Uncategorized Archives - Page 158 of 1620

Arizona firefighters are staffing engines and hand crews in Australia

Bill GabbertJanuary 10, 2020UncategorizedArizona, Australia, Victoria1 Comment

BLM Arizona Koreena Haynes — BLM Arizona’s Koreena Haynes (1st on left) is assisting in Australia as an Engine Boss. BLM photo.

PHOENIX – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), as well as other Department of the Interior agencies and the U.S. Forest Service have been sending wildfire personnel from across the United States to assist with ongoing wildfire suppression efforts in Australia. The BLM in Arizona currently has four fire personnel in Australia with plans to send more in the coming weeks.

Brady Shultz, from BLM Arizona’s Colorado River District in Kingman, and Koreena Haynes from the BLM Arizona State Office in Phoenix, deployed just after the new year to assist on fire engines in the Australian state of Victoria. Cody Goff from BLM Arizona’s Arizona Strip District in St. George, Utah, and John Garrett from BLM Arizona’s Gila District in Safford deployed on January 7 as part of a 20-person firefighter hand crew.

“Australia has come to help us when we needed an extra hand during our most extreme fire seasons, now it’s our turn to go help them in their time of need,” said Kelly Castillo, BLM Arizona’s state fire management officer.

Based on requests from the Australian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council, the U.S. has intermittently deployed more than 150 wildland fire personnel since December.

The fire personnel from the U.S. have assisting with critical needs for mid-level fire management roles including fire engine operations, aviation operations, fire operations managers, logistical management specialists, and strategic fire planners. More recent deployments have included requests for 20-person firefighting crews and chain saw operators.

“We are in the process of filling more requests for Arizona personnel, which will likely deploy as soon as next week,” said Castillo.

The U.S., Australia and New Zealand have been exchanging fire assistance for more than 15 years. The most recent exchange occurred in August of 2018, when 138 Australian and New Zealand wildfire management personnel were sent to the U.S. for almost 30 days to assist with wildfire suppression efforts in Northern California and the Northwest. The last time the U.S sent firefighters to Australia was in 2010.

BLM Arizona Brady Shultz — BLM Arizona’s Brady Shultz (1st on left) is assisting in Australia as an Engine Boss. BLM photo.

From the Bureau of Land Management, Arizona State Office

Federal employee suicide rate in 2018 was five times higher than private industry

Bill GabbertJanuary 9, 2020Uncategorizedfirefighter health, suicide1 Comment

Suicide Helping hands — St.Jude Progress

Wildland firefighters are not alone in their high rate of suicide.

From Fedsmith.com January 8, 2019:

Suicides accounted for 28% of the 124 Federal employee job-related deaths in 2018.

In contrast, suicides accounted for only 5% of the 4,779 private industry employees who died on the job in 2018.

It is OK to ask someone if they are thinking about suicide. Some people think this will spur suicide attempts but this is not accurate. Encouraging them to talk could be the first step leading them to safety.

Help is available for those feeling really depressed or suicidal.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-8255. Online Chat.
Anonymous assistance from the Wildland Firefighter Foundation: 208-336-2996.
National Wildland Fire and Aviation Critical Incident Stress Management Website.
Code Green Campaign, a first responder oriented mental health advocacy organization.
Would you rather communicate with a counselor by text? If you are feeling really depressed or suicidal, a crisis counselor will TEXT with you. The Crisis Text Line runs a free service. Just text: 741-741

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Jim. Typos or errors, report them HERE.

Australia requests U.S. Incident Management Teams to assist with bushfires

Bill GabbertJanuary 8, 2020August 22, 2020UncategorizedAustralia, Incident Management Team7 Comments

They will depart around January 16

File photo. Example of an Incident Management Team, in this case, the Rocky Mountain Type 1 Incident Management Team. Photo from the Team’s website.

Australia has ramped up their requests for firefighting help from the United States. So far during their 2019-2020 southern hemisphere bushfire season Australia has only requested individuals to serve in specific management or specialist positions on bushfires, except for one 20-person crew that left for Australia a few days ago.

But now according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Australia has asked for “several Type 1 Incident Management Teams” (IMTs).

The logistics and determination of which IMTs will go is being worked out now, with an estimated departure date around January 16, 2020. The basic configuration for Type 1 IMTs is 58 members including 14 trainees, while a “short” Type 1 team has 26 including 6 trainees. We have learned that early indications are that instead of multiple 58-person teams going to Australia, three 10-person teams will respond, but this could change before they are actually mobilized. Maybe they will come up with a new term for 10-person teams.

IMTs are organized in advance to staff the overhead or management structure needed for running a planned or unplanned incident. The organization is based on the Incident Command System, with every position on the team having a title and a position description. Specific training is required for each job.

A Type 1 IMT is the highest level team, comprised of individuals with advanced degrees, so to speak, within their particular area of expertise. In the United States rosters are set in the winter or spring for the following summer fire season. There is always some churn between seasons, but many serve for multiple years. The team concept helps to build relationships, trust, and efficiency — the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. Everyone understands their role and they know what to expect from their co-workers.

IMTs that are primarily used on fires are rarely needed between January and April, however that can vary depending on the geographic location. Since this is the time of the year when IMTs might be undergoing change, with some ending their appointment to the team and their replacements not yet having been selected, it could be a challenge reconstructing them. Other complicating factors could also play a role, such as the requirement for passports and being available for an unexpected assignment about twice as long as the typical 2-week mobilization on an incident in the U.S.

But if the teams are stripped down to just 10 people each, it simplifies the process.

Based on requests from the Australian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council, the U.S. has intermittently deployed more than 159 wildland USFS and DOI fire personnel throughout December and early January. The U.S. firefighters are filling critical wildfire and aviation management roles in New South Wales and Victoria.

The U.S., Australia, and New Zealand have been exchanging fire assistance for more than 15 years. Until the December deployments the last time the U.S sent firefighters to Australia was in 2010. In August of 2018, 138 Australian and New Zealand wildfire management personnel were sent to the U.S. for almost 30 days to assist with wildfire suppression efforts in Washington, Oregon, and California. The Australian and New Zealand personnel filled critical needs during the peak of the western fire season for mid-level fireline management, heavy equipment, helicopter operations, and structure protection.

The ability for the U.S. to send firefighters to assist Australia and New Zealand is authorized in a formal agreement under the Emergency Wildfire Suppression Act. According to information from NIFC, “The agreement only permits the United States to send federal employees to Australia, which means that legally, the National Interagency Fire Center cannot mobilize non-federal employees, such as state and local firefighters, to Australia.”

Fighting a wildfire with liquid nitrogen?

Bill GabbertJanuary 7, 2020January 8, 2020Uncategorized10 Comments

Poll: tell us your opinion

nitrogen fire suppression — Screenshot from TheBackyardScientist video, nitrogen vs. fire.

At Wildfire Today we have written about many out-of-the-box proposals for suppressing wildfires. Now a new method (to me anyway) is being proposed.

Kenn Roberts wrote to us from Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada suggesting that liquid nitrogen could be used to help control the bushfires in Australia.

There are two ways the application of liquid nitrogen could retard the growth of a fire.

One, the stuff is very cold. It has a boiling point of -320° F. Below that it is a liquid. Warmer than that it is a gas.

Two, if it is present in enough quantities it can displace oxygen. Either of those would remove one leg of the heat/fuel/oxygen fire triangle.

Liquid nitrogen is heavier than air and will initially stay near the ground or sink to lower levels. After the gas warms to the ambient temperature it becomes slightly lighter than air and will rise.

There are videos online (of course) of people playing with liquid nitrogen. A couple of them are by TheBackyardScientist who puts out flames from a tiny “flame thrower” like in the photo at the top of this article, and a burning flammable liquid on the surface of a swimming pool.

So obviously in a small controlled environment liquid nitrogen which has boiled and produced gaseous nitrogen can under some circumstances put out a fire. However (you knew there was going to be a “however”) adapting that concept on a very large scale to suppress a wildfire would prove to be challenging at best.

Mr. Roberts says nitrogen could be used by firefighters on the ground “to dispense liquid nitrogen and/or use equipment to propel liquid nitrogen into hard to get to areas.” And, he explained, “it can be carried in the direction of the wind.”

Used from the air, he said, “Heli/ fixed wing can drop liquid nitrogen canisters directly on fire, in the path of fire, or use to be carried with the wind behind the fire.”

Dewar flasks can store liquid nitrogen for a matter for hours or up to a few weeks.

Heli/ fixed wing can drop liquid nitrogen canisters directly on fire, in the path of fire, or use to be carried with the wind behind the fire. — These Dewar Flasks for storing liquid nitrogen were some of the first to come up with a Google search.

Putting aside the ability of nitrogen to suppress a wildfire, there are practical, logistical, and safety issues to consider. Whatever container is dropped from an aircraft to deliver nitrogen to a fire, it could only be deployed in an area devoid of anything or anybody that could be harmed by the objects falling from the sky. In addition to physical damage from the falling Dewar flasks, if the gas spreads to an inhabited area the displacement of oxygen could be a concern, perhaps even resulting in death. Also the effects on animals and other environmental factors would have to be considered. And like the proposal for aircraft to drop boxes of retardant on a fire, the containers, debris, or equipment would have to be removed.

Mr. Roberts submitted his liquid nitrogen concept to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Curtis Brown, Staff Chief for Research and Development, wrote back to him on December 10, 2019. Here is an excerpt from the letter:

A great deal of thought and consideration went into reviewing your liquid nitrogen technology proposal. After careful review of the proposal, it was determined that CAL FIRE will not be able to pursue this project. While your idea is intriguing, CAL FIRE does not have the resources or budget to pursue the implementation of the application. The hazards of working around nitrogen is a fundamental safety concern and your proposal lacks details regarding how to safely administer this technology.

Undeterred, Mr. Roberts said he plans to conduct a demonstration for structural firefighting in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada.

Here are some wacky ideas for putting out wildfires. All were tagged Lame-Ass Idea:

What do you think? Should we file the liquid nitrogen proposal in the Lame-Ass Idea category? To vote below, click on one of the two choices, then click on the hard to see “VOTE” button which is above “View Results”.

Is fighting wildfires with liquid nitrogen a Lame-Ass Idea?

Yes, it's a Lame-Ass Idea (88%, 114 Votes)
No, it's a great idea (12%, 16 Votes)

Total Voters: 130

Loading ...

The poll will close March 7, 2020.

Meteorologist explains the weather that is driving the bushfires in Australia

Bill GabbertJanuary 7, 2020January 13, 2020UncategorizedAustralia, weather2 Comments

Australia weather explained — Screenshot from the ABC10 video below.

Rob Carlmark, a meteorologist at Sacramento TV station ABC10, explains the weather that has created the current unprecedented bushfire situation in Australia.

You can follow Mr. Carlmark on Twitter: @rcalrmark

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.