Fire Chief finds charred sky lantern on his roof

charred burned sky lantern fire illegal
Chief of the International Falls, MN Fire Department, Adam Mannausau, displaying an illegal sky lantern that landed on the roof of his house. Photo: International Falls FD.

When the Chief of the International Falls Fire Department was backing out of his driveway last week in Minnesota he spotted something on his roof that was not supposed to be there. Chief Adam Mannausau discovered it was a charred sky lantern.

These dangerous devices use burning material to loft a small paper or plastic hot air balloon into the air. The perpetrator has no control over where it lands. Usually the fire goes out before it hits the ground, but not always. Sometimes the envelope catches fire while in flight. Numerous fires have been started on the ground by sky lanterns. Even if they don’t ignite a fire, they leave litter on the ground. Metal parts have been picked up by hay balers causing serious problems when fed to livestock

Sky lanterns are illegal in at least 30 states, including Minnesota.

sky lantern launch fire dangerous
File photo of a sky lantern.
Sky lanterns launch hundreds fire wildfire dangerous
Sky lanterns are sometimes launched by the hundreds at organized events. File photo.

Red Flag Warnings, April 20, 2018

wildfire red flag warning

The National Weather Service has issued Red Flag Warnings for areas in  New Mexico and Texas.

The Red Flag Warning map was current at 7:47 a.m. MDT on Friday. Red Flag Warnings can change throughout the day as the National Weather Service offices around the country update and revise their forecasts.

Moffat Fire burns hundreds of acres north of Lone Pine, CA

Map Moffet Fire

Above: Moffat Fire, April 19, 2018. Photo: CAL FIRE San Bernardino Unit.

(UPDATED at 9:43 a.m. PDT April 21, 2018)

CAL FIRE reports that more accurate mapping determined that the Moffat Fire burned 1,265 acres.

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(UPDATED at 12:12 p.m. PDT April 20, 2018)

CAL FIRE reported Friday morning  that the Moffat Fire near Lone Pine, California has burned 1,050 acres. There was no increase in size overnight.

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(Originally published at 6:24 p.m. PDT April 19, 2018)

A fire that started Thursday afternoon grew to approximately 300 acres five miles north of Lone Pine, California. The fire is east of Highway 395 which for a while was closed in both directions. Later it was open but with escorts.

Lone Pine is 100 air miles northeast of Bakersfield, California.

The name of the fire was originally “Spillway”.

Moffet Fire
Map of the Moffet Fire at 1:51 p.m. April 19, 2018.

Officials confirm 23 homes destroyed in 117 Fire

Firefighters have slowed the spread of the 41,000-acre “MM 117 Fire” between Colorado Springs and Pueblo. The name comes from the mile marker on Interstate 25 near the point of origin.

The early reports indicated that 10 structures had burned, but officials have revised that to 23 residences, with 7 of them being unoccupied.

The state requested the Rocky Mountain Area Type 2 Incident Management Team Black, with Incident Commander Mark Hatcher, to manage the fire. They assumed command at 6 a.m. today (Thursday).

When the fire started Tuesday the wind was far too strong for any aircraft to assist firefighters, but Wednesday brought more favorable conditions allowing several contract air tankers and military helicopters to drop retardant and water.

Map 117 Fire
Map of the 117 Fire, April 19, 2018.

 

Forest Service contracts for aircraft onboarding analysis

solicitation air tanker support

When we saw the solicitation above and read the detailed description, we thought the U.S. Forest Service was planning to add more air tankers to their fleet or resurrect the Coast Guard HC-130H program, but that turned out to not be the case.

The solicitation seeks to hire seven contract personnel, with most of them being required to work out of Elizabeth City, North Carolina. It closed April 10 after being open for only about two weeks.

Their tasks will include:

  • Program and project management support;
  • Development of operations and management strategy;
  • Acquisition program support for aviation support contracts;
  • Technology insertion for aviation assets and facilities;
  • Analysis and implementation of supportability services for airframe, engine, and avionics.
  • Economic analysis for technology insertion and transformation efforts;
  • Safety program support for aviation and ground operations.

In February the Administration announced their desire to abandon the acquisition and conversion of seven Coast Guard HC-130H’s into firefighting air tankers after spending tens of millions on the project. They intend to operate one this year that is partially complete, borrowing a slip-in MAFFS retardant system.

Air Tanker 116 HC-130H retardant
File photo of Air Tanker 116, an HC-130H, using a MAFFS unit to spray retardant on a fire near Phoenix, June 22, 2017. Fox 20 Phoenix.

We asked Forest Service Public Affairs Specialist Jennifer Jones for a plain text translation of the language in the solicitation:

This solicitation is for engineering services needed for the USDA Forest Service to have one HC-130H equipped with a Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System (MAFFS) available to fly wildfire suppressions this year (2018) as in 2015 and 2017. The current contract for these services expires May 31st.

Ms. Jones supplied an update on the future of the HC-130H air tanker program:

Section 1098(a) of the Fiscal Year 2014 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) required the transfer of seven HC-130H aircraft to the USDA Forest Service for use as Airtankers in wildfire suppression. Based on recent increased private sector investment in Next Generation Airtankers, the agency has determined that government-owned Airtankers are no longer necessary since private industry is capable of fulfilling the agency’s required Airtanker needs. As such, the President’s Fiscal Year 2019 budget notes that the USDA Forest Service will seek Congressional support to terminate the NDAA provisions pertaining to agency-owned HC-130H aircraft. Any changes or modifications to these provisions will require Congressional action.

So apparently this contract for seven people mostly working out of Elizabeth City, North Carolina, will be to support one aircraft. If, however, unlike Ms. Jones’ description, they could perform these services for the entire USFS Fire and Aviation Management aircraft fleet, including contracting, it could be a worthwhile investment.

We are reminded that in June, 2015, 522 days after the USFS HC-130H acquisition began, they came to a conclusion, according to a Briefing Paper. Here is a quote from the paper:

This is a new program for the Forest Service, one that we have never managed before (We don’t know what we don’t know).

Aero Spray is now Dauntless Air

Aero Spray, Inc., an operator of Single Engine Air Tankers, has changed its name to Dauntless Air. The company also announced today the expansion of its fleet and the recent naming of a new CEO, Brett L’Esperance. Dauntless Air now owns and operates 11 amphibious AT-802F Fire Boss and one wheeled AT-802F. The aircraft feature onboard thermal imaging units and gel blending systems.

In our view it appears to be a good idea to rebrand the company in order to separate it from the flock of aerial firefighting companies with similar names, including Aero-Flite, Aero Tech, Air Spray, and Air Tractor.

There is also a new tag line:

Dauntless

Mr. L’Esperance took the company’s helm as CEO in June 2017 after more than 20 years of private equity investing and operating roles, including time at Bain Capital Credit, Woodside Capital Management, and the Watermill Group, .

Since joining Dauntless Air (formerly Aero Spray), Mr. L’Esperance has overseen a variety of updates to the business, including the addition of two new aircraft and six new ground support vehicles to its fleet in preparation for the 2018/2019 fire season, the relocation of its corporate offices within Appleton, Minnesota, and the implementation of new administrative and technology support systems to serve as the foundation for a stable, growing business.