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Almost 500 federal firefighters, other employees, and contractors are assisting with COVID vaccinations

Bill GabbertMarch 10, 2021March 10, 2021Uncategorizedcoronavirus, COVID-19, pandemic

Working in 15 states

Vaccinations at the Oakland Coliseum — About 50 US Forest Service specially-trained professionals are processing and vaccinating personnel at the Oakland Coliseum Mass COVID Vaccination Site using 6 different lanes of one-of-three drive-through giant canopies. Close to 6,000 people per day receive the vaccine. USFS photo.

At least 491 federal firefighters, other federal employees, and contractors are assisting with COVID vaccinations around the United States after being mobilized through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Emergency Support Function #4.

The U.S. Forest Service is the lead agency responsible for coordinating ESF #4, which is primarily fire suppression.

As of March 9 the FS, working with their partner land management agencies, has organized the mobilization of personnel and equipment to assist in the administration of the vaccinations in approximately 60 sites in 15 states — New York, Maryland, West Virginia, Tennessee, New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, California, Nevada, Washington, Rhode Island, Illinois, Michigan, Idaho, and New Jersey. Other sites in more states are in the planning stages.

491 personnel are assigned through ESF #4:

U.S. Forest Service, 210
Bureau of Land Management, 16
National Park Service, 26
Fish and Wildlife Service, 2
Bureau of Indian Affairs, 3
State or local government, 94
Contract personnel, 140

Three incident management teams have been activated — a Type 1, Type 2, and a Type 3 team, according to information sent out from the FS.

vaccinations Oakland Coliseum — More than 8,100 vaccinations were administered at Oakland Coliseum March 6, 2021. CAL OES photo.

In addition, 24 radio kits more commonly seen on wildland fires are being used in New Jersey and New York.

ESF4_SitReport_03092021 by wildfiretoday on Scribd

Levy Sensenig, Smokejumper from @NIFC_Fire, was deployed as an EMT to @NashvilleMCC to assist with #COVID19 vaccinations. He completed training with this fellow EMT in anticipation of opening to the public soon. Levy is working with @fema/ @femaregion4. #FirefightingResources pic.twitter.com/tEvZsKyOLV

— Bureau of Land Management Fire and Aviation (@BLMFire) March 9, 2021

Federal & state personnel, including 50+ @forestservice employees from the 18 national forests in California, hit the 100,000 milestone for COVID vaccines given at the @Oakland Coliseum site. Check out the operation here: https://t.co/AhQKZ0WvmR & https://t.co/d4cnwd4iEI pic.twitter.com/v6v4YjQctA

— Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region (@usfs_r5) March 5, 2021

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Jim.

Spread of Punkin Fire south of Payson, AZ stopped after burning more than 300 acres

Bill GabbertMarch 9, 2021WildfireArizona1 Comment

Punkin Fire near Punkin Center, Arizona. Photo credit: AZ Dept. of Forestry.

The Punkin Fire that led to an evacuation Monday near Punkin Center, Arizona burned 304 acres before firefighters stopped the spread. The blaze burned very close to State Route 188 which had to be temporarily closed.

On Monday the fire was being pushed by winds out of the south and southeast with gusts of 15 to 30 mph while the relative humidity was 10 percent.

The Punkin Fire is 40 air miles south of Payson and 15 miles northwest of Theodore Roosevelt Lake.

Investigators determined it was caused by an escaped pile burn on private land.

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Jeff.

Forest Service has 18 large air tankers this year under contract

Bill GabbertMarch 9, 2021March 10, 2021Uncategorizedair tanker, contract, UTF31 Comments

The schedule calls for most of them to begin in April and May

The U.S. Forest Service has 18 large air tankers on exclusive use (EU) contracts this year.

In 2020 the agency started out with 13 on contract in April and May but by June 24 had added 11 on modified call when needed (CWN) contracts for a total of 24. Modular Airborne FireFighting Systems C-130 aircraft from the National Guard and Air Force Reserve were deployed from July 23 until October 4 in 2020, usually two at a time.

This year the 18 EU large air tankers are being supplied by five vendors:

Six, Aero Flite (RJ85)
Four, Erickson Aero Tanker (MD87)
Four, Neptune Aviation (BAe-146)
Two, Coulson Aviation (C-130)
Two, 10 Tanker (DC-10)

The dates they will first be on duty could change if the Forest Service decides they need to come on early, but the scheduled 160-day “mandatory availability periods” (MAP) which are different for every air tanker specify that two will begin in March (11^th and 17^th) and most of the rest will start in April and May. The MAPs end August 18 through November 20 for the 18 aircraft, but those dates could be extended if necessary.

DC-10 air tanker Central Fire — Air Tanker 914, a DC-10, drops retardant on the Central Fire in Arizona, June 20, 2020. Photo by JDH Images.

The 2020 fire season started with much less activity than average (see the chart below) but when hundreds of fires began burning millions of acres in the West in mid-August, the number of large air tankers on contract was less than was actually needed. September 19 saw 32,727 fire personnel deployed, the highest number since August 24, 2015 when 32,300 were assigned. Many fires during that six-week period had numerous requests for ground and aviation firefighting resources that were unable to be filled when the fires were discovered. This allowed some of the blazes to grow virtually unchecked for days — or longer. In 2020, 34.3 percent of the requests for large air tankers were either cancelled or unable to be filled.

Since 2001 the four years with the highest number of total fire detections in Washington, Oregon, and California have all occurred since 2015, according to satellite data processed by the New York Times in September of last year.

Fire detections West Coast Oregon Washington California New York Times — Published September 24, 2020 by the New York Times.

Number of USFS Large Air Tankers on Exclusive Use contracts. — Size of USFS Large Air Tanker Fleet

Firefighters in New Jersey are taking advantage of good weather to conduct prescribed burns

Bill GabbertMarch 7, 2021March 8, 2021Prescribed FireNew Jersey, prescribed fire1 Comment

The New Jersey Forest Fire Service hopes to treat 30,000 acres this year

New Jersey Forest Fire Service prescribed fire — Prescribed fire conducted March 6, 2021 by the New Jersey Forest Fire Service. NJFFS photo by James Douglass.

Due to much of the state being covered in snow during the month of February and with a goal of completing prescribed burns by March 15 looming, New Jersey Forest Fire Service crews are working hard to make up for lost time. Their crews started burning last week during the first good weather window of 2021, with a 9,000-acre goal for the weekend. The agency considers the prescribed burning program to be one of its primary tools to reduce hazardous fuels that that can increase the intensity of wildfires.

These photos were taken March 6 by James Douglass at a 2,300-acre prescribed burn at the Warren Grove Gunnery Range in the heart of the Pine Barrens of New Jersey.

This year the NJFFS anticipates conducting prescribed burns on at least 30,000 acres depending on weather conditions. Most burns occur on state-owned property such as state forests, parks, wildlife management areas, and other government lands. The Forest Fire Service also assists private landowners and nonprofit organizations to meet their management objectives through prescribed burning.

In 2020, the Forest Fire Service completed burns on 18,854 acres of state-owned lands, 5,006 acres of other government-owned land, and 2,268 acres of privately owned property, for a total of 26,128 acres.

Backing away from a grass fire

Bill GabbertMarch 7, 2021Wildfireclose call, Nebraska3 Comments

Nebraska State Trooper's dash cam fire — Screengrab from Nebraska State Trooper’s dash cam, March 4, 2021

On March 4 the dash cam in a Nebraska State Trooper’s vehicle recorded some interesting footage from the shoulder of Interstate 80 near Gothenburg as a wildfire approached.

This is the time of year we start to see grassfires across Nebraska.

This dash video from today near Gothenburg shows how quickly these fires can move.

Thankfully the trooper was aware of his surroundings, while moving traffic into the outer lane, and was able to get away. pic.twitter.com/iHPKnEYxfP

— Nebraska State Patrol (@NEStatePatrol) March 4, 2021

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Bob.

Agate Bed Fire burns 2,000+ acres in Western South Dakota

Bill GabbertMarch 7, 2021WildfireSouth Dakota7 Comments

The blaze was driven by winds gusting above 30 mph

Firefighter attacks the Agate Bed Fire March 6, 2021 near Fairburn, South Dakota. Fairburn VFD photo.

Firefighters from multiple counties stopped a fire east of the Black Hills in South Dakota Saturday after it had burned 2,000 to 3,000 acres during Red Flag Warning conditions.

The fire was approximately 9 miles east of Fairburn on the Buffalo Gap National Grassland.

“The majority of fire was in a wilderness study area, which complicated suppression efforts,” said Jim Strain, Assistant Chief of the Fairburn Volunteer Fire Department.

Saturday afternoon the wind was blasting, with sustained speeds of 15 to 25 mph with gusts above 30 mph while the relative humidity was in the high teens and the temperature in the high 60s — difficult conditions for firefighters. After dark the wind slowed, 5 to 10 mph but with occasional gusts of 15 to 25 mph. Sunday afternoon it increased to 15 mph and 25 mph gusts, along with 27 percent relative humidity.

Map, Agate Bed Fire South Dakota — Map showing the location of the Agate Bed Fire March 6, 2021 approximately 9 miles east of Fairburn, South Dakota. The red dots represent heat detected by a satellite. Heat on about two-thirds of the fire, which was mostly grass, cooled before the satellite overflight and was not detected.

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