Wildfire news, April 13, 2009

Chain saw flash drive

Need a gift for that wildland firefighter/chain saw operator that has everything?  Chances are they don’t already have a 2 GB flash drive in the shape of a chain saw.  These were originally included with special limited edition copies of the game Resident Evil 5 for the Xbox 360 and PS3, but many have shown up on eBay selling for $23-35.  It’s a little pricey for a 2 GB flash drive, but it’s a CHAIN SAW FLASH DRIVE, for pete’s sake.

New York City fire

A 30 to 40-acre fire may not be big news in much of the United States, but when it is in New York City on Staten Island it turns into a 6-alarm emergency.  About 250 firefighters brought it under control after four hours.

Much of the fire was in a cat tail marsh, which can produce some spectacular flames and heavy black smoke.  One firefighter suffered a minor back injury and one unoccupied house was destroyed while two others were damaged.

FEMA teams to survey fire-damaged Oklahoma

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will begin on Tuesday gathering information about the damage caused by the fires last week.  State officials have said 100-150 homes were destroyed in the state by the wildfires.  The FEMA survey will determine the amount of federal disaster aid that will be available.  Midwest City near Oklahoma City and portions of the southern part of the state were especially hard hit.

State Farm Insurance estimates there will be more than $10 million worth of home and automobile damage from the fires in Oklahoma.

Helicopter Association concerned about FLAME Act.

The U.S. House of Representatives on March 26 passed by a 412 to 3 vote the FLAME Act which establishes a new federal fund to cover the growing costs associated with fighting wildland fires.  The fire funding issue is one that MUST be addressed so that federal agencies do not have their budgets for a wide range of priorities devastated when wildland fires occur.  This portion of the bill is widely recognized as very important and long overdue.

However, one of the 12 amendments attached to the bill requires that the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture submit a “cohesive wildland fire management strategy” report, with one of the components being:

“A plan, developed in coordination with the National Guard Bureau, to maximize the use of National Guard resources to fight wildfires.”

The Helicopter Association International is concerned that National Guard helicopters would be used instead of privately owned helicopters to fight wildfires, putting additional economic stress on private companies, many of which are struggling in this economy.

From the Association’s web site:

This is a critical firefighting issue that affects all helicopter operators, especially those under contract to the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Forest Service. The state of the U.S. economy is grim, and significant emphasis has been placed on helping large corporations, auto manufacturers, and financial institutions.

Should the National Guard language be added to the Senate bill and the final legislation signed by President Obama direct the maximum use of National Guard resources to fight wildfires, firefighting operators will be significantly affected by this action which could limit the use of commercial firefighting resources.

Many HAI operators conducting firefighting operations across the United States are small businesses and are the backbone of the aviation industry. They are an indispensable component of this nation’s economy. It is imperative that Congress understand their value when considering legislation.

They may have a valid concern.  Existing federal rules for air tankers, for example, require that privately-owned air tankers be totally committed before government-owned air tankers, such as the National Guard operated MAFF C-130 air tankers, be activated.   I expect that the Association would want at least the same measure of protection governing the use of National Guard helicopters.

Nine FF’s injured in “tanker” rollover

Firegeezer, a site always worth visiting, has the story (with lots of photos) of a tanker-pumper that rolled over in Australia Austria injuring nine firefighters.  Wow.  That’s a lot of firefighters on a tanker-pumper.

Thanks, Chuck.

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