August 2009 - Page 7 of 19

A lull in the wind aids firefighters in Greece

Bill GabbertAugust 24, 2009September 6, 2018UncategorizedGreece

A fire burns near Nea Makri village north of Athens on Monday. Photo: Yiorgos Karahalis

A decrease in the wind speeds has given firefighters in Greece a chance to gain more containment over some of the fires that have burned into the northern edges of Athens, the nation’s capital. But thousands of residents in the suburbs had to evacuate as dozens of houses were burnt.

Air tankers from several countries are helping to fight the fires. A state of emergency was declared in eastern Attica over the weekend, where fires have burned numerous homes and blackened 30,000 acres.

According to DW-World.de:

In addition, the European Union mobilized two further planes from its European tactical reserve of fire-fighting aircraft (EUFFTR), said Mann. Established to assist EU member states that face major fires, the EUFFTR makes planes available during the summer in a project costing 3.5 million euros ($5 million).

The EU and EU countries have sent in planes to help put out the flames

“They are being financed by the EU and have been leased from July 1 to September 30,” Mann said. “The idea is to help member states with their own efforts.”

The two EU fire fighting planes are stationed on Corsica, putting them close to both France and Italy and almost exactly halfway between Lisbon and Athens, according to the European Commission.

The planes have already been dispatched five times this summer; most recently to battle the fires in Portugal a few weeks ago.

This video has some good fire footage, including an aerial firefighting tactic not seen in the United States, that of two air tankers making drops in tandem, one right after the other.

(THE VIDEO IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE)

Pennsylvania reduces liability for prescribed fires

Bill GabbertAugust 23, 2009September 6, 2018Uncategorizedprescribed fire

One of the nightmares of wildland firefighters is being sued or charged with a crime when things go badly on a wildfire or prescribed fire. Some of the federal land management agencies have aggressively sought to find a law that was broken when there was a serious accident on a fire. That is why we recommend professional liability insurance for wildland firefighters who are in supervisory positions.

The state of Pennsylvania has taken a step in the right direction by passing a law that will help to protect firefighters involved in prescribed fire.

An excerpt from an article at TribLIVE:

In July, Gov. Ed Rendell signed into law House Bill 262. Sponsored by Cambria County Democratic Rep. Gary Haluska, the bill created the “prescribed fire burning act.” It “encourages the continued use of prescribed burning for fuel reduction, ecological, forest, wildlife and grassland management purposes.”

Most importantly, it provides a definition for a “prescribed burn worker” and removes individual liability from fire bosses who have received proper training and burn according to guidelines that are right now being established.

That liability issue kept agencies from doing much burning in the past because the man who struck the first match — even at the instruction of the agency — was individually as liable for any damages that occurred as was the organization itself.

Now that it’s been resolved, wildlife and habitat should benefit.

“This law will provide guidance and legal protection to land managers who understand the ecology of fire and want to embrace the best practices for managing public and private landscapes,” said Nels Johnson, the Pennsylvania director of conservation programs for The Nature Conservancy.

Junior smokejumpers

Bill GabbertAugust 23, 2009November 22, 2009Uncategorizedsmokejumpers

The Missoulian has an excellent article about a program at the Missoula smokejumper base which introduces kids to the concept of jumping out of perfectly good airplanes into forest fires. (Is this child abuse?)

Here is an excerpt:

Fourteen-year-old Gunnar Nabozney took a Junior Smokejumper class a few days ago.

Eight-year-old Molly White smiles behind the mask of a jump helmet at the end of her Junior Smokejumper camp last week. Photo by KURT WILSON/Missoulian

It’s not entirely clear he needed it, as he seemed to already know plenty about fires, airplanes and parachutes.

“Isn’t this the same system that paratroopers used in World War II?” Nabozney asked smokejumper Travis Parker as the class looked about a DC-3 jump plane.

“Pretty much, although we do things a little differently than they did,” a surprised Parker said to Nabozney, one of five kids taking part in the class sponsored by the U.S. Forest Service Smokejumper Center. “In fact, they learned how to do this by watching how we did it way back then.”

Despite his wealth of knowledge, Gunnar, his brother Joren and three other youngsters learned a lot during the one-day smokejumper program.

“We’ve had about 100 kids go through this this summer, and they really seem to enjoy it,” said Molly Cottrell, who taught the class with an assist from Parker and folks at the National Weather Service.

The kids come away with a heightened sense of what it means to be a smokejumper. But they also learned about fire, its behavior and how that behavior is influenced by weather.

“It’s pretty neat stuff,” 10-year-old Joren Nabozney said.

Thanks Dick

Greek fires: “State of emergency”

Bill GabbertAugust 23, 2009September 6, 2018UncategorizedGreece

Over 10,000 people have evacuated from Agios Stefanos, a suburb of Athens, Greece as a large wildfire approaches the outskirts of the city. Officials declared a state of emergency as fires pushed by strong winds burned for the third day.

Locals run to escape a fire at Grammatiko village. Photo: Yiorgos Karahalis

Earlier two large children’s hospitals were forced to evacuate along with other outlying suburban areas.

From Sky News:

Alexios, a resident of the threatened Athens suburb of Dionysos, told of his scramble to leave his home on web messaging site Twitter.

“Signing off, the power’s out. Fires near Rodopoli (West of Dionysos) and approaching Rapendoza (just East of Dionysos),” he wrote on Saturday evening.

An hour later, he gave the update: “Evacuating Dionysos. Stuck in traffic with two terrrified dogs and hundreds of panicky drivers. Wish me luck.”

Fortunately Alexios was able to reach the city centre. He wrote an hour afterwards: “Escaped the evacuee convoy early, safely in Athens proper (dogs safe too).”

Those who have left their homes now face an anxious wait to see if the flames will engulf their homes.

Here is a video that shows some of the action. It is narrated in a British accent which adds to the drama.

(THE VIDEO IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE)

A firefighter works near Agios Stephanos. Photo: Nikolas Giakoumidis

Here is another video. A portion of it is still photos without narration.

(THE VIDEO IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE)

European Union activates civil protection mechanism for Greece’s wildfires.

From China View:

BRUSSELS, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) — The European Commission said here Sunday that it has activated the Community Mechanism for Civil Protection following a spreading wildfires in Greece.

The decision was made by the request of Greece after extreme weather conditions fueled the spreading of the fires in the country, the commission said in a statement.

The wildfires continues to spread on Sunday in areas near Athens, forcing hundreds of residents to flee their homes.

Italy immediately sent two Canadair CL-415 amphibian water-bombing aircrafts to assist in putting out the fires, the statement said.

In addition, upon a request by the Monitoring and Information Center (MIC), France is ready to mobilize two Canadair CL-215 airplanes of the European tactical reserve of fire fighting aircraft (EUFFTR), which was established this summer to assist member states facing major fires.

Cyprus offered to send a fire fighting helicopter, according to the commission.

Nine Klamath Hot Shots injured in traffic accident

BillAugust 23, 2009Uncategorized

Nine members of the Klamath Hot Shots were returning from the Elephant fire on the Plumas National Forest in northern California on Saturday when one of their crew carrier vehicles was involved in an accident. Hot Shot crews usually travel with two crew carriers, each with 8-10 people, and one smaller vehicle, usually an SUV or a pickup.

From KHSLtv.com:

A U.S. Forest Service crew carrier rolled-over on Highway 99 East Saturday morning sending all nine firefighters on-board to the hospital. It happened just after 9 a.m. north of 66th Avenue.

CHP officers say the carrier was heading north on Highway 99 when a semi-truck heading south crossed into the other lane, side swipping the carrier. The driver of the carrier lost control and the vehicle overturned onto the shoulder and into an orchard.

Forest service officials say the carrier was transporting a hot shot crew back to base in the Klamath National Forest. The crew had just wrapped up fighting fires in Plumas County.

All nine firefighters on board were men ranging in age from 20 to 37 years old. They suffered minor head trauma and abrasions. One man fractured his pelvis.

The hot shot crew is a hand crew that travels all over the country. The crew was about two hours from home when their vehicle crashed.

A second crew of hot shots was travelling behind the van that crashed. They were not injured.

Eight firefighters have been released from the hospital. One remains at Enloe Medical Center with the fractured pelvis.

The driver of the semi-truck could face charges pending an investigation.

This is from ChicoER.com

According to California Highway Patrol reports, Gary Russell Hall, 58, of Sacramento, was southbound on Highway 99 in a 2006 Freightliner at approximately 9:08 a.m. when he allowed the big rig to cross into the northbound lane of the highway for unknown reasons.

The mirror on Hall’s vehicle reportedly struck the windshield and front pillar of the northbound 2001 International firefighting vehicle, with the driver, 30-year-old Brian Janes of Klamath River losing control of the vehicle as a result of the collision. The fire engine reportedly spun counter-clockwise across traffic lanes before rolling into an orchard on the west side of the roadway.

Janes, along with Michael Viola, 27, Daniel Beall, 22, Geoffrey Phlean, 25, Scott Burghardt, 35, Trevor Johnson, 20 and Joel Berg, 22, all of Klamath River, were transported to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Red Bluff with moderate injuries.

Aaron Schuh, 27, of Klamath River suffered major injuries as a result of the collision and was transported to Enloe Medical Center in Chico.

Hall was uninjured in the collision.

We wish them all a speedy recovery.