We don’t write about politics here on Wildfire Today unless there is a direct tie-in to wildland fire, and the lawsuit that Congressman Dennis Rehberg of Montana filed against the Billings Fire Department qualifies. Now that Congressman Rehberg is running for a Senate seat as a Republican, he is being criticized by his opponent and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for that lawsuit.
The Congressman attempted to obtain money from the City of Billings for some vegetation that burned on undeveloped land owned by the Congressman and his wife during an 1,100-acre wildfire in 2008.
Rep. Dennis Rehberg
In 2011 he threw his wife under the bus by claiming it was she that filed the lawsuit, and then later tried to minimize the damage to his campaign by saying “It’s not about the money”. He explained that he was doing it for the good of the fire department so they could learn from their mistake. Eventually, in November, 2011, he dropped the lawsuit.
Here is the text of the above video:
(Narrator):Wildfires … they destroy homes and lives. Firefighters put themselves on the line every day. But instead of thanking them, Congressman Dennis Rehberg filed a lawsuit against the fire department blaming firefighters for damage on his property.
(Voice of news reporter:) Attorneys for the City of Billings say it cost nearly $21,000 to defend the Magic City against a lawsuit filed by Congressman Dennis Rehberg.
(Narrator:) Dennis Rehberg. He’s for himself. Not us.
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UPDATE, October 6, 2012:
More videos uncovered about a US Representative’s lawsuit against the Billings Fire Department
We have found two more videos along the same lines, one by Majoritypac, and the one below that features a person identified as Tim Bergstrom, a retired Billings firefighter.
Coulson’s C-130H and Firewatch 76. Photo by Coulson.
After announcing on June 13 the awards for contracts for seven next generation air tankers, the U.S. Forest Service is going back to the drawing board. Their contracting office has notified the nine aircraft companies that submitted bids on the request for proposal (RFP) originally published November 30, 2011, that they will not be executing the awards for the four companies that appeared to be the winners, Neptune Aviation Services, Minden Air Corporation, Aero Air, and Aero Flite.
As Kelly Anderson reported for us on August 7, two companies protested the awards, Coulson Aviation and 10 Tanker Air Carrier.
Contracts for the air tankers were never issued or signed, only “letters of intent” were sent to the four companies. Matt Olson, the USFS contracting officer for the next generation air tankers, told Wildfire Today that the awards were contingent on negotiating with each company a “cancellation ceiling rate”, which would be the amount given to the companies if the government had to cancel the contracts before the scheduled end date. Those negotiations were underway when the awards were protested.
An amendment to the RFP will be issued, and all nine companies that previously submitted proposals, including the four vendors who were notified of pending awards in June, will have an opportunity to submit revised proposals once the amendment is issued.
Mr. Olson said the amendment will be issued either today or early next week and responses will be due about a month later. It most likely will not be posted online. (UPDATE: it was issued to the nine companies today, October 5.) He expects the second generation of awards for the next generation air tankers will be announced early in 2013.
The primary change in the new amendment to the RFP will be to clarify that the air tankers must be able to carry at least 2,400 gallons at sea level at ISA plus 30 degree Celsius.
Now that the USFS has published the dollar amounts of the awards, offering the nine companies the opportunity to revise their bids could result in an interesting dynamic and some very different prices. On the June 13 award announcement, the dollar amounts listed for the first year of the 5-year contract, with options for 5 additional years, were:
BAe-146 (Neptune had the high prices, and Minden the low)
Daily availability, $27,978 to $23,300
Hourly flight rate, $9,520 to $7,700
RJ-85, a variant of the BAe-146 (Aero-Flite)
Daily availability, $29,661
Hourly flight rate, $5,719
MD-87 (Aero Air)
Daily availability, $23,614
Hourly flight rate, $6,600
The above rates are “dry”, and do not include fuel.
The two companies that protested the awards, Coulson and 10 Tanker, would like for their aircraft to be considered more on a cost per DELIVERED gallon of retardant, and not primarily the daily and hourly rates. Coulson has purchased a C-130H and owns the rights to build an Aero Union designed constant-flow tank that could hold up to 5,000 gallons. 10 Tanker’s two DC-10 air tankers carry 11,600 gallons and don’t have to download based on density altitude like all other air tankers.
Using the USFS’s logic of the lowest price for one load of retardant, an 800-gallon aircraft with a low operating cost would be the best bet. But if the incident commander needs more than 800 gallons, or more than one load, an air tanker that can carry many thousands of gallons of retardant could cost less to get the job done, and get it done more quickly. Remember what we keep saying… fast aggressive, initial attack can keep small fires from becoming megafires. The federal government’s policy of trying to suppress fires on the cheap has limitations.
As a comparison of air tanker rates, in 2011 the average costs for a P2V on an exclusive use contract were $9,700 for daily availability, plus $6,500 per flight hour. In 2012, the rates for a DC-10 on a Call When Needed Contract are $50,021 for daily availability, plus $21,253 per flight hour including fuel, or $7,445 without fuel. CWN rates have to be much higher than for an extended exclusive use contract, since there is no guarantee that the aircraft will be used at all, or for more than a few days each year.
Tanker 41 at Missoula, August 11, 2012. Wildfire Today photo.
The two next generation BAe-146 air tankers operated by Neptune were brought on not through the next generation RFP, but were added to the company’s existing legacy air tanker contract as “additional equipment”. The contract for Tanker 40, which first dropped on a fire in September of 2011, ends today, October 5, but was extended by a few days due to having missed some of its Mandatory Availability Days (MAP) when it was down for maintenance. Tanker 41 first came on contract September 1, 2012 and was scheduled to go off on November 9, but it will also be extended a few days because it missed some MAP days while undergoing maintenance.
The RFP for the next generation air tankers allows for between 7 and 35 additional air tankers to be brought on. At this time funding available to the USFS will only allow for 7. Mr. Olson, the contracting officer, told us that he expects there to be a 5 percent reduction in funding for the USFS, so it is unlikely that any more than 7 will receive next generation contracts in the next year.
Still pending are award announcements for the RFPs for “legacy” air tankers such as the P2V which can carry at least 1,800 gallons, and Call When Needed contracts for Very Large Air Tankers that have a capacity of at least 10,000 gallons. The existing contracts with Minden and Neptune for the legacy air tankers expire within the next few months. The new ones will begin on February 20, 2013 … IF this RFP goes much more smoothly than the one for the next generation air tankers.
Experimental next generation wildland firefighter clothing. Photo by Ken
Researchers are field testing two upgrades for wildland firefighters — new specifications for fire resistant clothing and fireline lunches. Both of these topics are near and dear to the hearts of firefighters. If the clothing does not fit, or binds, or is too hot, or tears, it can make a 16-hour shift seem like 160 hours. And if the lunches they carry to the fireline suck, they may not get the nutrition and energy they need to combat the fire.
Clothing
The Department of Homeland Security has distributed for field testing 1,000 sets of next-generation fire-resistant clothing for wildland firefighters.
Personnel from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), the U.S. Forest Service, and 11 local California fire departments that are fighting ongoing wildfires will test the new equipment. The Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate division of the DHS is conducting this wear trial in partnership with the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development & Engineering Center’s National Protection Center.
According to the DHS, the next generation of personal protective equipment will improve radiant thermal protection; reduce heat stress; improve form, fit, and function compared to existing garments; and meet National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1977 and 1975 standards.
The prototype garment system includes undergarments, socks, shirts, uniform pants, tactical pants, and over pants. The system has a shelf life of five years, allows for rapid donning in three minutes or less, is compatible with existing equipment, and accommodates the 5th to 95th percentile of male and female firefighters.
Lunches
For the last couple of years a new specification for lunches that firefighters carry onto the fireline has been tested. Reports are that there will be different configurations for the lunches that camp slugs dedicated individuals that work at the Incident Command Post are provided, versus the high-calorie meals given to firefighters.
Past studies of sack lunches found that they contained between 1,600 and 2,000 calories, while a Meal Ready to Eat (MRE) is loaded with 2,841 calories. The experimental fireline lunches used in 2011 had about 2,000 calories. We have heard that the new lunches are a little pricey, running between $20 and $24 each.
This year the new experimental fireline lunches have been spotted on at least two fires in California, the North Pass Fire on the Mendocino National Forest, and the Shockey Fire on CAL FIRE’s Monte Vista Unit in San Diego County. The photo below is an example of one of these lunches found on a fire a few weeks ago.
With a little extra time on my hands today, I ran across some videos made by some guys who obviously have WAY too much time on their hands. Flames at 100x slow motion are fascinating.
As a bonus, HERE is a link to a third video, this time featuring sparks produced by flint and steel, at 5,000 frames per second.
Wildfire smoke map, 9:54 a.m. MT, October 3, 2012 (click to enlarge)
The map showing the distribution of smoke from wildfires has an interesting pattern today. We are thinking that the area shown in yellow, the moderately dense smoke, that is drifting into northeast Minnesota and Canada is from the Minnie fire.
MNICS, the Minnesota Incident Command System, has provided more information about the County 27 fire near Karlstad and the Minnie fire near Fourtown.
County 27 fire:
The fire has burned 4,700 acres and is 5 percent contained. Despite the best efforts of firefighters, 4 residences, 7 mobile homes, 2 garages, and 22 outbuildings were lost.
Minnie fire:
This fire made made an 11 mile run to the northeast on Tuesday and is now approximately 24,700 acres. It had very active fire behavior on Tuesday in an area with unsecured line on the north side. Several trail and roads in the area were closed on Wednesday.
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Originally published at 12:04 p.m. CT, October 3, 2012
Strong winds in northwest Minnesota on Tuesday caused at least two fires to grow substantially, with one of them destroying half a dozen homes.
County 27 fire:
The County 27 fire burned into the south edge of the community of Karlstad. Much of the town was evacuated and six to eight homes were lost on the southwest side of the town, according to the Minnesota Incident Command System (MNICS). By Wednesday morning firefighters had stopped the spread of the fire.
National Guard Blackhawk helicopters, a BAe-146 air tanker, and CL-215 air tankers assisted ground-based firefighters in suppressing the fire. Other smaller aircraft were grounded due to the strong winds, including light helicopters, single engine air tankers, and light fixed wing aircraft.
BAe-146 on the County 27 fire, photo by LOWFishermanCL-215 on County 27 fire, photo by LOWFisherman
The winds at the AGZM5 weather station Tuesday afternoon were measured at 15 to 26 mph with gusts up to 41, and the relative humidity bottomed out at 17 percent. During the night and on Wednesday morning the winds calmed down, blowing at 4 to 9 mph.
The map below shows the approximate location of the County 27 fire near Karlstad, according to heat detected by satellites. There are reports that the fire jumped U.S. Highway 59 and crossed Kittson County Highway 9, but did not move past Minnesota Highway 11.
Map of County 27 fire near Karstad, Minnesota, October 3, 2012, showing heat detected by satellites. (click to enlarge)
Minnie Fire:
The Minnie Fire, near Fourtown between Upper Red Lake and Lake of the Woods, was 600 acres when the last report was filed on October 1 at 1 p.m., but Tuesday’s very strong winds caused it to spread approximately 8 miles to the northeast, adding, according to our rough estimate, an additional 25,000 acres.
Map showing Minnie fire, October 3, 2012
On the map of the Minnie Fire below, the red squares represent heat detected by satellites between 2:14 p.m. CT on Tuesday and 2:14 a.m. CT on Wednesday.
Map of Minnie fire, 2:14 am CT, October 3, 1012. MODIS, Google
We don’t write about politics here on Wildfire Today unless there is a direct tie-in to wildland fire, and the lawsuit that Congressman Dennis Rehberg of Montana filed against the Billings Fire Department qualifies. Now that Congressman Rehberg is running for a Senate seat as a Republican, he is being criticized by his opponent and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for that lawsuit.
