher or lower.

So here goes, you may download a pdf file about the National Preparedness Levels from the NIFC here.

The National Multi-Agency Coordination Group (NMAC) establishes Preparedness Levels throughout the calendar year to help assure that firefighting resources are ready to respond to new incidents. Preparedness Levels are dictated by fuel and weather conditions, fire activity, and resource availability. 

The five Preparedness Levels range from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest level. Each Preparedness Level has specific management directions. As the Preparedness Levels rise, more federal and state employees become available for fire mobilization if needed.

Preparedness Level 1

• Geographic Areas accomplish incident management objectives utilizing local resources with little or no national support.

• Conditions are not favorable to support significant wildland fire activity in most geographic areas.
• Resource capability is adequate with little or no mobilization of resources occurring through the National Interagency Coordination Center.

• Potential for emerging significant wildland fires is expected to remain minimal.

Preparedness Level 2

• Active Geographic Areas (GA's) are unable to independently accomplish incident management objectives. Resource capability remains stable enough nationally to sustain incident operations and meet objectives in active GA's.

• Significant wildland fire activity is increasing in a few geographic areas.

• Resources within most geographic areas are adequate to manage the current situation, with light to moderate mobilization of resources occurring through the National Interagency Coordination Center.

• Potential for emerging significant wildland fires is normal to below normal for the time of year.

Preparedness Level 3

• Mobilization of resources nationally is required to sustain incident management operations in the active Geographic Areas (GA's). National priorities established as a necessary measure to address the heavy and persistent demand for shared resources among active GA's.

• Significant wildland fire activity is occurring in multiple geographic areas, with Incident Management Teams (IMTs) actively engaged.

• Mobilization of resources through the National Interagency Coordination Center is moderate to heavy.

• Potential for emerging significant wildland fires is normal for the time of year. 

Preparedness Level 4

• Shared resources are heavily committed. National mobilization trends affect all Geographic Areas (GA's) and regularly occur over larger and larger distances. National priorities govern resources of all types. Heavy demand on inactive/low activity GA's with low levels of activity for available resources.

• Significant wildland fire activity is occurring in multiple geographic areas; significant commitment of Incident Management Teams.

• NICC increasingly engages GACCs in an effort to coordinate and fill orders for available resources.

• Potential for significant incidents emerging in multiple GA’s indicates that resource demands will continue or increase.  

Preparedness Level 5 

• National mobilization is heavily committed and measures need to be taken to support GA's. Active GA's must take emergency measures to sustain incident operations.

• Full commitment of national resources is ongoing.

• Resource orders filled at NICC by specifically coordinating requests with GACCs as resources become available.

• Potential for emerging significant wildland fires is high and expected to remain high in multiple geographic areas. 

Obtained on August 17, 2020 from https://www.nifc.gov/fireInfo/fireinfo_prepLevels.html

Friday Fun: Banner Towing

 Late last week, I came across a very cool video on NJ Advance Media's website, fortunately it is on their Youtube channel making it easy to share with you. It is funny, I meant to share it earlier this week but got distracted with my other posts. Just yesterday I realized that I had meant to post this earlier, and then realized that this video will make a good post in my occasional Friday Fun series of posts. So here goes, many of you either at a beach or elsewhere have probably seen banner planes towing a banner. Whether or not you agree with the banner that they are being paid to tow, they certainly can get your attention. At least they get mine. I admit that I did not know a lot about banner towing. Thanks to this video from NJ Advance Media, I learned a little more about the risks involved in towing banners. Kudos to the pilots.

Direct Link to video on Youtube from NJ Advance Media (NJ.com)

2020 wildfire season: out of state NJFFS deployments (August 10)

August 17th update: The NJ Storm module is being demobilized from service in Wyoming and will be replaced by the NJ NJS#3 module aka NJ Pinelands. The NJ Pinelands module will be traveling to Wyoming today, see this FB post from the NJFFS Section B10.

August 14th

I wrote on August 3rd about a 10-person NJFFS module, NJ Storm, that was deployed to Wyoming. The NJ Storm module left New Jersey for Wyoming on or about August 2nd. According to my friends at NJFFS Section B10, they worked the Bull Lake Fire in Wyoming (information not available) until they were released on August 11th returning to the staging area in Wyoming await assignment to another fire. Their rotation out west should be ending on or about August 17th. Sadly, I have no photos to show you or link to, but I understand that they did good work on the Bull Lake Fire and may have been aided by some large or very large air tankers in addition to other air support.

Yesterday, August 11th, the NJFFS Section B10 posted on Facebook that a second 10-person NJFFS module, known as NJ Highlands, was deployed to Wyoming for a fourteen day deployment. I know no details, perhaps they are in a staging or pre-position area awaiting assignment to a fire. 

These two 10-person modules from New Jersey are but two of several modules from the Eastern Area deployed out west. The information about Eastern area crews deployed outside the eastern area  is updated daily by the Eastern Area Coordination Center. Current information may be found on the Eastern Area Interagency Resource Representative Report, the latest report may be found here (only updated while crews are on assignment outside of the eastern area). I am glad that modules and crews from the eastern area are deployed to other areas of the United States to help local wildland fire crews work wildfires. 

I am proud of the crews from my own State of New Jersey and all the other eastern area crews. You honor us by your service fighting wildfires outside the eastern area. Stay safe.

2020 wildfire season: IMET deployments (August 2 to August 9)

 I last wrote about the deployment of NWS Incident Meteorologists (IMETs) on July 3rd. In referring to the US National Weather Service IMET Facebook page, and if my counting is correct, I have counted 20 IMET deployments since July 3rd, mostly to wildfires in the western United States. Of those 20 deployments, five have occurred since August 2nd. I will focus on the last five deployments here.

On August 2nd, an IMET from the US NWS Los Angeles/Oxnard Office was deployed to the Apple Fire that is burning near Cherry Valley CA. As I write this, the wildfire has burned 32,905 acres.

On August 3rd IMETs were deployed to these fires:

• An IMET from the US National Weather Service Tucson Arizona office to the Cassadore Springs Fire near San Carlos, AZ. The fire has burned 20,337 acres to date.
• An IMET from the US National Weather Service Denver/Boulder Colorado Office to the Pine Gulch Fire burning near Grand Junction, CO. The fire has burned 28,888 acres to date.

On August 5th, an IMET from the US National Weather Service Hanford California Office was deployed to the Stage Coach Fire burning near Havilah, CA. The fire has burned 7.760 acres to date.

And finally, on August 8th an IMET from the US National Weather Service Boise Idaho Office was deployed to the Phillips Creek Fire Near Fairfield, Idaho. The fire has burned 2,121 acres to date.

IMETs save lives! 

Post Isaias in New Jersey - thank-you utility linepersons and treeguys

Three days after Tropical Storm Isaias slammed New Jersey, adjoining states and New England, portions of New Jersey are still without power. I won't get into the details here, most of you have probably seen local or national news reporting on Isaias. 

I took a drive around my part of the State to see if I could find a stopped utility truck to take some photos for you. I passed five on local highway but as I was driving, I was unable to take a photo for you. Then there were about four utility trucks (by the colors of the trucks I think that they were from out of state) that passed my house yesterday, including one that stopped after my power was turned back on. They were making repairs on an outage near my house, necessitating shutting off my power for a little over an hour. I was not thinking nor was a wearing a mask, so I thanked the lineman from a distance, and did not think to ask him if I could take a photo of his truck.

I drove by the staging area a few miles from my house for utility crews. I did enter, wanting to respect Covid restrictions. Covid restrictions probably explained why I did not see utility trucks parked on breaks. 

Just before going home, I did see a utility truck parked at an intersection near an outage that was reported by the local utility. So I grabbed a not so great photo for you. Perhaps later this weekend I will be able to get some more photos for you, or perhaps not.  I know that utility crews have come from out of state to help restore power. There is a lot of tree damage around the state, I saw a lot of downed trees on people's lawns as well as cut-up trees near areas where I knew there were outages. The tree guys have to come first to take care of the trees before the utility linemen can work on restoring power.

I write this and show this not so great photo of just one utility truck as a way of thanking all of the local and out of state crews (utility crews and tree removal crews)who are helping us in New Jersey (and adjoining states) get our power back.  This utility truck is one of hundreds helping us. 

I also want to thank the New Jersey Forest Fire Service Crews who have been working in our parks cutting trees that came down in Isaias.

Thank-you. Thank-you. Thank-you

2020 wildfire season: out of state NJFFS deployments.

Most every year some crews from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) are ready to be deployed out of state to help with wildfires in other parts of the United States. The first call of the season came over the weekend, and on August 2nd, a 10-person module from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJ storm) left for Cheyenne Wyoming. I thank the folk at NJFFS Section B10 (Facebook) for making this known to us. 

It is not important that I know no details of their assignment. What matters is that they are needed, and will pitch in to work a wildfire in the Cheyenne Wyoming area, or perhaps to help out in another capacity. I may know some basic information later from the Eastern Area Coordination Center, and when and if I do I will provide an update. 

I wish the NJFFS module the best as they travel and then work whatever their assignment is. NJFFS NJ Storm module, thanks for your service and stay safe.

P.S. Updated on August 4th at 9:20 AM EDT. We are due to see the impacts of Tropical Storm Isaias this afternoon, August 4th. I hope to set up a post for Wednesday in a little while, but if I don't then you will know why

Two Single Engine Airtankers in fatal collision over Bishop Fire

On July 30th at 12:55 pm local time, two single-engine airtankers were involved in a mid-air collision while working the Bishop Fire, burning near Caliente, Nevada. Each SEAT had one pilot, neither survived. As of last night, recovery efforts are underway and the names of the two deceased pilots and the company they flew for had not been released. The SEATs were under contract to the U.S. Department of the Interior. For more information, see this July 31st press release from the Nevada office of the Bureau of Land Management. 

My heartfelt prayers go out to the pilot's family, friends, colleagues, and all who love them. In addition, I offer my prayers for all those working the Bishop Fire, and those in the Ely Nevada BLM office.

May the pilots and their SEATs always fly in favorable winds.

2020 wildfire season: July 29th

It is getting towards the end of July and I expect that many of you know that there is a lot of wildfire activity in the western portion of the United States. Many of you follow Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today, where he reports on a variety of current news affecting the wildfire community including reporting on many of the wildfires burning in the United States. For example two of the many recent wildfires he has reported on are the Caldwell Fire that has burned at least  67,789 acres and the Gold Fire, burning at least 21,000 acres  )

Another good source of current wildfire news is Mike Archer’s Wildfire News of the Day (WNOTD), a summary with links to current news and other articles of interest to the wildfire community including but not limited to current wildfires. Mike sends out his WNOTD emails to his subscribers Monday through Friday. Mike posted articles about the Caldwell and Gold Fires in the WNOTD I received on July 28th:

Caldwell Fire from kdrv, Mike's link expired but a quick search found a newer article: 

Gold Fire from ktvn

Large air tankers are working out west. As I write this there are a total of 28 large air tankers including two C-130 MAFF’s from the Air National Guard, the largest number of active  large air tankers in many years.  (see Bill Gabbert’s July 22nd article on Fire Aviation about the MAFFs activation. Bill has posted several articles on Fire Aviation in July 2020 showing some great photography of air tankers in action. 

I have often found good fire photography on incident pages on Inciweb, taken by firefighters working the fire, see for example Blue River 2 (28,051, last updated July10th) and Bringham Fire (23,142) acres, last updated on July 20th ), both wildfires are in Arizona. 

When I am following wildfires in my area or elsewhere I check my wildfire related bookmarks and may search the internet for more information on a given wildfire, often for my own curiosity and not for this blog. I may do so even when the wildfire is covered by some of the sources that I have already mentioned. Too numerous to list and specific sites will vary depending on the location of the wildfire: local media, state fire agencies, federal and state lands, private Facebook and Instagram groups, etc. Some of those sites will have good fire photography.

Air Tanker History: Neptune Aviation's P2-V Lockheed Tanker 14 (retired Oct. 2017)

I am in the mood for a little bit of recent tanker history and remembered this video, by Bob Webb featuring the now retired Tanker 14. See my April 1st article for a little more about the retirement of Neptune's P2-V tankers. Enjoy, the video is a little over eight minutes long.

Direct link to You Tube video by Bob Webb

2020 New Jersey wildfire season: a small wildfire in oppressive heat (July 19)

On other occasions I have written here that there are many wildfires in New Jersey and elsewhere in the Mid-Atlantic that I do not know about. I say this again because I want all wildland firefighters in New Jersey and adjoining and near by States to know that I care and rarely a day goes by when I am not thinking of you and saying a quick prayer in my own way that you may be safe.

I am thankful for what the wildland firefighters in the New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) and your colleagues in adjoining States do to keep us safe from wildfires. You are the best!

As some of you know, we had some very hot and humid weather in New Jersey this past week, especially Sunday July 19th and Monday July 20th. Temperatures were in the mid to upper 90s with heat indices near or about 105° F. I admit that I may not have been thinking of all of you who are wildland firefighters who may have been out there on that day fighting wildfires, no matter how large or small. This is what you do, you fight wildfires and when you get the call, you put on your gear and assemble your tools and go. During this Covid-19 pandemic, you are also following the safety guidelines set up by your agency.

I suspect that there were several of you in various Mid-Atlantic States who may have been fighting wildfires during the recent very oppressive heat, thank-you! The impetus for this post was reading a post on Facebook by NJFFS Section B10 about a seven-acre that their Section fought on Sunday, July 19th near Monroe Township in Monmouth County, New Jersey. The fire was contained by the end of the day and was likely caused by a fallen  high tension wire. The Monroe Township Fire Department provided Section B10 with assistance in fighting this wildfire. Great work everyone containing this fire by the end of the day. 

As I am neither a wildland firefighter or a structure firefighter I can not know what it is really like to fight a wildfire during oppressive heat or during the winter in the cold and the wind. I write this to again remind you that I always think of wildland firefighters with a thankful heart for fighting wildfires during challenging weather conditions. As well as the conditions posed by larger wildfires. 

2020 wildfire season: ground and aerial assets fight a small brush fire in southern california

Thanks to my friends at the NJ Forest Fire Service Section B10 Homepage who post several videos of the week each weekend showcasing wildland firefighting action. I spent some time today looking for some nice footage to show you of air tankers and helicopters working wildfires, assisting the wildland firefighters on the ground. I admit to focusing on larger wildfires that I know of but found nothing that I wanted to show you. I kept looking and found this nice seven minute video on the NJFFS Section B10 Videos of the week page. It was perfect, showing tankers and helos and some firefighters on the ground. The plus is that they were working a small two-acre brush fire, probably on initial attack. I do not know the final figures for this particular fire, but that does not matter. What matters is that aerial and ground assets were working a very small brush fire. You will want to read the about this video section in the direct link below. The CAL Fire Riverside unit responded to this fire that burned near Perris, California (Riverside County) east of Los Angeles in July 2020.

Direct link to video on Youtube by Loud Labs

2020 wildfire Season: IMET deployments (July 4 to July 19th)

Wildfires have been ramping up in the western portion of the United States and this means that NWS Incident Meteorologists (IMET) continue to be deployed on assignments that can last up to two weeks. Information on IMET deployments is obtained from the US National Weather Service IMET Facebook Page. Unless otherwise specified, all fire size information comes from Inciweb. IMETs save lives, thanks to all the IMETs whether you are currently in the field, awaiting deployment or returned from deployment.

Deployments that may have ended:

On July 5 an IMET from the US NWS Western Region Headquarters was deployed to the Polles Fire in the Tonto National Forest near Payson, Arizona. As I write this the fire has burned 628 acres and is reported to be at 92 percent containment (last update on July 15th)

On July 6 an IMET from the US NWS San Francisco Bay Area/Monterey California Weather Forecast Office was deployed to the Crews Fire (CAL Fire incident) near Gilroy, California. CAL Fire reports that the fire burned 5,513 acres and was extinguished on July 13th.

Two IMETs were deployed on July 7th. A US NWS IMET from the Tucson, Arizona Weather Forecast Office was deployed to the Bighorn Fire in the Coronado National Forest near Tucson, Arizona, 119,741 acres have burned. Here is a July 2nd story from KOLD featuring an IMET reporting on heavy monsoon like rains. While this report is now dated, it illustrates the importance of the work of IMETs. A second IMET, this one from the US NWS Weather Forecast Office in Reno Nevada was deployed to the Numbers Fire. The Numbers Fire is reported to be 100 percent contained, having burned 18,380 acres (last updated on July 13th).

Deployments in the last week:

No deployments that I know of from July 8 through July 13th.

An IMET from the US NWS Weather Forecast Office in Hanford, California was deployed to the Mineral Fire on July 14. The Mineral Fire is a CAL Fire incident, having burned 28,221 acres near Coalinga, California.

On July 15th, two IMETS were deployed. The first IMET was from the US NWS Weather Forecast Office in Flagstaff, Arizona, deployed to the Turkey Farm Road Fire near St. George, Utah. The fire is burning on Utah State Lands, as of July 16th the fire had mapped at 11,993 acres according to a July 18th report from Utah Fire Info. The fire was caused by fireworks, human caused. 

The second IMET deployed on July 15th came from the US NWS at Albuquerque New Mexico, deployed to the Blue River 2 fire near San Carlos, Arizona. The fire which has burned 28,51 acres, is burning on lands of the San Carlos Apache Nation.

On July 16th, a US NWS IMET from the Flagstaff Arizona Weather Forecast Office was deployed to the Big Summit Fire near Panaca, Nevada. 8,461 acres have burned to date.

On July 19th an IMET from the US NWS Weather Forecast Office in Reno, Nevada was deployed to the Hog Fire (a CAL Fire Incident) that has burned 5,800 acres near Susanville, California.

About being a volunteer firefighter and NJFFS wildland firefighter: from a retired NJFFS State Warden

Perhaps some of you reading this are wondering what is like to be a volunteer firefighter and/or a wildland firefighter in New Jersey. Others of you may just be curious, as I always am, about learning more about the world of firefighting. If so, then you will enjoy this 39 minute video by PintheQ Productions where he interviews former State Fire Warden (with the New Jersey Forest Fire Service), Maris Gabliks. Maris is also an active member and past president (and former chief) of the Adelphia Fire Company located in Howell Township (Monmouth County, NJ). The gentleman at PintheQ Productions, does documentaries focusing on firefighting. Enjoy.

Direct link to PintheQ Productions Episode 39 on Maris Gabliks