Australian firefighter killed in vehicle rollover

UPDATE at 11:16, January 11:

The firefighter has been identified as Hugh Monroe. Here is information from CFA Connect dated January 11:

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Tolmie & District Rural Fire Brigade member Hugh Monroe died yesterday after the tanker he was driving was involved in an accident on the way to an incident in Victoria’s North East. The accident happened about 14 kilometres from Tatong.

Mr Monroe, 62, had been a volunteer for nearly 11 years and was a much loved member of both his brigade and community. A dedicated firefighter and brigade 3rd Lieutenant, he was involved in the 2006 campaign through Victoria’s high country and the Black Saturday fires last year.

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(The original article:)

A firefighter was killed and four others were injured when their fire truck rolled over while they were responding to a grass fire at Lake Mokoan near Benalla in northeast Victoria, Australia. (map)

Here is information from the Brisbane Times:

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A 62-year-old volunteer firefighter was protecting his community in northeastern Victoria when he died in a tanker rollover that injured four of his brigade mates.

The man was travelling to put out a blaze ahead of extreme fire weather when he was killed at Tatong in northeast Victoria on Sunday.

Three men and a woman were also injured in the rollover, two suffering serious injuries.

Country Fire Authority (CFA) chief fire officer Russell Rees said the man, from nearby Tolmie, was one of five firefighters travelling to a fire at Lake Mokoan, near Benalla, when tragedy struck.

“One of our members tragically died and our condolences go to the family and the broader CFA family,” Mr Rees said.

“This is a sad event, it reinforces once again the dedication and commitment of our people across the emergency services, but particularly the volunteers who get up out of bed while you and I are slumbering away on a Sunday morning and go and do work for their community.”

The single vehicle accident occurred on the Spring Creek Road at Tatong, north of Mansfield, about 6.30am (AEDT).

The 62-year-old firefighter, believed to be the driver, was trapped inside the tanker and died at the scene.

Two men were flown to Melbourne hospitals in a serious condition and a man and a woman were transported by road ambulance to the Goulburn Valley Hospital in Shepparton.

Acting Premier Rob Hulls said his thoughts went out to the family of the deceased and those injured.

“I think it really reinforces that CFA volunteers put their life on the line and this is certainly very clear by what occurred today,” he said.

“A volunteer going to Lake Mokoan fire to further blacken out particular areas has tragically lost his life, really trying to protect (the) lives of others.”

It’s believed two of the injured firefighters went to a nearby house to raise the alarm and a doctor and an off-duty policeman were the first on the scene.

A man, aged about 42, was flown to the Royal Melbourne Hospital with spinal and chest injuries.

Another man, aged 52, was flown to The Alfred hospital with neck, back and head injuries.

A woman suffering chest and abdominal injuries and a man with head lacerations were taken to Shepparton.

California’s 2009 fire season: the lowest number of acres burned since 2005

2009_California_fires_10_largest

While there were quite a few large and very damaging wildfires in California last year, the total number of acres burned on Cal Fire and US Forest Service protected lands was the lowest since 2005. The fires destroyed 490 structures, down from 2,219 in 2008.

NPS releases report on Yosemite’s escaped prescribed fire

The National Park Service today released the report on last August’s Big Meadow escaped prescribed fire in Yosemite National Park. The report was completed on November 9, but it was not made available to the public until today.

The project was intended to be an 89-acre prescribed fire in a meadow in Yosemite Valley, but it was declared a wildfire 55 minutes after completing the test burn. The fire blackened 7,425 acres before being controlled by 1,300 firefighters at a cost over $15 million. It became the eighth largest fire in California in 2009.

Big Meadow Prescribed Fire Map. NPS
Big Meadow Prescribed Fire Map. NPS

Here are some key points from the report. (Passages in “quotes” are taken directly out of the report, word for word. Everything thing else is paraphrased or summarized.)

    • The test fire began at 10:15 on August 26, 2009. There is conflicting information in the report about the spot fire(s) that occurred at 11:00. There was either a small spot fire outside the perimeter, or there was “group torching of a thicket of small diameter Ponderosa pines” resulting in several spot fires that were suppressed.
    • The ignition of the main burn began at 11:15. Five minutes later at 11:20 a spot fire was found 10 feet outside the line in some pine regeneration. At 11:40 two burning snags were discovered outside the line. At 11:55 there were multiple spot fires burning and a helicopter was ordered for water bucket support.
    • The project was designated a wildfire at 12:10 and “aggressive suppression action began”.

Continue reading “NPS releases report on Yosemite’s escaped prescribed fire”

Governor of Maine wants to eliminate most wildfire funding

In order to help deal with the state’s $438 million budget shortfall, Jon Baldacci, the Governor of Maine, is proposing that nearly all  funding for wildfire suppression be eliminated. There is also a proposal to sell one of the newer helicopters owned by the Department of Conservation. Most of the helicopters the department operates are from the Vietnam war era.

As you probably know, there is a lot of this going around, with city, county, and state governments cutting or threatening to cut the budgets for their fire departments.

UPDATE Jan. 9:

The information above was obtained from the Maine Public Broadcasting Network.

DC-10 receives approval to fight fires in Australia

DC-10 air tanker arrives in Australia
In Melbourne on December 14, Pilots Captain Jack Maxey, left, and Captain Kevin Hopf in front of the DC-10 water bomber (as they call it down under), Victoria’s latest weapon in bushfire fighting. Photo: Paul Rovere

The DC-10 air tanker has received all of the necessary certifications from the government in Australia so that it can be used on fires. The Victoria state government and the Country Fire Authority will be conducting a trial of the aircraft during their summer fire season. It arrived in Melbourne on December 14 and can carry about 11,000 gallons (42,000 l.) of retardant or about 12,000 gallons (45,000 l.)  of water.

Interestingly, some of the media in Australia have nicknamed the DC-10 the “super soaker”. Officially in the USA, it is in the class of “very large air tanker”, but I guess “super soaker” rolls off the tongue a little easier down under.

UPDATE Jan. 9, 2010

Wildfire Today has discovered that the first recorded use of the term “super soaker” (according to Google anyway) when referring to the DC-10 air tanker was in an article that appeared on January 28, 2006 in the Press-Enterprise.

AAR released for an extreme fire behavior event on the Station fire

The Station fire approaches the safety zone of OCFA's engine strike team in Bib Tujunga Canyon
The Station fire approaches the safety zone of OCFA’s engine strike team in Big Tujunga Canyon. Photo: Orange County Fire Authority

On August 29, 2009 two strike teams of engines were forced to retreat to a safety zone in Big Tujunga Canyon on the Station fire near Los Angeles as a massive convection column collapsed and sent strong winds and a flaming front through the canyon, leading to the loss of about 35 structures and burn injuries to three civilians who had refused to evacuate.

On January 7 the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center posted an After Action Review of this event written from the viewpoint of an engine strike team, number 1400C, from the Orange County Fire Authority. The AAR documents the preparation before the fire approached, the safety zone experience, fighting fire and saving structures after they could leave the safety zone, and the treatment and extraction of the burn victims.

The entire document is very worth reading, but below are the lessons learned:

Continue reading “AAR released for an extreme fire behavior event on the Station fire”