Wildfire Today

News and opinion about wildland fire

Wildfire Today

Author: Bill Gabbert

After working full time in wildland fire for 33 years, he continues to learn, and strives to be a Student of Fire.

Arsonist: 13 years old

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags

The arsonist who torched off the Station Fire on the Angeles National Forest hasn’t been apprehended yet, but investigators do have a suspect in the ignition of the Morris Fire. And he’s 13 years old.

Prosecutors are discussing whether to file charges against the boy, who’s suspected of starting the 2,100-acre fire just north of Azusa, California. According to the L.A. Times, detectives presented the case yesterday to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office. They said the boy is “primarily responsible for igniting the fire.”

The Morris Fire took off on August 25 in San Gabriel Canyon — the same day the Station Fire started.
It was contained on September 3. According to an AP story, the 13-year-old suspect is not in custody, but the D.A.’s office says that charges will likely be filed today.

Southern California Public Radio reported that the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department has not identified the boy. Their report also noted that the ignition point for the Station Fire was miles away from that of the Morris Fire, to the northwest along the Angeles Crest Highway above Pasadena.
The search for the Station arsonist is also a homicide investigation, because of the deaths of Tedmund Hall and Arnaldo Quinones, two L.A. County firefighters who were killed on the fire.

———- UPDATE 09/18/09
Los Angeles County prosecutors say it could take two weeks before they decide whether to file arson charges. Jane Robison with the District Attorney’s office said the case is under review, but prosecutors want more information.

Emergency vehicle visibility study

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags

In August a report titled “Emergency Vehicle Visibility and Conspicuity Study” was released by the United States Fire Administration in partnership with the International Fire Service Training Association. Here is an excerpt from a summary by Firehouse.

The report from the feds suggests that a lot more could be done to improve passive vehicle visibility and conspicuity. Best practices in emergency vehicle visibility, including cutting edge international efforts, are detailed in the study. Retroreflective striping, chevrons, high-visibility paint, built-in passive lighting and other reflectors for law enforcement patrol vehicles, fire apparatus, ambulances, EMS vehicles and motorcycles are all covered in the report.

Active warning systems, like lights and sirens, are part of a separate federal study and are not included in the August USFA report.

Tutterow is hoping the report catches news media attention and it gains some much needed publicity. He’s also hoping it lasts more than one news cycle.

“Drivers today have too many distractions,” Tutterow said. “They have cell phones, they’re texting, they’re using GPS navigation systems, and they’re using sound systems. They are paying attention to everything but what is in front of them.”

That’s why Tutterow subscribes to a sort of “in-your-face” approach when it comes to retroreflective material and visibility aids.

“I’m not sure that there is such a thing as overkill when it comes to retroreflective material,” he said.

The yellow and red chevron stripping on the backs of apparatus is an example of how something relatively simple and cost effective can have a dramatic affect on responder safety. New apparatus, to be National Fire Protection Association compliant, must have at least 50 percent of the rear body covered with chevron stripping. Tutterow’s hoping emergency responders will see the value and retrofit existing response vehicles to the standard.

Thanks Dick

Man appears in court on 191 charges linked to Black Saturday fire

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , ,

Brendan Sokaluk, 39, appeared on Tuesday in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court in Australia via video link from prison. He is facing 191 charges related to one of the fires that burned across Victoria on February 7, including 10 counts of arson causing death, intentionally causing a bushfire, criminal damage, recklessly causing injury, and possessing child pornography. 

The Magistrate set a pretrial hearing date for May 31, where 610 witnesses are expected to testify over six weeks. The hearing will determine if there is enough evidence to begin a jury trial.

Numerous fires burned in Victoria on February 7, Black Saturday, killing 173 people and destroying more than 2,000 homes. Mr. Sokaluk is charged with setting one of the fires which killed 10 people.

 

Constructing fireline with high-expansion foam

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags 5 Comments on Constructing fireline with high-expansion foam

Chief Charles Scripps of Painted Rocks Fire and Rescue in Darby, Montana conducted what they call a “foam experiment”. Here is their description of the video:

We flowed foam using a Chemguard foam generator to see if it would have value in the wildland environment. We used 1000 gallons of water with a 2% foam solution (Hale digital foam system). The test took about ten minutes. The foam line was about 1000-1200 feet, 20-40 feet wide and 2-4 feet deep. Further testing for ‘foam and roll’ as well as different percents of foam will take place.

(THE VIDEO IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE)

I have seen photos of this procedure before, and it has been used on prescribed fires, but has anyone ever seen it used on a wildfire?

In order to do this, you need a high-expansion foam generator, as opposed to a much smaller medium-expansion foam nozzle which is about 8-12 inches in diameter. Some high-expansion foam generators are so large they are mounted in the back of a pickup truck and most use either a water motor or a gasoline engine to drive a fan, which introduces a large quantity of air into the water/foam solution.

Thanks Chief Scripps and The Latest.

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UPDATE September 15, 2009

From The Latest, we have more information from Chief Scripps:

The unit is a Chemguard model 300WP. This is a water driven unit so the engine does not need extra equipment. There are units that are electric or gas driven but neither develops the rpms of the Pok water motor.

I chose this one as it weighs 115 lbs and the next size up weighs 225 lbs. There is a limit to what I can get old volunteers to load, unload and carry safely. The foam was Silvex at 2% as measured by a Hale digital unit. The engine holds 1000 gallons so that was the limit of the trial. The factory recommendation is to run it at 80 psi. So for our first test that’s what we did.

I had seen the YouTube videos of high expansion foam filling aircraft hangers. What intrigued me was when they opened the hanger doors and the foam flowed out on the apron. I wanted to see how it would flow down a mountain. It seems to do this very well. High expansion foam lacks the durability of the denser stuff but it makes a very fast wetline. I think it would be excellent for ‘foam and roll’ in low fuels. I am trying to engineer a method to mount it to my engine so it would function off either side. One of the difficulties for testing is we are running out of summer weather so testing in hot weather conditions is getting difficult.


This is the engine we used.

 

How to test a microphone with a Sikorsky S-58

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags ,
Desiree Horton Sure Microphone
Desiree is on the right (Duh!)

Desiree Horton is a fire-qualified helicopter pilot who writes the Adventures of Chopper Chick blog. Last year she was one of the contract helicopter pilots who worked on the San Bernardino National Forest in southern California. This year she has a gig flying a Sikorsky S-58 for Midwest Helicopters. The last I heard she was on fire standby with her S-58 in Bakersfield, California, after having flown the beast from Illinois via Boise and Redding.

Earlier this summer in Illinois she flew some equipment to the top of a building for the Shure microphone company. While there, they were asked to perform a test on two of their microphones, dropping them from the helicopter at a height of 200 feet AGL. Here’s the video.

(THE VIDEO IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE)

Firefighters’ memorial service streaming live on Internet

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , ,

The memorial service at Dodger Stadium for the two firefighters killed on the Station Fire, Tedmund Hall and Arnaldo Quinones, is being streamed live on the Internet by the ABC station in Los Angeles. It is also available on Directv on channel 393. The service started at 10 a.m. Pacific Time.

According to the program, speakers will include Vice President Joe Biden, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, County Supervisor Don Knabe, County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman and leaders of two firefighter associations.

===================

UPDATE during the service:

The comments from all of the speakers were moving. A couple of quotes from the Vice President, a past chair of the Congressional Fire Service Caucus, were especially memorable:

It’s an awful fraternity to belong to … the fraternity of the fallen.

All men are created equal. A few become firefighters.

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UPDATE after the service:

The LA Times covered the service HERE. Below is an excerpt from their article:

“There is very little we can do today that is going to provide genuine solace,” Biden told the firefighters’ families. But noting the firefighting brotherhood that was in evidence at the ceremony, he promised them that eventually they would “draw strength from this, if not today, tomorrow, next week, next year.”

“We all say things like, ‘We never forget.’ These guys mean it,” he said, gesturing to the firefighters in the crowd. “They will never forget – any time, any problem, under any circumstances, you will have a family bigger than your own to go to.”

The stadium was silent as Biden descended into the visitors’ dugout after his speech. Fire officials could be seen patting him on the back in the dugout; Biden watched the rest of the ceremony there.

Dodger Stadium had taken on a somber tone. Hundreds of red, yellow and green firetrucks cruised under two large American flags hanging from firefighters’ ladders and ringed the stadium. Flags lining the upper deck of the stadium were lowered to half-staff. A speaker’s platform had been set up over home plate, flanked by huge shocks of flowers and stands that were holding the firefighters’ helmets and boots.

“We are blind to the fact that we are all from different agencies,” said U.S. Forest Service Firefighter Anthony Powers, who worked frequently with Hall. “We’re all here for the same reason – to support the families and because we all lost somebody…. It’s like losing a family member.”

After the service, firefighters embraced and many lingered in their seats and watched a slide show of Hall and Quinones on the large screens that typically show highlights, scores and players’ statistics.

“Family is what this is,” Asst. Chief Gary Burden said on the way out. “These guys made the ultimate sacrifice and it touches every one of us to the core.”

A video report from MSNBC:

(THE VIDEO IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE)