A Mississippi firefighter died while fighting a wildfire in Amite County in southern Mississippi (map) on Saturday, February 1. According to the Enterprise-Journal, Dwight Hilton, 57, of the East Fork community ” ‘had some type of medical issue. He went into cardiac arrest,’, said East Central Volunteer Fire Department Chief Cam Sharp, who also is the county coroner. An ambulance took Hilton to Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 2:24 p.m. ‘He died in the line of duty,’ Sharp said.”
The incident occurred while firefighters were suppressing a vegetation fire that ultimately burned less than 10 acres.
Mr. Hilton was a long time member of the East Central Rural Volunteer Fire Department, which was assisting the Liberty Rural VFD.
Arson is suspected, according to Murry Toney, the Amite County arson investigator. The fire started in three different places, Mr. Toney said.
The fire detection plane with pilot Jake Harrell on board which has been missing in Arkansas since January 31, 2014 has been found. There is still no word on the status of Mr. Harrell. More information is in a new article here. We will also post additional updates at that location.
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(UPDATE at 3:30 p.m. CST, February 8, 2014)
The search for the missing pilot and plane continues. Today, visibility has kept the air fleet on the ground, but as of 3:30 p.m. CST two large ground crews have been out for several hours.
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(UPDATED at 12:21 p.m. CST, February 4, 2014)
The Incident Management organization in Mena continues to pour over maps of the area, collaborating on strategy for a possible weather break Tuesday afternoon. AFC photo.
The searchers looking for the Arkansas fire detection plane and pilot Jake Harrel that disappeared January 31 are again battling weather that for a while restricted their activities, but a break in the weather at noon allowed ground crews to deploy to their designated routes.
The Civil Air Patrol covered 1,206 square miles by air yesterday, in addition to the other areas covered by helicopters and Arkansas Forestry Commission planes.
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(UPDATED at 5:57 p.m. CST, February 3, 2014)
Searchers are still combing through and over the forests of Arkansas looking for the fire detection plane and pilot Jake Harrel that disappeared January 31. After low visibility kept most aircraft out of the air on Sunday, better weather today allowed nine Civil Air Patrol airplanes and several helicopters from the state police and National Guard to participate in the search in addition to ground crews. Recent ice storms blocked roads with downed trees and limbs, slowing the progress on the ground. Some of the roads are being reopened with chain saws and dozers.
Dozers used for reopening roads.
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(UPDATED at 12:38 p.m. CST, February 2, 2014)
The search continues for the missing airplane and pilot who was on a fire detection mission in Arkansas when he failed to check in as scheduled after his last radio contact at 1:11 p.m. CST, January 31, 2014.
The aircraft had an Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) on board and searchers have been looking for signals from the device but have found nothing yet. ELTs are no panacea, in fact older versions activate properly in only 12% of crashes according to NOAA. Newer models with the Cospas-Sarsat system have a higher accident survivability rate,
Below is information released this morning from the Arkansas Forestry Commission about the missing plane:
“Teams Continuously Search for Missing AFC Pilot, Jake Harrell
Mena, Arkansas — Ground crews searched all night along routes below the supposed flight path of missing AFC pilot, Jake Harrel. Last night, more than 200 miles were traveled along back roads and rugged trails, searching for some sign of the pilot or plane.
Jake Harrell
Ground squads are focusing today on the north side of the supposed flight route with steep slopes, near Oden. Four wheelers will be used to access challenging sections of terrain. This concentrated efforst is based on information from Jakes cell provider about what is thought to be his last transmission before he went missing on Friday. The Incident Command Post in Mena is carefully monitoring the weaher situation as ice and rain may move through the area. Search crews will not stop; however aerial search attempts may not be possible today.
“We are doing our best to speculate about which direction Jake may have taken the plane on Friday, if his visibility was becoming difficult. We are hopeful that by narrowing search efforts to this area, that we may have a good chance of locating him,” said Billy Black, AFC Investigator.”
Incident Command Post. AFC photo.
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(UPDATED at 7:30 p.m. CST, February 1, 2014)
The missing Arkansas Forestry Commission pilot was flying a small plane similar to this.
Search crews are still looking for the missing fire detection aircraft and pilot in Arkansas. At about 6:50 p.m. CST the Arkansas Forestry Commission issued this update:
Search efforts continue through the night for missing AFC Pilot, Jake Harrell. “We are going to be here until we find Jake. Tonight and tomorrow’s efforts are already planned and we are aggressively covering as much ground as quickly and safely as possible,” said State Forester, Joe Fox.
(Originally published at 11:15 CST, February 1, 2014)
MALVERN, Ark. (ARKANSAS FORESTRY COMMISSION) – An Arkansas Forestry Commission pilot has failed to check in with AFC Central Dispatch in Malvern.
AFC pilot, Jake Harrell, failed to check-in with AFC Central Dispatch (in Malvern) yesterday after 1:11 p.m. Jake was flying a regularly scheduled fire detection flight from Malvern to points throughout west Arkansas. His last known location was Oden, with the supposed intent of traveling toward Wickes.
Jake is 34 years old and is a seasoned pilot with the AFC, since 2005. He had flown many times on the very route that he traveled yesterday. He currently flies as a part-time pilot with the AFC and works full time with the North Little Rock Police Department. He also serves with the Arkansas Air National Guard 188th Fighter Wing.
Ground crews include two and three-person teams searching gridded locations in Montgomery and Polk Counties – close in proximity to a possible route he may have been flying between check points in Oden and Wickes. Crews are searching by foot and four-wheelers. Chainsaw crews and dozers are on standby. Two Civil Air Patrol planes and a National Guard helicopter are assisting with search efforts from the air. Visibility is difficult from the air at this time; ground crews have better visibility until conditions clear.
The Incident Command structure in Mena is a Unified Command team with the following partners involved: Arkansas Forestry Commission, Polk and Montgomery County Law Enforcement, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, Arkansas National Guard, U.S. Forest Service, Arkansas State Police, Emergency Management crews from Polk and Montgomery County, local volunteer fire departments, and the Civil Air Patrol.
A fire balloon or sky lantern as seen in a testosterone commercial
Bowing to public pressure, a chain of stores has decided to stop selling fire balloons or sky lanterns. Tesco, a British multinational grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, England, made the decision after months of lobbying by Farmers Guardian and supporters of the Say No to Sky Lanterns campaign.
…It comes as campaigners raised concerns about the risk to livestock and the threat of fire, ahead of Chinese New Year tomorrow (Friday) – an event traditionally celebrated by releasing fire lanterns into the sky.
Back in November the retailer told FG it would review its sky lantern sales following a raft of pressure from MPs, local authorities, farming unions and concerned members of the public.
Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis joined the drive after becoming fed up with the dangerous paper and wire objects littering land where his cattle graze.
Tesco agriculture director Tom Hind said: “We have listened to the feedback from customers and other groups including the farming community, and we think the right thing to do is to stop selling sky lanterns. We will not be sending any more stock to stores and any existing stock should be gone within a matter of weeks.”
These incendiary devices use burning material such as rubbing alcohol or a candle to heat the air in a bag made of tissue paper or very thin plastic. The heat makes the device lighter than air causing it to rise into the sky, staying aloft for 10 minutes to 2 hours. They can be very pretty to watch especially when they are released dozens or hundreds at a time such as at a wedding or some other celebration. One of the problems is that they sometimes start wildfires or structure fires.
News9 has some excellent footage of fire engines attacking grass fires in Craig County, Oklahoma on Thursday. Firefighters are appreciating some wet weather today, but yesterday a fire burned 800 acres and destroyed a barn. Wind gusting up to 35 mph challenged firefighters from more than 20 departments to contain the fire that was three miles long and a half mile wide. According to reports the fire jumped two county roads and a state highway.
John N. Maclean and Holly Neill sent us some updated information about their quest to ferret out details about what happened on the Yarnell Hill Fire the day 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots were killed outside of Yarnell, Arizona, June 30, 2013. The text below builds on their previous information that we published here and here.
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“The discussion about what actually was said by members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots and others in the final minutes before the fatalities on the Yarnell Hill Fire has sometimes been instructive. But the online discussion is missing the larger picture.
The radio transmissions uncovered in the background by Holly Neill conclusively show that the hotshots were communicating extensively, and not just among themselves, during the critical period from just after 1600 hours until the end. There was no substantial gap in communications, one of the several allegations used in effect to discredit the decision making and actions of the hotshots, and in particular of their superintendent, Eric Marsh. On the contrary, Marsh’s voice can be heard — and has been authenticated by those who knew him — making several radio transmissions during the crucial time. Perhaps the person or persons to whom Marsh was speaking in several of those transmissions could come forward: there is no mention of these conversations in any of the interviews with participants.
What the background communications do not show, at least not so far, is any formal communication by Marsh or anyone else explaining why the hotshots left the ridge and headed down into what became known as deployment valley. The background transmissions also do not disclose, at least so far, any direct order to the hotshots to go down to Yarnell and engage in structure protection.
Put in context, however, the background transmissions add a great deal to the picture of what happened, and what likely happened, during those final minutes. Obsessing about a single word, “house,” is appropriate up to a point. That’s the word Holly and I and many others hear in that one of several conversations we disclosed; it is not the word everyone hears. It would be best, perhaps, if investigators for the Arizona Department of Occupational Safety and Health, who are well alerted to the background communications, could have the recordings analyzed by some outside audio expert and themselves make a report. Meanwhile, a consideration of those transmissions should not be restricted to the credibility of one word, with everything hanging on that, but rather should look at what all the communications say about what happened, because they add new, contrary, and vital information to the picture of those events.”
