NY: Minnewaska state park

Two days ago a 30-acre fire about 40 miles northwest of New York City was reported to be under control, but today it spread to over 3,000 acres. Most of the fire is in Minnewaska state park. This is the largest fire in the state park in the last 50 years. Approximately 250 firefighters from 27 local and volunteer departments are working on the fire.

More information from the Daily Freeman:

The 20,000-acre park and part of U.S. Route 44/state Route 55 have remained closed, and over 245 personnel from various state and local agencies were on the scene Saturday, trying to beat back the blaze.

The forest fire is almost entirely contained within the boundaries of the park, but residents of the small Kerhonkson Heights community, which has about 40 homes, were told to prepare for evacuation if necessary, according to Department of Environmental Conservation spokesman Yancey Roy. Although no evacuation order has been issued, firefighters are taking precautions to protect residents.

“We have virtually a fire truck in every driveway,” Roy said.

The fire began Thursday afternoon, and was reportedly contained at about 30 acres that night. But the flames continued to spread, reaching 200 acres Friday afternoon, 1,000 acres Friday night, and 2,300 acres by Saturday morning, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

 

The map shows heat sources as detected by thermal satellites.

 

Cancer cluster among firefighters

The Firegeezer blog, which always has excellent information about the broad topic of firefighting, had a recent post about a cancer cluster in Queensland, Australia. In part:

” […] Firefighters assigned to the station have a 62% higher rate of brain cancer than the rest of the state.”

Coincidentally, two days ago there was a news story containing preliminary research findings that linked brain cancer with polluted air, and specifically diesel exhaust. Firefighters have a hard time avoiding both.
firefighter smoke
Here is an excerpt from the story about the research:

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

Dr. Julia Ljubimova found something disturbing when she probed the brains of rats exposed to air pollution: The dirty air appeared to trigger changes indicating the earliest stage of brain tumors.

Ljubimova, an oncologist and researcher at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, stressed that she is not ready to say air pollution is a cause of brain cancer.

“I don’t want to scare anyone, because this is preliminary data,” she said. “But we found something very important.”

Her work suggests that fine particles like those found in diesel soot can switch on firefighter smoke structure firethe tumor genes that many people inherit, jump-starting the disease process that results in brain tumors.

Hundreds of studies have linked air pollution to early deaths, heart attacks, reduced lung function, lung cancer and various other health problems. Ljubimova is among a handful of scientists who are focused on finding out what air pollution does to people’s brains.
Photos by Bill Gabbert

Colorado firefighters memorial service

Information about the final services for the two firefighters who died at the fire near Ordway, Colorado on April 15 is now available.

A joint memorial service for John Schwartz, 38, and Terry DeVore, 30, will be held at Crowley County High School on Saturday, at 602 Main Street in Ordway at 10:00 a.m. (See the map below.)

DeVore and Schwartz were volunteer members of the Olney Springs Volunteer Fire Department.

Anyone planning to attend the joint service should arrive at least one hour before it starts. The road damage on Highway 96 has been temporarily repaired, but an alternate route is strongly recommended.

The officers died when their engine crashed on a collapsed bridge on Highway 96 while responding to the fire near Ordway. Two other vehicles also crashed at the same location but their occupants were able to walk away.

As far as we know, information about the services for Gert Marais of Fort Benton, Montana, the pilot of the single engine air tanker who died when his air tanker crashed on the TA25 fire in Colorado on April 15, have not been released. We will post the information here when it becomes available.

The map below shows the location of the joint memorial service for the firefighters from the Olney Springs Volunteer Fire Department:


View Larger Map

CO: LODD–Ordway fire followup

The Denver Post has more information about the deaths of the two firefighters on the fire near Ordway, Colorado April 15. An excerpt:

Wildfires: Duty’s fatal call
Lives of 2 fast-responding firefighters cut short at burned-out bridge
By Erin Emery and Tom McGhee
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 04/17/2008 06:03:41 AM MDT

 

ORDWAY — Olney Springs Fire Chief Terry DeVore and firefighter John Schwartz heard the distress call Tuesday afternoon from their neighbors in Ordway and didn’t hesitate. They suited up and zoomed east on Colorado 96.

Right behind them was DeVore’s father, Bruce, a fire department volunteer for 36 years. The fire was bearing down on Ordway, 11 miles away. People were in serious danger. Structures were on fire. The town of 1,200 people was under orders to evacuate.

“We were moving hard,” Bruce DeVore said Wednesday. “Like everybody says, we had the hammer down and we were blowing it by.”

In the dense smoke, he and the firefighters in his truck could barely see the taillights of the firetruck up ahead, but as they approached the intersection with Lane 15, Bruce DeVore told his driver to slow down. They couldn’t see. The taillights ahead had vanished.

“They went out of sight,” Bruce DeVore said. “We hit the heavy smoke. I told Johnny we got to slow this thing down. I don’t feel right.”

Johnny stopped the truck. Only 15 feet ahead, a stretch of Colorado 96 was gone. The bridge over a drainage ditch — an asphalt roadway held up by wooden railroad ties — had collapsed. Terry Devore and John Schwartz were gone, having fallen 15 feet into in a raging inferno.

Bruce DeVore joined his buddies in fighting the fire, pumping everything on board onto the flames. But he knew it was hopeless.

“It was such an inferno,” he said. “It was just a ball of fire. The truck and everything was a ball of fire.”

For the next four hours or so, Bruce DeVore stayed with the fire and prayed that the Lord had taken his son quickly.

“I know he did,” he said. “I know the good Lord was looking over him. No pain. He was gone on impact.”

Crowley County Coroner Karen Tomky said Wednesday that DeVore, 30, and Schwartz, 38, died instantly.

Colorado Department of Transportation spokesperson Stacey Stegman said the bridge that collapsed was a 40-foot-long, two- lane timber structure built in 1937.

“The bridge was structurally sound,” she said. “It was a wooden bridge that burned.”

The fire burned the bridge from underneath, and a pickup fell into the ravine. That driver escaped.

The Olney Springs Volunteer Fire Department truck carrying Terry DeVore and Schwartz was right behind the pickup.


Photo courtesy of the Pueblo Chieftan. “Workers begin the task of repairing a bridge on Colorado 96 west of Ordway, which collapsed during a massive grass fire Tuesday.”

 

CO: firefighter fatalities, info from CSFCA

This information was just distributed over FireNet. It was released by the Colorado State Fire Chief’s Association today:

It is with a heavy heart that I am writing to you to inform you of the line-of-duty death of three firefighting personnel while serving and protecting the citizens of Colorado.

Fire Chief Terry DeVore and firefighter John Schwartz, Jr. of the Olney Springs Volunteer Fire Department were killed late yesterday afternoon while fighting the Ordway wildland fire. Chief DeVore and firefighter Schwartz were killed in their fire apparatus while trying to cross a bridge over a drainage ditch about a mile west of Ordway. Due to heavy smoke conditions they were apparently unaware that the fire had already damaged or collapsed the bridge.

Gert Marais, 42, of Fort Benton, Montana, a U.S. Forest Service contract pilot was killed when his Single Engine Air Tanker (SEAT) crashed while fighting the wildland fire at Fort Carson. Pilot Marais crashed about 6:20 yesterday evening along Colorado 115 at mile marker 34 near Fort Carson. Marais worked for Aero Applicators, a Sterling company that contracts aerial firefighting services to the U.S. Forest Service.

Both Chief DeVore, 30, and firefighter Schwartz, 38, were volunteers with Olney Springs and worked full-time as correctional officers for the Colorado Department of Corrections at the Arkansas Valley Correctional Facility.

Chief DeVore is survived by his wife Jennifer and four children, ages 10 to 4. Chief DeVore’s father, Bruce, is also a volunteer firefighter with Olney Springs and was also involved in fighting the Ordway fire. Firefighter Schwartz is the father of four boys, ages 4 to 16.

The Local Assistance State Team (LAST) has been dispatched to Ordway to assist the local fire department. A separate team has been made available to Aero Applicators and the U.S. Forest Service.

On behalf of Chief Douglas Forsman, President of the Colorado State Fire Chiefs’ Association, we wish to offer our deepest condolences to the families of Fire Chief Terry DeVore and firefighter John Schwartz, Jr., the members of the Olney Springs Volunteer Fire Department, and the Colorado Department of Corrections. Our deepest condolences are also extended to the family of pilot Gert Marais and the employees of Aero Applicators.

Colorado State Fire Chiefs’ Association
Paul L. Cooke, Executive Director

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

 

The spot weather forecast for the TA25 fire, on which the SEAT crashed, predicts rain later this afternoon and 2-4 inches of heavy wet snow tonight.

This site has photographs of the two firefighters killed in the engine accident.

UPDATE, December 30, 2008
The NTSB has released their report about the air tanker crash. More information is HERE.

CO: More details: 3 firefighters dead

More details are emerging about the three fatalities on wildland fires in Colorado.

Crowley County Coroner Karen Tomky confirmed that the two fatalities on the fire near Ordway, CO were volunteer firefighters Terry Devore, 30, and John Schwartz, 38. Tomky said the two firefighters were in a fire truck “attempting to cross a bridge that had collapsed”. A map of the Ordway area is in our previous post.

The third firefighter was killed in the Single Engine Air Tanker (SEAT) that crashed near Fort Carson along Colorado 115. The pilot was the only person on board. The SEAT, owned by Aero Applicators, was based out of Sterling, CO and was contracted by the state. The county sheriff was quoted as saying:

“He dumped his slurry and they say after that it looked like it pulled up and then it just nosedived into the ground,”

Our thoughts and condolences are with the families and co-workers of these firefighters.

Here is a map of the general area of the fire near Fort Carson, the fire on which the SEAT crashed. The location was determined from the spot weather forecast. They are calling it the TA25 fire.


View Larger Map

More information about the fires from the Rocky Mountain News:

The devastating grass fire in and around Ordway in southeastern Colorado has burned 8,900 acres, or some 14 square miles, but the blaze now is 60 percent contained, a spokesman for Crowley County Fire said this morning.

Firefighters from 35 agencies continue to battle the fire that erupted Tuesday and that has been linked to three deaths.

Winds blowing at 20 mph and gusting much higher than that could be a great help if they blow back on the grassy areas already burned, creating their own natural firebreak, said Crowley County Fire spokesman Chris Sorensen.

However, the winds are swirling right now, and it’s not clear which direction they’re going to settle on. If they continue to blow out of the north and northeast, as they did Tuesday, they could spread the fire even farther.

Firefighters also are hoping that the 40 percent chance of thunderstorms this afternoon will come to fruition and that the rains will help douse the fire.

“We will certainly take any cooperation the weather will provide,” Sorensen said. The National Weather Service says Ordway has a slight chance of showers between noon and 2 p.m. today then an chance of showers and thunderstorms after 3 p.m. The high temperature should be about 61, some 20 degrees warmer than Tuesday’s high.

Rain is likely again overnight, then snow likely after 4 a.m. Thursday, with a total chance of precipitation at 70 percent.

The fire has burned mostly short-grass prairie, plus some crop lands both east and west of Ordway.

Within the city limits of Ordway, four structures have burned, but fire officials don’t know the extent of their damage, and say the city itself is not a major worry.

The evacuation order for all 1,100 Ordway residents remains in effect, “for their safety and for the safety of the firefighting effort,” Sorenson said.

[…]

The fire at Fort Carson had forced some evacuations late Tuesday and a shelter was set up at a special events center on base, Capt. Gregory Dorman said. The fire had burned about 9,000 acres by late Tuesday and was about 50 percent contained, officials said.

On Tuesday, much of the state was under a National Weather Service red flag warning, signifying high fire danger. Gov. Bill Ritter declared a state of emergency, freeing up state resources to help fight the fire. The Federal Emergency Management Agency on Tuesday night Humidity was low in Ordway on Tuesday and temperatures were in the 80s.

CO: 3 dead on 2 fires; SEAT crashes

From the Rocky Mountain News:

Originally published 09:24 p.m., April 15, 2008
Updated 12:43 a.m., April 16, 2008

Wildfires in warm, windy weather burned into the southeast Colorado town of Ordway and on an Army post Tuesday. A firefighting pilot and two other people died.

All 1,100 residents of Ordway were told to leave, and authorities were not allowing anyone into to the city, said Chris Sorensen, acting spokesman for the Crowley County fire department.

Sorensen said the county coroner confirmed two of the deaths but did not provide any details as to how the people died or where they were found. KRDO Channel 13 in Colorado Springs reported that the two were firefighters and said they were crossing a bridge while riding in a firetruck. The bridge collapsed, trapping the two men underneath. Sorensen said he could not confirm that early this morning.

The pilot died when a crop-duster-type tanker crashed about 6:20 p.m. along Colorado 115 at mile marker 34 near Fort Carson, said Michael Fergus, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration’s northwest region.

No passenger was aboard the plane. The downed aircraft and a second plane involved in the firefighting efforts flew from a base in Sterling, Fergus said.

The FAA believes that the plane was a contract service aircraft to the U.S. Forest Service, Fergus said. But a Forest Service spokesperson could not be reached late Tuesday to confirm it. Fergus said the second plane returned safely to the Sterling base.

The fire at Fort Carson had forced some evacuations late Tuesday and a shelter was set up at a special events center on base, Capt. Gregory Dorman said. The fire had burned about 9,000 acres by late Tuesday and was about 50 percent contained, officials said.

Much of the state was under a National Weather Service red flag warning, signifying high fire danger. Gov. Bill Ritter declared a state of emergency, freeing up state resources to help fight the fire. The Federal Emergency Management Agency on Tuesday night authorized the use of federal funds to help with firefighting costs.

Weather an obstacle

On the southeastern plains near Ordway, winds were gusting to 50 mph, humidity was low and temperatures reached into the 80s. Dry conditions on the plains and in some mountain valleys contrasted with deep snow at higher elevations.

Ordway, Colorado is 46 miles East of Pueblo, Colorado and 76 miles southeast of Colorado Springs.

 


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Ellreese Daniel's trial begins May 5

Posted on Wildlandfire.com was this letter from the Forest Supervisor of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest about the upcoming trial:

Okanogan-Wenatchee Employees:

The trial of our employee Ellreese Daniels is scheduled to begin May 5. He was indicted by a grand jury on four counts of involuntary manslaughter and seven counts of making false statements based on actions in his role as crew boss during the Thirtymile tragedy in 2001. I struggle with the reality of criminal charges against one of our own employees. I was not here in 2001, but today I feel the anxiety and fears of the firefighting community. I am also deeply saddened at the loss families experienced. Yet, in the midst of this swirl of strong emotion, we must go on.

I intend to support Ellreese by ensuring I do not interfere with a fair and speedy trial. All we can do for the families, employees and the American public is cooperate with the defense and prosecution by providing knowledgeable witnesses to testify honestly and truthfully. Then, let the justice system work based on the facts of the case. In the end, the judge and jury will decide the outcome of the trial.

This case will likely generate national media interest. If you want to speak with the media, then it is critical that you emphasize to them that you are speaking for yourself, as an individual, on you own time, not for the Forest Service or in any official capacity. It is your choice as an individual, representing your personal views to speak to a reporter. I offer this thought though. Ask yourself, “How will my comments influence the ability of the court to provide a fair and speedy trial”? If you are asked to comment as a Forest Service employee, please refer that request to Glen Sachet (503-808-2790) in the Regional Office.

Some of you will testify as witnesses for the defense or prosecution, or you will know someone who is testifying. The emotions of the tragedy may return. Don’t hesitate to talk with your line or staff officer, union representative, or contact the Employee Assistance Program for help.

I plan on attending as much of the trial as possible. When I’m not there, my representative will be. I will wear my uniform proudly in support of all employees and the Agency. I have identified a few employees that will serve a variety of roles in an official capacity at the trial, including keeping you informed of the proceedings. Others interested in attending can do so on their own time, not in an official capacity, with the use of leave pre-approved by their supervisor.

Maureen Hanson, Bobbie Scopa and I will be holding meetings at HQ and the Districts next week to discuss the upcoming trial and answer employee questions.

Finally, this has been and will continue to be a very emotional time. Please be sensitive and understanding of the feelings of others around you, and take extra care of yourselves.

Sincerely,

Becki

Fire in Connecticut

You don’t often hear about wildland fires in Connecticut, and you would not have heard about this one-acre fire near Wilton, except the report I saw included a photo of a fire boat. OK, most people would not call this a boat…. it’s an amphibious ATV outfitted with a pump and hose.


These amphibious ATVs can be useful for suppressing fires in cattails. Cattails grow in water, and when they are cured out, burn like brush. It’s next to impossible to stop a cattail fire when it’s moving above the water… unless you can get out ahead of it with a boat or ATV like this and drive back and forth knocking down the cattails so they are mostly underwater. Cattails don’t spot very often, so a fairly narrow line can stop the fire.

The tricky part is being out in front of a fast-moving fire in a boat, pushing through cattails and hoping the motor does not stall or you get stuck.

Fire Near Albuquerque

KOB.com has some information about a new fire southeast of Albuquerque, and east of Belen. It is the Trigo fire, and is reported to be about 100 acres; normally not national news, but it’s slow this week and the fire is well documented with a live camera, video footage, and still photos.

The above image is from a “live” camera at the Albuquerque airport. It normally is pointed to the west, but I think they turned it to the east to capture images from this fire. This should be a live feed from the camera’s site, showing the latest image when you refresh this page.


Check out the video footage and the other photos at the KOB.com site.

From KOB.com:

“A wildfire that began Tuesday morning on the western slope of the Manzano Mountains east of Belen had jumped from about 10 acres at noon to roughly 100 acres by 2:00.

Arlene Perea of the Mountainair Ranger District says the biggest problem facing firefighters is the strong wind, which is whipping the flames and has grounded air tankers that were dropping fire retardant on the fire.

Perea says that four hotshot crews are en route to the so-called trigo Fire and two more have been ordered. An inmate work crew and two fire engines also are being marshaled.

Dan Ware of the state forestry division says the Trigo Fire is burning near Capilla Peak. He says that no structures are currently threatened but there are communications towers in the area.

Ware says that the fire is burning in rugged terrain about eight or nine miles north of where the Ojo Peak Fire consumed nearly 7,000 acres last November.”