An article in the Tyler Morning Telegraph explains how law enforcement authorities in Texas are concerned about the spreading use of exploding targets in the state. It also reports that an eight-year old boy was killed in Oklahoma by shrapnel from an exploding target.
Below is an excerpt:
Reports of mysterious, loud booming explosions in rural areas across East Texas have sheriff deputies and fire departments searching their jurisdictions for the cause.
Although there typically is no lingering smoke, fire or other signs to point authorities to locate the source, Smith County Sheriff’s Lt. Gary Middleton and other law enforcement officials believe many of the explosive sounds are the result of people using shooting targets designed to explode when hit.
“A lot of these calls are due to people shooting (various brands of explosive targets) which are perfectly legal across much of the nation at this time,” Middleton said.
The targets are sold as kits containing two chemical components — such as ammonium nitrate and aluminum powder — that separately are not explosive, but when mixed together are primed for eruption. The target kits are available to the public in most gun stores and large sporting goods retailers.
Manufacturers of the product say the products are safe when used as intended, but law enforcement officials warn improper use could result in serious injury. In several instances across the nation, the shrapnel from blasts resulted in serious injuries and death.
Earlier this year, an 8-year-old boy in Oklahoma was killed when an outdoor stove stuffed with the material was shot and exploded, sending shrapnel into the child. The child’s adult relative has been charged with manslaughter in the death…
Fire near Woodward, OK. Photo by Fort Supply Fire Department.
A wildfire northeast of Woodward, Oklahoma has burned over 23,000 acres and at least one home, according to police Lt. Matt Lehenbauer, who is the Woodward city and county emergency management director. The fire started Tuesday near Boiling Springs State Park and is now 16 miles long.
Fire near Woodward, OK. Photo by Fort Supply Fire Department.
Higher relative humidity and lower temperatures expected on Tuesday should make it a little easier for firefighters to slow down the fire.
The red, yellow, and brown squares represent heat detected by a satellite near Woodward, OK. (click to see larger version)
The video below has some interesting footage of fires burning in Logan County, Oklahoma. Near the beginning it shows someone operating a small tractor with a blade, straddling the flaming edge which has flame lengths of one to four feet. It appeared that his efforts were futile, since flames were still visible at times behind him on the unburned side of the fireline. It is hard to believe there was not some damage done to the tractor — or the operator.
Three blazes in the area burned a total of about 1,300 acres, destroyed several structures, and required the closure of an interstate highway.
Fire Aviation has a video showing two National Guard Blackhawk helicopters dropping water on one of the fires.
A voluntary evacuation order was issued for residents living east of Choctaw Rd., north of Prairie Grove Rd. all the way to highway 105 and on the north, as well as at Triple X Rd. on the east; a total of approximately four square miles, including the town of Meridian, Okla. The evacuation order was lifted just after 5:30 p.m.
The Oklahoma Red Cross opened a wildfire evacuation center at the First Christian Church, located at 402 E. Noble, in Guthrie.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol (OHP) had to shut down Interstate 35 in both directions, at mile marker 163, due to multiple car crashes in the area caused by the wild fire crossing the highway. Troopers reopened I-35 in both directions around 4:30 p.m. The highway was closed for approximately one hour and fourteen minutes.
The first fire started in the area of Hiwassee in Guthrie and stretched to Henney Rd. in Coyle. Firefighters contained the fire shortly after it began. Then a second fire sparked in the area of Redland Rd. and County Road 0730. A third fire flared up just south of Seward Rd., about two miles west of I-35.
FDNY Incident Management Team deploys to Buffalo, NY
The New York City Fire Department’s Incident Management Team has deployed to Buffalo, New York to assist in the organization and management of snow removal efforts following this week’s record snowfall. Friday morning at 5:45 the team departed from the Randalls Island Fire Academy after being requested by the New York State Division of Homeland Security and in coordination with the New York City Office of Emergency Management.
The FDNY saw the benefits of an IMT when they received help from Type 1 interagency IMTs after the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001. Soon thereafter they began training personnel to fill the positions for a team. Since then, the FDNY IMT has responded to multiple national emergencies including forest fires; to New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina; in Broome County, NY following Hurricane Irene and in New York after Hurricane Sandy.
Leaf burning leads to felony charge
A 74-year old man was charged with a felony after his leaf burning caused a wildfire north of Allentown, Pennsylvania on November 4. A police officer used a fire extinguisher to keep the fire, which had spread to within eight feet of a neighbor’s garage, from burning the structure.
“[Dale] Schaeffer failed to call the police or fire department, and continued to let the fire burn out of control in a reckless and dangerous manner,” the officer wrote in his affidavit of probable cause.
Mr. Schaeffer was arraigned Thursday before District Judge Robert Hawke on a felony charge of reckless burning and summary dangerous burning.
Firefighters suppressed a wildfire at the Sunny Rest Lodge on Thursday, in Carbon County, Pennsylvania.
Country Fire Service to cease aerial firefighting if a drone is spotted
State aviation operations manager David Pearce said South Australia’s Country Fire Service will cease all aerial operations at bushfires if an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is spotted in the area.
“Helicopters are particularly susceptible,” Mr Pearce said.
“If the drone is sucked into the intake of the jet engines, or goes into the tail rotor, then it’s probably curtains for the helicopter.”
Gyrocopter crash kills pilot, starts fire
The crash of a gyrocopter near Gatton in Queensland, Australia killed the pilot and started a bushfire on Friday.
Queensland helicopters to go high tech
QGAir Rescue. Photo: Queensland Fire and Emergency Services.
The Queensland (Australia) Government has invested $1 million to install screen sharing technology in its Kedron emergency services hub as well as five helicopter bases across the state.
The new kit – based on Cruiser Interactive technology – will allow Queensland Government Air (QGAir) teams across the six sites to share the same view of incoming data and emergency monitoring, and to switch between different screen views with a flick of the wrist.
Interactive screens have been set up in the co-ordination sites, onto which information from phones, tablets and PCs can be displayed.
Aero-Flite moving to Spokane
The company that operates Avro RJ-85 air tankers is moving from Kingman, Arizona to the airport at Spokane, Washington. Aero-Flite announced Thursday that it is moving its corporate headquarters and air tanker fleet to Spokane International Airport.
More information about Aero-Flite’s move is at Fire Aviation.
A freight train spraying sparks along railroad tracks in southern Maine started multiple wildfires in five cities on Thursday. Firefighters responded from 20 communities to the five alarm incident to battle fires in South Portland, Scarborough, Old Orchard Beach, Saco, and Biddeford. The worst hit area was the Wagon Wheel RV Resort and Campground, at 3 Old Orchard Beach Road. Firefighters said 10 campers were destroyed and another six were damaged.
Veterans hired as firefighters in New Mexico
A state-funded program in New Mexico called “Returning Heroes” is putting 46 veterans to work as wildland firefighters. More information can be found at KOAT.
Rain on the fires in Oklahoma
About an inch of rain Wednesday night is helping firefighters in Oklahoma suppress and mop up the fires near Guthrie and Woodward.
Air tanker arrives early at Santa Maria
A DC-10 and other firefighting aircraft are stationed at the Santa Maria airport in California about a month earlier than normal. A spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service said the planes were brought to Santa Maria early because of recent red flag warnings for extreme fire danger in the area.
Prose in a Police Log
The Police Log published in the Georgetown Record in Massachusetts does not waste any words. An entry about a vegetation fire on April 25, for example:
9:48 p.m. Services were rendered for a brush fire on Nelson Street.
Other services “rendered” included “a utility emergency on East Main Street”, “a disabled motor vehicle on Andover Street”, and “an animal complaint on Central Street”.
It takes years of experience and training to write an official report in the style of a firefighter or police officer.
Woodward County Emergency manager Matt Lehenbauer reported on the Ready Woodward Facebook page that the wildfire northwest of Woodward, Oklahoma burned one home. Two people have been injured and were transported by aircraft.
Mr. Lehenbauer said the fire is contained after burning 13,711 acres. National Guard Blackhawk helicopters dropped 45,000 gallons of water on the fire and were assisted by Aero-Flite’s water scooping CL-415 air tanker.
Resources assigned to the fire on Wednesday include two task forces with a total of
6 dozers, 6 engines and 2 Task Force Leaders, 1 Operations Specialist, 1 Air Attack Platform, 2 Single Engine Air Tankers, and 1 CL-415 water-scooping air tanker
Another fire earlier this week east of Woodward between Moorland and Quinlan is controlled after burning 14,100 acres.
KOCO has an article and photos of Aero-Flite’s brand new CL-415 water scooping air tanker (Tanker 260) that relocated from Florida to Oklahoma City to be used on the fires. Michelle Self posted a video on her Facebook page of it scooping out of Lake Liberty (map) while it was working on the fire near Guthrie, OK. The lake was five to ten miles west of the fire which would have contributed to very fast turnaround times for the 1,600 gallon water drops.
(Originally published at 5:43 p.m. CDT May 6, 2014)
Smoke from a wildfire near Woodward, OK was visible on radar at 5:25 p.m. CDT, May 6, 2014.
A wildfire northwest of Woodward, Oklahoma is spreading rapidly Tuesday afternoon, forcing residents to evacuate. The fire is between Woodward and Fort Supply.
The red squares represent heat on a wildfire between Woodward and Fort Supply, OK at 3:31 p.m. CDT May 6, 2014. The heat was detected by a satellite.
The following was sent out Tuesday afternoon May 6 at 4:05 CDT:
THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS TRANSMITTED AT THE REQUEST OF THE WOODWARD AND HARPER COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT.
A WILDFIRE WAS LOCATED FROM 4 MILES NORTHWEST OF WOODWARD NEAR HIGHWAY 270 AND EAST-WEST COUNTY ROAD 36… TO HIGHWAY 34 ONE MILE SOUTH OF THE HARPER COUNTY LINE. THIS WILDFIRE WAS MOVING RAPIDLY TOWARD THE NORTHEAST INTO FAR SOUTHEAST PORTIONS OF HARPER COUNTY. RESIDENTS IN THE PATH NEAR AND EAST OF HIGHWAY 34 SHOULD IMMEDIATELY EVACUATE TO THE SOUTH AND EAST.
PERSONS CAN GO TO THE WOODWARD PIONEER ROOM LOCATED AT 9TH AND OKLAHOMA IN WOODWARD.
At 3:31 p.m. CDT Tuesday the fire was approximately 11 miles long and at least 2 miles wide, spreading toward the northeast. It was moving from Woodward County into Harper County, according to Woodward County Emergency Management Director Matt Lehenbauer. The fire had been contained earlier in the day but began spreading again around 4:30 p.m., according to Mr. Lehenbauer.
Two National Guard Black Hawk helicopters are assisting firefighters on the ground.
The weather forecast for the rest of the afternoon in the fire area is for 91 degrees, a 28 mph wind out of the southwest gusting to 39 mph, and a relative humidity of 6 percent — conditions that are conducive to rapid fire spread. The wind should be decreasing Tuesday night by about 50 percent.
