Prescribed fire smoke adds “texture” to views of the Grand Canyon

Smoke form Thompson prescribed fire, Grand Canyon
The caption for this photo on InciWeb reads: “Smoke from prescribed fires adds a special texture to the sunrise view from Mather Point.”

The Grand Canyon National Park employee who updated the InciWeb report for the Thompson prescribed fire put an interesting spin on the smoke visible from Mather Point,  describing it as as adding a “special texture” to the view. The park is conducting two prescribed fires in the North Rim area, the Thompson and Range projects totaling 2,600 acres.

Range Rx Fire, NPS photo
Range prescribed fire in Grand Canyon National Park. NPS photo
Cape Royal at sunset., NPS photo by Jessica Pope
Cape Royal in the Grand Canyon at sunset. NPS photo by Jessica Pope

Vallecito Fire burns 1,000 acres in southwest Colorado

Vallecito Fire, November 3, 2012
Map showing the Vallecito Fire. The red line is the perimeter at 7:52 p.m. MT on November 1, 2012 as detected by infrared sensors in a fixed wing aircraft. The red squares represent the approximate location of heat detected by satellites at 9:38 p.m. MT November 3, 2012 and the previous six days (yellow squares).

The Vallecito Fire has burned about 1,000 acres in the San Juan National Forest near Vallecito Reservoir 16 miles northeast of Durango, Colorado. The fire started October 12, most likely from lightning, and is burning within the perimeter of the 2002 Missionary Ridge fire. Due to the hazards of falling snags and steep terrain, firefighters have opted not to attempt direct suppression of the fire, according to information on Inciweb.

Vallecito Fire and Vallecito Reservior, photo by Charlie Armiger
Vallecito Fire and Vallecito Reservior, photo by Charlie Armiger

A contingency fireline is being prepared north of the fire if it becomes necessary to stop the fire before it encroaches on homes in the Hummingbird Lane and Ho Hum Drive areas.

Yesterday Colorado state officials issued a smoke advisory for the towns of Durango, Vallecito and Bayfield which is expected to be in effect until at least 4 p.m. Sunday.

The fire is staffed by eight personnel, including the Tushar Mountain Wildland Fire Module (a 7 person crew) and a Type 3 Incident Commander. Delaying and confinement tactics will be used to minimize spread until a significant wet weather event occurs. Persistent dry weather is predicted through Friday, November 9.

Vallecito Fire, Photo by Charlie Armiger
Vallecito Fire, Photo by Charlie Armiger

Red Flag Warning for southern California Sunday night and Monday

Red Flag Warnings, 7:38 a.m. PT, November 4, 2012
Red Flag Warnings, for 7 p.m. PT Sunday through 4 p.m. PT Monday

The National Weather Service has issued Red Flag Warnings and Fire Weather Watches for portions of southern California beginning at 7 p.m. Sunday through 4 p.m. Monday. Winds in the mountains will gust at 30 to 40 mph with lesser gusts of 25 to 35 in the inland valleys. Relative humidities will be in the single digits Sunday night through Monday while temperatures on Monday will be in the upper 80s to lower 90s.

The map was current as of 7:38 a.m. PT on Sunday. Red Flag Warnings can change throughout the day as the dozens of National Weather Service offices around the country update and revise their forecasts. For the most current data, visit this NWS site.

Smokejumpers’ DC-3 retires

DC-3 smokejumper
Jump-42, a US Forest Service DC-3, retires. USFS photo, taken at Ogden, Utah, October 24, 2012.

A retirement ceremony was held Monday, October 24 in Ogden, Utah, for a 69-year old firefighter that served for 42 years. It was J-42, a DC-3 that for four decades flew firefighters and smokejumpers around the western United States. Manufactured in 1943, its radial piston engines were replaced with modern turbines a number of years ago, extending its life while providing more reliability and requiring less maintenance. Most recently the aircraft had been assigned to the smokejumper base at McCall, Idaho.

There is still one other US Forest Service DC-3 remaining, stationed at Missoula. It also went through the turbine conversion years ago, but recently serious structural problems were found which required extensive repairs. That aircraft is expected to begin flying again next year. It will probably be used for a few more years before it too faces retirement.

Approximately 607 DC-3s were built between 1936 and 1942. At that time their cost was $79,000. Most of them had 14-cylinder Pratt and Whitney radial engines.

After being around the DC-3s off and on while on fire assignments, I never got used to the strange, new turbine sound coming from the aircraft after the conversion. I loved hearing those 28 cylinders. We still get to hear it from the 36 cylinders in the two radial engines on the currently-flying P2V air tankers operated by Neptune Aviation out of Missoula. But the days for hearing that sound are numbered, as the air tanker fleet transitions to the “next generation”.

When I worked on the El Cariso Hot Shots in southern California, we were told that previously, in the 1950s or 1960s, a DC-3 had been stationed at a nearby airport, possibly Ontario, ready to transport El Cariso and the Del Rosa Hot Shots to fires.

I flew in one of the USFS DC-3s in the 1970s, from Redding, California to a fire on the Plumas National Forest. At the time I had a cold and my ears had difficulty equalizing in the unpressurized aircraft. The pain was severe as we climbed to cruising altitude and leveled off. After a while my ears finally equalized and the pain subsided. That’s when we began our descent and the process started all over again.

 

Thanks go out to Ken and Chris.

11 IMTeams and 22 crews working on hurricane recovery

At least 11 Incident Management Teams and 22 hand crews are assigned in the eastern United States helping with the recovery from Hurricane Sandy. The numbers provided by various sources vary somewhat, and may be due to some of the resources not being dispatched through the National Interagency Coordination Center, such as an IMTeam from Maine that does not show up on the list below which is from the the Eastern Area Coordination Center. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Hurricane Sandy, IMTeams assigned, 11-3-2012

The crews are working in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut.

The Missoulian has an article about more crews headed that way today.

If you have photos of these firefighters in action, send them to us through our Contact Us page. Please include a brief description of the photo, the location, and the date. You can send one photo with each message; if you have lots of photos, send us a message through the Contact page and we’ll give you our email address.

BLM firefighters lead private citizens to safety

Two Bureau of Land Management firefighters led some private citizens to safety when their “exit access” was cut off by the Wetmore Fire, west of Pueblo, Colorado October 23, 2012.

(UPDATE March 6, 2013: the Lessons Learned Review has been released.)

Here is the preliminary (24 hour) report:

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PRELIMINARY (24 HOUR) REPORT

  • From: Keith Berger, BLM, Royal Gorge Field Office, Field Manager
  • To: BLM Colorado State Director
  • THE FOLLOWING INFORAMTION IS PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE
  • Location: Wetmore Fire, Royal Gorge Field Office
  • Date of Occurrence: Approximately 14:00 on 10/23/2012
  • FMO Robert Hurley, Front Range Interagency Fire Management Unit
  • Activity: Wildland Fire Suppression
  • Number and Type of Injury: None

NARRATIVE:

On October 23, 2012 at approximately 1400 PM MDT, two Bureau of Land Management (BLM) employees led a group of private citizens to safety when their exit access was cut off due to fire and smoke. The BLM employees, from the Royal Gorge Field Office Front Range Interagency Fire Management Unit located in Canon City, Colorado, were responding to the Wetmore Fire when they saw that some private citizens were unable to exit to the main highway. They guided the citizens to an area with light fuels, allowing the fire to pass by without any injuries, and were then able to lead the citizens to the highway, where they were all able to leave the fire area.

The human caused fire was reported at approximately 1300 PM MDT near the town on Wetmore, Colorado. Weather conditions during the initial attack on Tuesday afternoon were clear skies, temps 75+ degrees with southwest winds 40-45 mph with gusts to 70 mph. Fuels in the area are Ponderosa Pine, Pinion-Juniper and oak brush and grasses.

A Lessons Learned Review Team, consisting of the Colorado State Office Safety & Occupational Health Specialist, a Zone FMO from the Arapahoe-Roosevelt NF, a Forestry Tech from the Black Hills NF and a Zone FMO from the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control will be conducting the investigation.