Wildfire Today

Fund raiser for the Wildland Firefighter Foundation

Bill GabbertMarch 24, 2012March 3, 2017UncategorizedCoal Canyon Fire, Jim Strain, South Dakota, Wildland Firefighter Foundation

The family that lost their son, Trampus Haskvitz, to a wildfire last year was so impressed with the support they received from the Wildland Firefighter Foundation that they are helping to organize a fund raiser for the organization. Here is a message from them and others asking for us to contribute.

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Dear Firefighters,

On August 11, 2011, South Dakota lost a brave Wildland Firefighter in the Coal Canyon Fire near Edgemont, South Dakota.

Trampus S. Haskvitz was a recent graduate of Dickinson State University in Dickinson, North Dakota and was in his fifth year of firefighting based out of Hot Springs, SD with the South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression Division as a FFT I ICT 5. He was an Engine Boss when he tragically lost his life saving others from a wildfire.

In his memory and to honor all Wildland Firefighters, his family is planning the First Annual Trampus S. Haskvitz Golf Tournament in Hot Springs, South Dakota on June 2, 2012 to raise funds for the Wildland Firefighters Foundation (WFF) based in Boise, Idaho. All proceeds collected as a result of the golf tournament will go to the WFF.

To make the golf tournament as meaningful and successful for the Wildland Firefighters Foundation as possible, Trampus’ family is respectfully soliciting donations from the fire community. Any merchandise, gift certificates or cash will be gratefully accepted. Cash donations can be sent directly to the 1st Annual Trampus S Haskvitz Golf Tournament at Wells Fargo Bank in Hot Springs SD. Questions or concerns about merchandise and gift certificates, please contact Jim Stevens Chief of the Hot Springs VFD.

The mission of the Wildland Firefighter Foundation is to honor past, present, and future Wildland firefighters. The Foundation helps maintain and grow the national monument established for those who have lost their lives in Wildland fires and to operate a financial fund providing assistance to the families of fallen and injured Wildland firefighters. In addition, the Foundation partners with private and interagency organizations to educate the public about Wildland fires and to promote excellence and safety in firefighting.

Trampus’ family and his firefighting colleagues in Hot Springs would like to thank you in advance for any support you can provide this annual event. It promises to be an exciting and fun weekend in the Black Hills of South Dakota and you can make a very positive impact on the Wildland Firefighting Community with your support.

Compassion Spreads Like Wildfire.

Respectfully,

Trampus’ Family: Don, LuJean, Benjamin, Betsy and John Haskvitz

Jim Strain, Assistant Chief of Operations, South Dakota Division of Wildland Fire Suppression; Office Phone: 605-393-8114, for any questions or concerns.

Jim Stevens, Chief of the Hot Springs VFD; Cell #: 605-890-2124, for any questions concerning merchandise and gift certificates.

P.S. We will be putting the information to register for the 1st Annual Trampus S Haskvitz Golf Tournament on the internet soon and will inform you of the domain in the near future.

Will 12 air tankers be enough this year?

Bill GabbertMarch 24, 2012August 25, 2019Uncategorizedair tanker, Ken Pimlott, Photo by Bill G, Tom Harbour15 Comments

P2 air tanker on Whoopup fire near Newcastle, WY, July 18, 2011. Photo by Bill Gabbert

The 2011 wildfire season was relatively slow in the United States with the exception of Texas and two very large fires in Arizona and New Mexico. During most of the season there were only 11 large air tankers on exclusive use contracts and this year we are starting with 12. Ten years ago there were 44.

The request for proposal that the U.S. Forest Service issued on November 30 could result in as many as seven additional air tankers on contract over the next two years — up to three this year and four in 2013. However, these additional “next generation” air tankers that can hold 3,000 to 5,000 gallons of retardant and cruise at 300 knots do not exist. Potential vendors will have to be given contracts and then they will begin converting recycled airliners into air tankers, a lengthy and very expensive endeavor. After that, the aircraft will be required to undergo extensive testing which could lead to approval by the Interagency Air Tanker Board (IATB).

Minden BAe-146 in hangar — Minden’s BAe-146 during the conversion process. Photo: Minden, used with permission

One next-gen air tanker has partially completed this process. Late last year Tronos and Neptune received interim approval for a converted BAe-146 airliner which is being leased and operated by Neptune. At the end of 2012 the IATB will consider it for full approval, based on its performance on fires and how it functions at air tanker bases. Minden Air Corp. is also converting a BAe-146 and hopes to have it flying over fires this year.

The Chief of the Forest Service, Tom Tidwell, told a congressional committee on March 6 that this year the USFS will contract for two scooper air tankers (presumably CL-215s or CL-415′s) for the first time. We have a call in to the agency to find out if they will be on exclusive use or call when needed contracts. If they are exclusive use, this would bring the total up to 14 (counting the interim approval of the Neptune/Tronos BAe-146), still less than one-third of the size of the air tanker fleet 10 years ago.

In a letter dated March 7 that Ken Pimlott, the Director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) wrote to Mr. Tidwell, he expressed concern about the decline of the USFS air tanker fleet, which has put pressure on CAL FIRE to bail out the USFS when there are fires on federal lands within the state. Mr. Pimlott also said that the Large Airtanker Modernization Strategy developed in January is not sufficient “to meet the needs of the combined federal, state and local wildland firefighting missions” and that it does not consider the potential of very large air tankers (VLAT), such as the DC-10s and the 747.

The USFS has no interest in awarding exclusive use contracts for the VLATs, and has only offered call when needed contracts with no assurance that a company will receive any income. Evergreen said their business model for their 747 air tanker can’t be sustained with occasional use and did not sign a CWN contract. 10 Tanker Air Carrier is struggling to maintain one of their two DC-10s and a crew on a CWN contract.

An article by Ben Goad in the Press-Enterprise also addresses these issues. Here is an excerpt:

…Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who has been critical of the Forest Service’s handling of the situation, said she agreed with Pimlott that the Forest Service’s plan falls short.

“Millions of Californians work and live in high-fire threat areas, and a failure to address this issue jeopardizes lives and property,” said Feinstein, D-Calif. “Chief Tidwell admits the Forest Service lacks aviation assets to meet the wildfire response need, yet he has not requested sufficient funds to make the acquisitions, nor has he provided Congress with a timetable.”

Harbour maintained that the Forest Service is actively pursuing new contracts with tanker vendors and said he hoped to bring as many as eight into operation over the next two years, with two or three going into service this year. He acknowledged that the shortage could strain resources in the coming fire season.

“I worry about it, but that’s why 900 engines and 11 air tankers and 120 helicopters and eight (Defense Department) aircraft make me sleep a little bit better at night,” he said. “I worry about it, but we plan and prepare to deal with it.”

Yellowstone – not in fire season yet

Bill GabbertMarch 23, 2012March 23, 2012Uncategorized1 Comment

Yellowstone National Park snow plowing — Yellowstone National Park workers continue to plow roads, opening them up for Spring travel. Photo by Randy Baum at Old Faithful.

While some wildland firefighters in the middle of the country are dealing with large fires already, Yellowstone National Park is not.

Information about road conditions and opening dates.

D. Douglas Dent – RIP

Bill GabbertMarch 23, 2012March 23, 2012Uncategorized1 Comment

Following the passing of Doug Erskine on Wednesday, another icon in the world of wildland fire has died. D. Douglas Dent succumbed to a stroke Thursday night.

Mr. Dent was not a firefighter, but taught hundreds of them how to safely fall, limb, and buck trees. He instructed classes in person, many of them in California, and produced a series of 11 instructional videos. The videos were very well done, but expensive at $260 each. However he was THE expert on the subject and deserved to be compensated for his expertise. Below is an excerpt from an email that was sent today to a mailing list of scores of people within the U.S. Forest Service:

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“…Doug was employed in Region 5 during 1987 by Rusty Witwer to help us develop our chainsaw program. Doug continued to be committed to us till this day, Doug was scheduled for a certification next month on the San Bernardino. Our current chainsaw program, procedures and policy were all developed with Doug’s help. Doug often told me how much it meant to him have the opportunity to pass on his knowledge to the Forest Service employees. Doug did not need to provide the training he gave us for money, he did it because he felt obligated to. He felt he was giving back the talent God gave him. Doug was committed to our safety. I saw it time and time again as he would stand under a tree with our employees holding onto their belt to make sure they would not get away from him by escaping the wrong direction. I witnessed many times when Doug would wrestle someone to a safety zone, my fondest memory of this was a course on the San Bernardino when he pinned a man twice his weight and size behind a tree (the safety zone) until it was safe to leave that refuge…”

Park fights beetles with fire, not saws

Bill GabbertMarch 23, 2012April 28, 2016Uncategorizedbeetles, Photo by Bill G, prescribed fire

American Elk prescribed fire, Wind Cave National Park. October 20, 2010. Photo by Bill Gabbert

The Rapid City Journal has an article about how Wind Cave National Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota uses prescribed fire, in part, to help prevent and control pine beetles. Below is an excerpt. It may be one of the last excerpts we can show from that newspaper, since they plan to put up a pay wall on their internet site.

Wind Cave wages war on beetles without using saws

They don’t use logging machines and chain saws in the battle against the mountain pine beetle in Wind Cave National Park.

They use fire. And sometimes, they don’t use anything at all.

The federal park, which covers almost 34,000 acres in the southern Black Hills, has a management plan for the pesky bugs that is dramatically different from the logging-based attack in the Black Hills National Forest and nearby private and state forest.

It’s a plan that has been evolving since the 1970s, with fire as the main management tool — depending on funding and favorable weather conditions.

“We really don’t do any cutting of trees right now,” said Greg Schroeder, the park’s chief of resource management. “We have in the plan the ability to do some thinning if we can’t get areas burned. But if we get them burned, we’ll pretty much mitigate the pine beetle problem.”

That’s easier to say and do in Wind Cave, which has more than twice the acreage of grass as it does of forest. The park also is at a generally lower elevation, where pine beetles haven’t in the past been as big of a problem in the Black Hills.

Those advantages, along with a decades-old management plan based on healthy forest standards of thinner tree stands, more variety in tree age and species, and periodic prescribed burns have created a forest that is more resistant to beetles, Schroeder said.

The Journal also has an article about their law enforcement rangers catching three people from Minnesota last weekend attempting to steal about three dozen elk antlers, as well as animal skulls and rocks.

Prescribed fire in Australia

Bill GabbertMarch 22, 2012October 13, 2012UncategorizedAustralia

Below is a very interesting video produced by the Nature Conservancy about the role of fire in Australia. Here is the description:

For centuries, traditional land management practices in Northern Australia have included burning the landscape to replenish the land and reduce the chance of devastating wildfire. See how The Nature Conservancy and partners are helping indigenous groups revitalize these practices — which also substantially reduce carbon emissions.

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