Will Elon Musk’s new flamethrower be useful for firing operations on wildland fires?

Boring Company flamethrower

Elon Musk has disrupted several industries, including electric cars, solar panels, battery manufacturing, and space launch systems. On Saturday he introduced a flamethrower, and I can’t help but wonder what the significance of this venture will be, or why he was motivated to do this.

In the Instagram video below, he explains that “It is good for roasting nuts”.

Great for roasting nuts ? ?

A post shared by Elon Musk (@elonmusk) on

The flame appears to be burning gas, rather than a liquid like diesel fuel, kerosene, or gasoline (or a mixture of liquids). The cylinder on top looks like a 14-ounce propane tank.

In a Tweet, he said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms allows flamethrowers with a flame less than 10 feet.

It should start shipping “in the Spring” at a price of $500. Sunday Mr. Musk said there have been 7,000 pre-orders for the 20,000 that are being manufactured. It is sold by the “Boring Company”, an organization Mr. Musk created to construct tunnels under cities to transport cars at 150 mph, avoiding heavy traffic on the surface.

We don’t know if the flamethrower is real, but people thought Mr. Musk was joking when he first proposed the tunnels. They thought the same thing when he said he was going to put his new personal Tesla Roadster on the first test launch of their Falcon Heavy rocket as a demonstration payload. It is typical on test launches of new rockets to put a dummy weighted payload in the cargo bay, but it is usually something fairly worthless like scrap steel. Not a new sports car (playing David Bowie’s Space Oddity) that according to Mr. Musk can accelerate to 60 mph in 1.9 seconds and has a top end of 250 mph.

Tesla Roadster launch rocket
Elon Musk says his personal Tesla Roadster has been loaded as a demonstration payload for the first test launch of their new Falcon Heavy Rocket. The rocket was test fired on the launch pad January 24, and the scheduled launch date is February 6.

But getting back to the flamethrower… do you think it will be practical on prescribed fires or wildland fire firing operations, burning out and backfiring?

In this next video, Mr. Musk seems to like the flamethrower.

Don’t do this. Also, I want to be clear that a flamethrower is a super terrible idea. Definitely don’t buy one. Unless you like fun.

A post shared by Elon Musk (@elonmusk) on

Five lessons learned at Prescott fire managers meeting

State Foresters meeting prescottThis week in Prescott, Arizona the National Association of State Foresters held their annual “Chiefs, Managers and Supervisors Meeting”. The goal of the 120 attendees was to discuss the policies, technologies, and procedures that will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of fighting wildfires.

One product from the event was a list of the top five lessons learned:

  1. Change starts with coordinated leadership. The work the nation’s state foresters are doing together to improve wildfire preparedness, detection, and suppression is critical to protecting communities small and large across the country. When state foresters lead the charge on these issues, and act as one, their voice is amplified in Congress – and more importantly – outside of Congress in the public domain where change-making starts.
  2. Speak the same language and use the same metrics whenever possible. When the states share similar language to characterize their wildfire fighting programs, national and regional wildfire fighting coordination is improved and lives are saved. Additionally, with a standardized method of measuring wildfire costs across the nation, we can track exactly where money for wildfire prevention and suppression goes and to what benefit, ultimately allowing for more efficient resource allocation.
  3. Stay the course on advocating for federal forest management and wildfire funding reform. A positive resolution is closer than ever. The USDA, Department of the Interior, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, and other national partners are in agreement on the broad strokes of federal forest management reform and a wildfire funding fix, which means the state foresters are in a good position to propose and advocate for what specific changes need making.
  4. Words matter; and actions even more. It’s time to stop talking about how we can better support and protect wildland firefighters; how we can better contain costs, employ new technologies, and help prevent catastrophic post-fire damage. In many cases, we have the information we need to set smarter federal forest management and wildfire policies. It’s time to put that information to use – to change policies to save lives.
  5. Sharing processes that work, works. Better decisions and better outcomes come out of sharing experiences and expertise between state forestry and fire agencies. One of the best ways to contribute to cooperative networks is to get connected.

Red Flag Warnings, January 26, 2018

red flag warning wildfire

The National Weather Service has issued Red Flag Warnings for portions of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Forecasters expect northwest winds of 15 to 25 mph gusting to 35 with a relative humidity as low as 12 percent.

A Fire Weather Watch is in effect for strong winds beginning Saturday evening lasting until Monday night in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties in Southern California. The forecast is for 15 to 25 percent relative humidity with 25 to 35 mph northeast winds gusting at 45 to 55 mph.

The map was current as of 6:40 a.m. MST on Friday. Red Flag Warnings can change throughout the day as the National Weather Service offices around the country update and revise their forecasts.

Four minutes with USFS pilot Mary Verry

Mary Verry

The U.S. Forest Service has produced a four-minute video featuring Mary Verry, the Fixed Wing Program Manager for the Pacific Northwest, including Washington, Oregon, and Alaska.

The title sounds like a desk job but she also flies a lead plane, helping air tanker pilots get into and out of retardant drop targets safely. She describes her job and gives some tips to those who may be thinking about becoming an aerial firefighter. The video is very well done — spend four minutes with Ms. Verry.

Grapes exposed to wildfire smoke may produce smoke-flavored wine

Wine grapes
Wine grapes. Photo by Fir0002.

From CFJC Today:

A new study out of the University of British Columbia Okanagan has looked at what happens to wine grapes when they are exposed to wildfire smoke.

Researchers found chemicals in the smoke can give wine an off-putting smoky flavour and aroma known as smoke taint — and those volatile phenols are absorbed quickly and remain in the grape long after the smoke has cleared.

The authors say while wine from those grapes can be smoke-flavoured, the grapes themselves taste normal, likely a result of the volatile phenols changing during the fermentation process.

Colorado issues analysis of nighttime aerial firefighting

Above: A Los Angeles County Fire Department helicopters drops water on the Fish Fire, June 21, 2016. LACoFD photo by Gene Blevins.

(Originally published at 5:344 p.m. MST January 24, 2018)

Colorado’s Center of Excellence for Advanced Technology Aerial Firefighting has issued a 28-page report that analyzes nighttime aerial firefighting. Primarily it documents what several Southern California firefighting agencies are currently doing with helicopters at night.

The table below from the report presumably applies to the single helicopter that is double-crewed on the Angeles National Forest to operate both during the day and at night.

aerial firefighting at night
From the CoE report on aerial firefighting at night.

The report does not make any recommendations about flying at night, but does list seven “scenarios” that could be considered for Colorado:

  1. No night aerial firefighting operations in Colorado
  2. Night Operations statewide — wildfire only
  3. Night operations statewide — all hazards
  4. Location-specific night operations
  5. Expanded Multi-Mission fixed wing, for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance at night (the state owns two Pilatus PC‐12 fixed‐wing  aircraft currently being used for missions such as these)
  6. Extended daytime flight hours
  7. Unmanned aerial systems night operations, short-term and long-term

You can download the entire report here (large 2.6 MB file)

Below are tweets showing mostly Los Angeles County Fire Department helicopters operating at night.