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Winter task for U.S. and Australia wildfire agencies: create a common operating picture

Bill GabbertJanuary 6, 2020January 7, 2020UncategorizedAustralia, Common Operating Picture, map, mapping1 Comment

One source for informing the public and gathering information about mitigating the emergencies, providing relief, managing transportation corridors, electrical power grids, and evacuations

fire map Victoria — Map from Emergency Management Victoria, January 6, 2020.

After the 2019-2020 southern hemisphere bushfire season, emergency management personnel in both the United States and Australia should take the opportunity to evaluate the fire season and determine if there is a better way of distributing information to the public and emergency management agencies. In neither country is there one key source for information where the public, the media, and the responsible agencies can quickly and efficiently obtain important real-time intelligence and predictive models that they need to make decisions about informing the public, mitigating the emergencies, providing relief, managing transportation corridors, and gathering information about electrical power grids and evacuations.

The military calls this information source a common operating picture (COP).

All of this information is available at hundreds if not thousands of sources, but not everyone that could benefit from the data have access. It needs to be pulled together for safety and efficiency.

In the United States if a citizen needs current information about a wildfire how do they get it? From the county sheriff, local fire department, or a county, state, or federal agency? It makes a difference about where to look if the fire is on federal land, state protected land, city, county, national or state park. They can try social media, but which application and which account? InciWeb sometimes has information about wildfires managed by federal agencies, but not all. And since law enforcement is responsible for evacuation, InciWeb does not always have current information about the status of evacuations. Information on the website about individual fires may not have been updated for 12 to 18 hours, however some incident management teams are better than others. And InciWeb rarely provides projections of fire spread in a timely manner, if at all. When someone is threatened by a rapidly spreading wildfire they don’t have time to randomly check an alphabet soup of acronyms on dozens of web sites or social media accounts, even if they know the names, handles, or web addresses.

A COP would need to have a sign-in option that would make it possible for authorized personnel to see detailed data that should not be distributed to the whole world, such as exact locations of resources.

Below are examples of fire location information in Australia on January 6, 2020 United States time, in addition to the Victoria map at the top of the page.

Map New South Wales Rural Fire Service fires — Map from the New South Wales Rural Fire Service showing fires that are at the “Advice” level, meaning “A fire has started. There is no immediate danger. Stay up to date in case the situation changes.”

Map in South Australia — Map of fires in South Australia January 6, 2019. From SA Country Fire Service.

The maps produced for New South Wales and South Australia can be more useful upon zooming in, but occasionally they are so cluttered with multiple polygons and symbols that they are difficult to decipher. The Victoria map improves after zooming in, but it tries to include too much information.

The data on these three maps stops at the imaginary line separating the states. This could give someone the false impression that there are no fires just across the state border. If you need information about a location near a state line you need to know how to access the data for both states.

The three Australian states all use different symbology, so an icon or polygon on one map may have a completely different meaning in the neighboring state.

The New South Wales Rural Fire Service occasionally produces detailed maps showing the perimeter of a single fire and the predicted spread, but it is not done on a regular basis and may be difficult to find when it does exist.

But these Australian state maps attempt to include at least some information about all large bushfires in their state. In the United States no agency to my knowledge even attempts this. InciWeb produces a map of the country that shows the location of every fire on federally managed land that is being tracked on the website, but does not include federal fires that are not on the site, or state or locally managed fires.

For both Australia and the U.S. creating a national map for wildfire information would be a great first step toward a common operating picture.

Check out Ellen Broad’s thread on this mapping topic. She has some excellent observations.

This should be a priority…. https://t.co/IXvmL6LTHu

— Wildfire Today ? (@wildfiretoday) January 4, 2020

Photos of North American firefighters in Australia

Bill GabbertJanuary 6, 2020WildfireAustralia, New South Wales, Shawna Legarza, Victoria2 Comments

U.S. Firefighters assisting Australia — Thirty-nine firefighters and two liaison officers from across the US, including from Phoenix, Georgia and Idaho, joined Victorian crews in eastern Victoria following their arrival in Melbourne on January 2. Vic Emergency photo.

By mid-week 155 firefighters will have deployed from the United States to assist with the fires in Australia, including a group of 71 (61 from the U.S. and 10 from Canada) that is expected to arrive Wednesday.

The beginning of our twelfth year

Bill GabbertJanuary 6, 2020January 5, 2020Uncategorized11 Comments

Wildfire Today was established January 6, 2008

Like the sign says, welcome to the beginning of the twelfth year of Wildfire Today!

Twelve years ago, on January 6, 2008, I started a little niche web site called Wildfire Today. It began on Blogger, Google’s free blogging service, and has grown to a body of work that now includes 8,890 articles.

We are still covering news and issues related to wildland fire. And not simply that a fire occurred somewhere, but we prefer to write about topics and events that have an impact and are interesting, not only to firefighters but to anyone concerned about wildland fire, or who may live in a fire-prone environment. We don’t attempt to cover every fire, or even every very large fire, but if an event or news item interests us, we hope that you will also find it to be worth your while. We are especially keen on covering issues related to the heath and safety of those who are dedicated to helping others — who manage land and respond to incidents while everyone else is heading in the other direction.

The success of the site would not have been possible without the loyal readers who come back on a regular basis, read the articles, leave insightful comments, and occasionally send us a message informing us of breaking news in the world of wildland fire. And the supporters who allow us to keep the doors open by placing ads. Thank you!

Navy ships rescue over 1,000 bushfire evacuees

Bill GabbertJanuary 5, 2020January 5, 2020WildfireAustralia, evacuation, Victoria1 Comment

The two ships unloaded their passengers at Hastings near Melbourne on Saturday

Australia bushfires evacuation Mallacoo HMAS Choulesta — Evacuees disembarking the HMAS Choules. Australia. DoD photo.

Over 1,000 people who were forced by the bushfires in Australia to take refuge on coastal beaches have been rescued by the Navy and transported to the Melbourne area. Friday morning the evacuees at Mallacoota in northeast Victoria were moved from the community center to the pier by buses and then transported to ships using five landing craft.

Two ships took part in the mission. The smaller of the two was the MV Sycamore, a 308-foot 2,400-ton training ship first launched in 2016. It normally operates with a 22-person crew, can accommodate up to 71 Australian Defense Force personnel overnight, and has a multi-use space which can be configured to help cope with disasters. The Sycamore picked up 58 evacuees at Mallacoota on the northeast coast of Victoria and transported them on a 20-hour voyage about 320 miles to Hastings near Melbourne.

Australia bushfires evacuation Mallacoo MV Sycamore — MV Sycamore. ABC news photo.

The HMAS Choules is much larger than the Sycamore — 579 feet and 16,160 tons. It is classified as an “auxiliary landing ship logistics”, designed for hauling cargo. It operates with a 158-person crew and can carry 32 M1A1 Abrams tanks or 150 light trucks. According to Wikipedia it can transport 700 soldiers “in overload conditions.” On Friday it loaded 1,025 evacuees at Mallacoota and took them on the same 20-hour voyage to the Melbourne area. Army staff on the ship served approximately 3,500 meals during the trip.

Both ships docked at the Port of Hastings Saturday and the passengers were transferred to a disaster relief center at the Melbourne convention center. They brought with them 135 dogs and several cats.

Evacuees who were very sick were flown from Mallacoota on Blackhawk helicopters.

In interviews with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the Department of Defense, the evacuees spoke glowingly of how they were treated by the crews on the ships. A 16-year-old girl who had just disembarked from the Sycamore said, “It was so comfortable on the ship. The crew was amazing, food amazing, the beds — perfect. I’m very thankful for it.”

The two ships were scheduled to return to Mallacoota.

Two found dead in Kangaroo Island Fire in South Australia

Bill GabbertJanuary 4, 2020January 14, 2020WildfireAustralia, DC-10, fatality, Kangaroo Island, New South Wales, Scott Morrison, South Australia, Victoria

More air tankers from North America will be be sent to Australia

Satellite photo smoke Australia fires — Satellite photo of smoke from fires in New South Wales and Victoria December 3, 2020. The red areas represent heat.

Two people were found dead on Kangaroo Island south of Adelaide, South Australia.

From the Australian Broadcasting Corporation:

An experienced pilot and his son have been killed in catastrophic bushfires that have ravaged more than a third of Kangaroo Island and destroyed homes and businesses. The family of tour operator and aviator Dick Lang has confirmed he perished in the blaze, along with his youngest son Clayton — a leading plastic surgeon who specialised in hand surgery. Dick Lang, 78, ran his own flight adventure business out of Adelaide Airport and was described as one of the nation’s “best bush pilots”.

Dick Lang lived and worked in the outback for most of his life, securing him the nickname ‘Desert’. His 43-year-old son was supervisor of surgical training at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, his family said. Dick Lang had flown rescue operations in desert regions and over Papua New Guinea.

“He loved the bush, he loved adventure and he loved Kangaroo Island,” his family said.

“Dick and Clayton were prominent members of the South Australian community who rose to the top in their chosen professions.”

Police said the men died on the Playford Highway in the centre of the island, and that one of the victims was found inside a car.

In a statement, the Lang family said the men were returning to the family property on Kangaroo Island January 4 after fighting a nearby fire for two days.

This brings the death toll in the Australian fires up to 23 people, which includes three firefighters.

High humidities and a 2.5mm of rain Saturday morning slowed the spread of the Ravine Fire on Kangaroo Island. South Australia’s Country Fire Service said the two major fires on the island have burned more than 170,000 hectares (420,000 acres) which is 39 percent of the 88-mile long island. Many structures have burned or been damaged, including Kangaroo Island’s Visitor and Information Center, the KI Wilderness Retreat, and Hanson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. The Premier, Steven Marshall, said all buildings in the island’s Flinders Chase National Park had been “very extensively” damaged. It has been confirmed that the Southern Ocean Lodge, the high-end resort on the southwest coast that charges over $1,000 a night, suffered severe damage.

The bushfires in Victoria and New South Wales continue to spread and force residents and vacationers from homes and resorts.

Evacuees being ferried HMAS Choules — Evacuees being ferried to the HMAS Choules Australia DoD photo.

Naval vessels are being used to rescue those who were forced to flee to the coastal beaches. Small boats are ferrying them out to a ship in deeper water where those who are willing and able have to climb a ladder up to the much larger vessel built to carry 300 soldiers and 23 tanks. It is expected the ship will transport about 800 evacuees. Those who can’t board the ship and still want to leave, may be removed from the burnt-over area by helicopters, but visibility degraded by smoke could make flying difficult.

Department of Defence Australia helicopter rescue — Helicopters from Australia’s Department of Defence has been transporting fire refugees to safer ground. DOD photo.

In addition to the ships and helicopters being used for evacuation the New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons was blindsided upon finding out from the media that Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced Saturday afternoon that 3,000 ADF reservists would be brought in to help with bushfire recovery efforts and $20 million would be provided for leasing four additional firefighting aircraft. Defense Minister Linda Reynolds said it was the first time that reservists had been called up “in this way in living memory and, in fact, I believe for the first time in our nation’s history.”

John Gould, President of 10 Tanker, said their company will be sending two more DC-10 Very Large Air Tankers to Australia as soon as the heavy maintenance presently underway is complete. He expects Tanker 912 to arrive in Australia on January 15 to be followed 10 days later by Tanker 914. They will join Tanker 911 that arrived in November. The DC-10 can carry up to 9,400 gallons of water or retardant.

From ABC:

Mr Fitzsimons said while he was thankful for the support, logistics would be complicated.

“I was disappointed and frustrated in the middle of one of our worst days with massive dislocation and movement of people,” he said. “I had my conversations with the Prime Minister’s office.”

As predicted, the weather Saturday in southeast Australia was hot, dry, and windy, setting temperature records in several locations — 120F degrees in Penrith and 111F in Canberra..

Stunning photos of pyrocumulus over fires in Australia

Bill GabbertJanuary 4, 2020January 4, 2020WildfireAustralia, New South Wales, pyrocumulus, Victoria1 Comment

They were taken on a flight from Canberra to Melbourne

smoke pyrocumulus bushfires Australia — Photo of smoke from bushfires by Merrin Macleod on a flight from Canberra to Melbourne, posted January 4, 2020.

While on a flight from Canberra to Melbourne Merrin Macleod had an excellent view of pyrocumulus clouds over very active bushfires. She said on Twitter, “The country looks like ten or fifteen volcanoes have gone off.”

If the pilot had taken the most direct route to Melbourne they would have flown over many very active fires. The photos are used here with her permission.

Below is actual flight path for her 50-minute flight. About 16 minutes after takeoff the aircraft was 36,000 feet over the NSW/Victoria border.

The actual flight path from Canberra to Melbourne. Flightaware.

A pyrocumulus cloud is produced by the intense heating of the air over a fire. This induces convection, which causes the air mass to rise to a point of stability, where condensation occurs. If the fire is large enough, the cloud may continue to grow, becoming a cumulonimbus flammagenitus which may produce lightning and start another fire.