Smoke produced by large wildfires can be equal to a volcano

Satellite photo fires British Columbia

Above: Satellite photo taken August 2, 2017 showing smoke from some of the wildfires in British Columbia. The red dots represent heat detected by a sensor on the satellite.

It is not easy to measure and quantify the composition of the smoke and the amount of particulate matter that a huge wildfire produces when intense, large-scale burning forms towering pyrocumulus clouds that climb tens of thousands of feet into the sky. This launches the byproducts of combustion into the  stratosphere — the second layer of Earth’s atmosphere, above the troposphere. Once introduced at that level they have been tracked while circling the planet multiple times.

Below is an excerpt from an article by Megan Gannon at Live Science, which points out similarities between large wildfire events and volcanos.

For comparison, the explosive 2008 eruption of Mount Kasatochi, an island volcano in Alaska, sent about 0.7 to 0.9 teragrams (nearly 1 million tons) of aerosols — tiny, suspended particles — into the stratosphere, Peterson said. For months afterward, people around the Northern Hemisphere documented unusually colored sunsets, thanks to the sulfate aerosols and ash the volcano injected into the atmosphere.

Peterson’s team estimated that the British Columbia pyroCb event sent about 0.1 to 0.3 teragrams (about 200,000 tons) of aerosols into the stratosphere — which is comparable to the amount seen with a moderate volcanic event, and more than the total stratospheric impact of the entire 2013 fire season in North America, he said.

It’s well known that catastrophic volcanoes can influence the global climate. The huge 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, one of the largest in living memory, lowered temperatures around the world by an average of 0.9 degrees Fahrenheit (0.5 degrees Celsius).

As an example of the wildfire activity in British Columbia last year, here is an excerpt from an article posted August 9 at Wildfire Today:

The wildfire situation in British Columbia has not gotten any better in the last several days. Currently there are 128 active wildfires in the province, with four of them being larger than 50,000 hectares (123,000 acres). The largest, the Hanceville Riske Creek Fire, is getting closer to half a million acres each day.

Since April 1, approximately 591,280 hectares (1,461,082 acres) have burned in 900 fires in BC.

  • Hanceville Riske Creek, 172,000 hectares (425,000 acres) approximately 60 km southwest of Williams Lake.
  • Elephant Hill, 117,000 hectares (289,000 acres), near Ashcroft.
  • Tautri Lake, 76,000 hectares (188,000 acres), 80 km northwest of Williams Lake.
  • Baezaeko River-Quesnel West, 53,000 hectares (131,000 acres).

More than 400 additional firefighters from Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and the US are expected to arrive in BC this week. Other firefighters from Australia have been in the province for a couple of weeks. More than 100 firefighters arrived from Mexico since Saturday of last week…

 

TBT: National Geographic, Fire Bombers 1998

For Throw Back Thursday, let’s take another look at a classic film produced by National Geographic, Fire Bombers 1998. It includes some excellent footage of air tankers in that era, and also has interviews with a number of pilots. Bill Waldman probably gets the most screen time — he’s a good storyteller and seems comfortable in front of the camera.

We did our own interview, sort of, with Mr. Waldman, in 2013 in which we asked him 12 questions.

Below is the National Geographic film.

Firefighter collapses, dies during first day of training

Anthony Colacino, 33, died
Anthony Colacino, 33, died during physical training April 21, 2018.

An inmate firefighter collapsed and died during physical training near Jamestown, California April 21. For Anthony Colacino it was his first day as a trainee firefighter on the Sierra Conservation Center fire crew. Just before 8 a.m., about 50 minutes into a one-hour training hike, Mr. Colacino collapsed.

Below is an excerpt from an article in the LA Times:

The on-duty fire captain, along with four other inmate firefighters, took Colacino to the center’s firehouse, where they tried to save him by doing CPR in the vehicle and at the facility until an ambulance arrived, said Krissi Khokhobashvili, a corrections spokeswoman. “Those inmate firefighters, they jumped into action,” she said. “They did what they’re supposed to do.”

Colacino — who had served more than a year of a four-year, four-month sentence out of Riverside County for two counts of evading a peace officer while driving recklessly, cruelty to animals and discharging a firearm with gross negligence — was pronounced dead soon after. Officials said foul play is not suspected in his death, but the Tuolumne County coroner will determine the cause of death.

Our sincere condolences go out to Mr. Colacino’s friends, family, and coworkers.

(UPDATE Feb. 16, 2021. MyMotherLode reported: “Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson, Sgt. Andrea Benson, says, ‘The official cause of death [of Mr. Colacino] is Fatal Cardiac Arrhythmia due to Cardiomyopathy with contributing factors of Intramural Coronary Artery Disease.’  ” )

At least two other very serious life-threatening injuries have occured to wildland firefighters in recent years during day one or two of physical training. They occurred in 2016 in South Dakota and the Northwest.

One was a Rhabdomyolysis (Rhabdo) injury after running for more than nine miles and doing uphill sprints on the first day.

The other was a heat stroke near the end of a seven-mile run on day two of their season. The employee was unconscious for several hours and spent four days in the hospital.

We are aware of five other California inmate line of duty fatalities in the last seven years:

  • January 4, 2012: Crisanto Leo Lionell, 54, was participating in a training exercise at the California National Guard’s Camp San Luis when he lost consciousness and later passed away.
  • August 19, 2012: Jimmy Randolf, 44, died seven hours after he was found unresponsive where he was sleeping at the Buck Fire. The cause of death was listed as anoxic encephalopathy combined with complications of heat stroke.
  • February 25, 2016: Shawna Lynn Jones, 22, died from major head injuries after being struck by a rolling boulder while fighting the Mulholland Fire near Malibu.
  • May 24, 2017: Matthew Beck, 26, was working on a county roads project with a crew in the Hoopa area. He suffered major head, neck and back injuries when a 120-foot tall tree uprooted and fell on him. He died before life-flight crews were able to reach him.
  • July 11, 2017: Frank Anaya, 22, was throwing cut brush during line construction operations on a fire near Lakeside when he lost his balance and fell into a running chainsaw. He suffered a severe cut to his upper right leg behind his chaps and succumbed to his injuries July 11, 2017.

Two very large wildfires in Western Oklahoma winding down after burning 348,000 acres

Above: Water tenders on the 34 Complex of Fires. Posted to Inciweb April 19, 2018. 

The two very large wildfires in Western Oklahoma are downsizing their staffing as they move closer to full containment. Few smoking areas have been observed on recent overflights.

The larger of the two, the Rhea Fire, has burned over 286,000 acres. There are currently 223 personnel assigned. The most significant event Monday was when resources responded to a new fire that started when a hawk flew into a power line, causing arcing and ignition of the grass. It was fully contained at 5 acres. T

The Incident Management Team is being released from the 34 Complex of Fires which has burned over 62,000 acres. On Monday there were still 186 personnel assigned who continue to patrol firelines.

The video below was filmed on the Rhea Fire by Mississippi firefighters while the blaze was still very active.

MAFFS training begins at McClellan

MAFFS McClellan training

Above: C-130’s line up at Sacramento McClellan Airport April 23, 2018 as MAFFS training begins. Photo by 2nd Lt. Emerson Marcus, 152 Airlift Wing/Public Affairs.

The annual training and recertification has started at Sacramento McClellan Airport for the military C-130 crews who will fly and maintain the MAFFS aircraft this year.

All four of the airlift wings that operate the Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System are participating: three Air National Guard units from California, Nevada and Wyoming, and one U.S. Air Force Reserve unit from Colorado. Following the crash of MAFFS 7 in 2012 near Edgemont, South Dakota, the U.S. Forest Service and the military units have made an effort to have all four units in one place at the same time each year for the training.

MAFFS air tanker training
Staff Sgt. Anne Lepillez, a 731st Airlift Squadron C-130 Hercules aircraft loadmaster, directs a USDA Forest Service Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System aircraft loading trailer toward a C-130 at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, April 19, 2018. The 302nd Airlift Wing reservists are preparing for the annual MAFFS aerial wildland firefighting training and certification in Sacramento, California, beginning April 23, 2018. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Frank Casciotta)

“Training with all four MAFFS wings alongside the U.S. Forest Service, CAL FIRE and other wildland firefighting agencies here in Sacramento provides a significant opportunity as we prepare for wildland fire season,” said Col. James DeVere, commander of the MAFFS Air Expeditionary Group and 302nd Airlift Wing, Air Force Reserve. “Training collectively ensures overall standardization of operations while continuing to build working relationships with the key players in the wildland firefighting community. It is rewarding as guardsmen and reservists to stand alongside our agency partners, knowing that we help make a difference protecting our citizens and their property.”

The U.S.D.A. Forest Service’s MAFFS equipment — rolled into the back of a C-130 aircraft — can drop up to 3,000 gallons of water or fire retardant in six seconds through a nozzle on the rear left side of the plane.

The certification training includes classroom sessions and flight operations for military flight crews, lead plane pilots and other support personnel from the U.S. Forest Service and other wildland firefighting agencies.

Training water drops will be executed on lands within the Tahoe and Shasta-Trinity national forests. California residents in these areas may see low-flying U.S. Forest Service lead planes and C-130s dropping water Tuesday through Friday.

MAFFS aircraft are activated to supplement commercial air tankers contracted by the USDA Forest Service when high wildfire activity requires additional aircraft. They can also be activated by governors to assist with wildfire suppression in states where the Air National Guard units that provide the C-130s are located — California, Wyoming, and Nevada.

Rattlesnake Fire burns almost 17,000 acres in eastern Arizona

Rattlesnake Fire

Above:  The Rattlesnake Fire, posted to Inciweb approximately April 20, 2018. Photographer unknown.

Growth on the 16,891-acre Rattlesnake Fire 20 miles southwest of Alpine, Arizona has slowed in recent days, but the perimeter continues to expand as firefighters conduct burnout operations to secure firelines.

Fire managers continue to monitor lines on the western flank near the Black River where a few areas of concern are still active. Some firefighters were moved from the west to the east side which has more active fire. Burnout operations were conducted along Forest Road 25 on Saturday.

Map of the perimeter Rattlesnake Fire
Map of the perimeter of the Rattlesnake Fire, April 22, 2018. USFS.