Wildfire Today

News and opinion about wildland fire

Wildfire Today

Month: August 2009

John Tripp named LA County Chief Deputy

Author BillPosted on Categories Uncategorized

John B. Tripp has been selected to be the Chief Deputy of Emergency Operations for the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Chief John B. TrippChief Tripp will be second in command to the Fire Chief, P. Michael Freeman. Tripp has been with the department for 26 years.

He will be taking the place of Michael W. Dyer who left in June to become the chief of Santa Barbara County Fire Department.

LA County has a large wildland fire workload, and one of the largest fire organizations of any kind in the world. As we told you in June when Deputy Chief Dyer left:

Los Angeles County is one of the nation’s largest counties with more than 4,080 square miles and a population of more than 10 million people. More than 65 percent of the County is unincorporated, falling within the department’s 2,278-square-mile coverage area. The Department maintains about 167 171 fire stations with 242 fire engines, 32 ladder trucks, 85 paramedic units, seven helicopters, 11 wildland fire camps and numerous other specialized vehicles and facilities.

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And speaking of large fire departments, I did a little research and found these numbers on a Firehouse.com forum where the question “which is the largest fire department” was being debated. The data is attributed to Wikipedia, and is dated March 24, 2008:

  1. FDNY- 221 stations
  2. LA County- 168
  3. LA City- 106
  4. Chicago- 98
  5. Houston- 90
  6. Philly- 63
  7. Orange County Fire Authority (CA)- 60
  8. Phoenix- 56
  9. San Diego City- 47
  10. San Fran- 42

    11. This is not including Dallas and San Antonio

I don’t know if anyone knows how many stations the U.S. Forest Service has, but it can be argued that they are not a fire department. That agency insists on calling their firefighters “forestry technicians”, much to the chagrin to those of us who have worked there, or still do. And don’t forget CalFire, which has about 228 fire stations.

Koala rescued in fire faces risky surgery

Author BillPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags ,

UPDATE @ 8:40 a.m. MT

As OCR said in a comment, during the surgery it was discovered that Sam had severe problems in her urinary and reproductive tract that were non-operable and had to be put to sleep.  CNN has more details HERE.

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In February Wildfire Today reported on Sam, an injured koala that was rescued from from a fire in Australia by a firefighter. Here are the photos from the February articles:

Cheyenne Tree treats a Koala nicknamed Sam, saved from the bushfires in Gippsland, at the Mountain Ash Wildlife Center in Rawson, 100 miles (170 kilometers) east of Melbourne, Australia, where workers were scrambling to salve the wounds of possums, kangaroos and lizards Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009. (AP photo)

Well, Sam is not doing well, but not because of the burns he suffered in the fire. From an AP report:

But shelter spokeswoman Peita Elkhorne said Wednesday that Sam had developed abdominal cysts due to a disease called urogenital chlamydiosis, which affects up to 50 percent of Australia’s koala population. The disease can cause infertility, urinary tract infections and blindness and can be life-threatening.

Sam will undergo surgery on Thursday and the prognosis for surviving the operation is not good, Elkhorne said.

“We’re telling the public to brace for the worst-case scenario,” she said.

Elkhorne said Sam was “comfortable” but that a decision was made to try to remove the cysts because the disease can kill koalas.

She said Sam’s prospects would be known by Friday.

Aussie and Kiwi firefighters assist in Canada

Author BillPosted on Categories Uncategorized

Six New Zealand firefighters and 24 from Australia are traveling today to the Whistler area in Canada to help out with some of the wildfires burning in British Columbia. 

The two countries have had a mutual aid agreement for a while. Canadian firefighters have helped out with fires in Australia previously, and now the folks from down under are returning the favor. 

So far this year the province of British Columbia has had over 2,000 fires which have burned 175,000 acres.

 

 

Thanks Judy

Mann Gulch fire–60 years ago

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , ,

On August 5, 1949 on the Helena National Forest, a wildfire entrapped 15 smokejumpers and a fire guard in Mann Gulch. Before it was controlled the fire took the lives of 13 men and burned nearly 5,000 acres.

The fatalities:

  • Robert J. Bennett
  • Eldon E. Diettert
  • James O. Harrison
  • William J. Hellman
  • Philip R. McVey
  • David R. Navon
  • Leonard L. Piper
  • Stanley J. Reba
  • Marvin L. Sherman
  • Joseph B. Sylvia
  • Henry J. Thol, Jr.
  • Newton R. Thompson
  • Silas R. Thompson
The 13 men who were killed in the Mann Gulch fire. U. S. Forest Service photo.

The story of this fire was told by Norman Maclean in his book “Young Men and Fire”.

The Six Minutes for Safety overview of the fire is HERE.

As Wildfire Today reported earlier, on August 2-5, 2009 the Helena National Forest along with the National Smokejumpers Association will commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Mann Gulch fire at the Meriwether picnic area through informal interpretive programs highlighting the Mann Gulch Fire, impacts the Mann Gulch tragedy has had on firefighting techniques and smokejumping and the associated equipment.

Three smokejumpers—John McKinnon, Carl Gidland and Roland Anderson—will at the Meriwether picnic area to speak to people about Mann Gulch, current and historic fire fighting techniques and much more.

Here is a photo of Mann Gulch taken in 2008, from The Travels of John and Breya.