Wildfire Today

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Wildfire Today

Wildfire contractor dies in plane crash

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , 1 Comment on Wildfire contractor dies in plane crash

The Caldwell, Idaho owner of a private company with contracts to supply engines on wildfires was killed in a small plane crash Monday night, September 12. Jamie Sexton, 38, the owner of Blaze Runner, was a passenger in a Cessna 182 piloted by Jerry Reding, 55, of Nampa, that departed Salmon, Idaho at approximately 10:00 p.m. Monday night. They had just dropped off some firefighters assigned to the Salt fire in the Salmon-Challis National Forest, which is 16 miles southwest of Salmon.

According to the Idaho Press-Tribune, Angie Reding Thueson, Reding’s sister, the family received a text from Sexton before the men left Salmon, indicating that they experienced turbulence on the ride over and asking their family to pray for them on the way back.

The aircraft did not arrive at midnight at Caldwell as planned. Radar tracking indicated that it lost altitude and descended rapidly. According to the Idaho Transportation Department, around 11:30 p.m. a cabin owner near Stanley, who is a pilot, reported hearing what he described as a stalling aircraft engine. That reported location agreed with the last location recorded on radar.

Searchers  found the wreckage of the plane at 4:40 p.m. Tuesday west of Stanley. Both of the occupants died on impact.

Our condolences go out to the families and coworkers.

Fire Chiefs pressure USFS to reopen Santa Maria air tanker base

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , 2 Comments on Fire Chiefs pressure USFS to reopen Santa Maria air tanker base

Since the Santa Maria air tanker base northwest of Santa Barbara was downgraded by the Los Padres National Forest on March 19, 2009 from a full-time to a Call When Needed base, some fire chiefs in the area have been lobbying the U. S. Forest Service to reverse that decision. We have written about this issue several times, but it is in the news again, as even more fire chiefs have gotten involved. Here is an excerpt from an article in the Santa Barbara Independent:

Chiefs Demand Fire Support

Want Full Service Restored at Santa Maria Air Tanker Base

Thursday, September 15, 2011

by NICK WELSH

Just two days after the 10th anniversary of 9/11, the fire chiefs of Santa Barbara County let loose the opening shot of what’s been a long-simmering campaign to pressure the U.S. Forest Service to restore “full-service” status to the Santa Maria Air Tanker Base, as opposed to the “call when needed” designation the base has had for the past two years. Santa Barbara City Fire Chief Andy DiMizio — accompanied by Montecito Fire Chief Kevin Wallace and Operations Chief Terry McElwee — showed up at Santa Barbara City Hall to ask the council to sign a ceremonial letter expressing their support for the fire chiefs in a battle of political will with the Forest Service. While the chiefs wore the brass, it was former county supervisor — and longtime rancher — Willy Chamberlin who held the floor, urging the councilmembers to hang tough and “not weaken.” Chamberlin introduced himself as a “self-appointed bird dog” when it came to air-tanker readiness, but his remarks to the council were relatively tame compared to comments he made in the hallways outside the council chambers. There, Chamberlin blistered the Forest Service for downgrading the status of the Santa Maria Air Tanker Base in 2009. Not only has the loss of a full-service base cost the federal government money, he said, it put county residents at greater peril in the face of wildland fires. Had the tanker base remained at full service, Chamberlin insisted that the Jesusita Fire of 2009 — which destroyed 80 homes — might well have been contained early on. “I’m not saying it would have stopped that fire,” Chamberlin said, “but it would most definitely have been a very different fire.” The chiefs, standing next to him, nodded in assent.

Thanks go out to Dick

Smoke from Pagami Creek fire detected over eastern Europe today

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags ,
Pagami Creek fire smoke over eastern Europe, 0500 UTC 9-16-2011
Smoke from the Pagami Creek fire over Poland, Ukraine, and Russia at 0500 UTC 9-16-2011. Meteosat-8, HRV

Smoke from Minnesota’s Pagami Creek fire is being tracked by meteorologists and other scientists as it travels around the globe.  At 0300 UTC September 15 it was detected over the United Kingdom at a height of 11 to 12 kilometers, which is above the cold point tropopause. The satellite photo above shows it over Poland, Ukraine, and Russia at 0500 UTC September 16.

Pagami Creek fire smoke over US 1850 UTC 9-12-2011
Smoke from the Pagami Creek fire being generated in Minnesota at 1850 UTC, September 12, 2011

It has only been in recent years that scientists have realized that smoke from wildfires can not only be transported from one continent to another, but the smoke “clouds” can remain relatively intact and circle the Earth for months. Chuck Bushey, a long-time fire behavior analyst and currently the President of the International Association of Wildland Fire, wrote this in an email today:

The “cloud” from these events that penetrate upper levels of the troposphere and even lower stratosphere have been shown repeatedly to hold together for extended time periods – circling the globe as distinct atmospheric entities before finally dissipating sometimes months after the initiating event. Not only is the immediate fire behavior of these events unusual and interesting but so are the longer term results and I believe the potential implications.

We wrote about this phenomenon in an article on October 22, 2010, and we copied it below:
Continue reading “Smoke from Pagami Creek fire detected over eastern Europe today”

Incidents within incidents, this week on wildfires

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized1 Comment on Incidents within incidents, this week on wildfires

Thursday morning, September 15, Bill Waterbury, the assistant Director for Risk Management for the US Forest Service in Boise, assembled a list of incidents-within-incidents that occurred on wildfires during the first four days of the week.

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This week of September 12th in perspective

Sunday, September 11, 2011, Prescribed Burn Shelter Deployment

Around 1400 on Sunday, September 11, a Forest Service employee deployed his shelter while working on a prescribed burn on the Jessieville Winona Fourche Ranger District on the Ouachita National Forest in Arkansas.  The employee suffered 2nd degree burns on 2% of his body (face and hands) and is currently at the Arkansas Children’s Hospital burn unit in Little Rock, Arkansas. [Note from Bill G.: the official 24 report is here, but has little more information.]

Monday, September 12, 2011, Employees entrapped

Six employees, composing three two-person “Public Safety Teams” of trained wilderness rangers, who were making public contacts to ensure that no recreationists were in areas under closure order because of the Pagami Creek Fire were involved in a shelter deployment the afternoon of Monday, September 12.  The teams were on remote assignment to assure compliance with the closure order and had appropriate PPE and training.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011 1:59 PM, Missing Private Aircraft – Salt Fire

A private plane, transporting the owner of Blaze Runner contract engines, is missing.

The plane left Salmon at approximately 2200 on 9/12 with a planned destination of Boise. At around 0330, members of the Blaze Runner crew were informed that the aircraft had not arrived in Boise.  It was found late Tuesday with both pilot and passenger killed. [note from Bill G.. We wrote about the incident in this article.]

Tuesday, September 13, 2011 4:08 PM, Employee injury due to lightning 

3 employees on the Mt. Pinos RD who were struck (not directly) by lightning.  All employees are stable, and being transported via Ventura County helicopter to the hospital for examination.  The employees were part of Crew 8 (Sundowners), Ojai RD.  I will pass along additional information as it becomes available. [note from Bill G.: we covered this on Sept. 13]

Wednesday, September 14, 2011 10:12 PM, Injuries on Boise NF

Three firefighters injured on small fire on the Boise when hit by a rolling log.  Two with minor injuries, one medivac after losing consciousness.  Will know more in the morning.

 

Thanks go out to Jim

Minnesota: Pagami Creek fire mapped at 100,000 acres, evacuations ordered

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , 13 Comments on Minnesota: Pagami Creek fire mapped at 100,000 acres, evacuations ordered

A fire that started in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) and was not suppressed for about two weeks, has burned outside the BWCAW and become the largest fire in Minnesota since 1918. The Pagami Creek fire has burned 100,000 acres, according to the incident management team, and forced evacuations on the south and east sides of the fire. Scroll down to see maps of the fire.

It started from a lightning strike on August 18 and by August 30 had burned approximately 130 acres.

Map Pagami Creek fire 0800 8-30-2011
Map of the Pagami Creek fire at 8:00 a.m. CT, August 30, 2011. Credit: Superior National Forest and Google Earth

The staff at the BWCAW and the Superior National Forest decided to monitor it and allow natural processes to run their course. They conducted some firing operations, burning an additional 2,000 acres, to herd the fire away from populated areas on the north and west sides, but by last weekend it was obvious that they needed to suppress it. Strong winds on Monday of 15-20 mph gusting up to 35 mph spread the fire 16 miles to the east. At that point the intensity of the fire far exceeded the capabilities of the fire suppression forces. Winds again on Tuesday spread the fire even further, to the point where it is now mapped at 100,000 acres. However the smoke makes mapping difficult, and that acreage may change after firefighters can actually see the full perimeter.

The Pagami Creek fire is ranked as the third largest fire in the history of Minnesota. Larger fires were the 250,000-acre fire near Cloquet in October of 1918 which killed 559 people, and a 200,000-acre fire near Hinckley in September of 1894 which killed 418 people. Here is a link to more information about “Infamous Fires”.

The maps below show what it looks like now:
Continue reading “Minnesota: Pagami Creek fire mapped at 100,000 acres, evacuations ordered”

USFS Chief issues statement about air tanker availability

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , 14 Comments on USFS Chief issues statement about air tanker availability
CL-215 and CL-415
CL-215 and CL-415 Medium Type 3 air tankers scoop water from Snowbank Lake while working on the Pagami Creek fire recently in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Minnesota. Photo by Kristi Marshall for the Superior National Forest

(This article was updated on September 14 to reflect that there are now eight Convair CV-580 air tankers working temporarily in lower 48 States.)

The U. S. Forest Service is apparently feeling the heat from the public and politicians about the agency’s management, or lack thereof, of the large air tanker fleet, which through neglect has dwindled from the 44 we had in 2002 to the 11 large air tankers currently on exclusive use contracts. The decline began with the crash of two very old military surplus air tankers in 2002, which prompted the permanent grounding of similar antiques. But in the nine years since those crashes, nothing significant has been accomplished to rebuild the fleet.

This morning there were 11 air tankers on exclusive use contracts, plus 12 hired temporarily on a day basis (including one DC-10) and six or seven military C-130 MAFFS on a temporary assignment. There were no federal large air tankers in the states of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, or Washington. I wonder if the firefighters on the ground in those states know they will get no large air tanker support for the initial attack of fires?

Here is a statement that was issued around September 8, 2011 by the U. S. Forest Service. Our comments are embedded in red.

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Statement from US Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell on Aircraft Support for Texas, Other Wildfires Throughout the Country

The Forest Service is working hard right now with our federal, state and local partners to combat fires in Texas, California and several other states. I want to assure the public that the Forest Service has ample aircraft strategically placed around the country to support on-the-ground teams combating this year’s wildfires. Our current available airplane fleet includes: “Ample aircraft”? One of the many USFS air tanker studies shows that we should work toward a goal of 32 large air tankers on exclusive use contracts. Now we have 11. 

  • 17 Large Air Tankers which have a capacity of delivering an average of over 2000 gals. of water or retardant per trip. We have 11 “Large” air tankers on exclusive use contracts. Within the last few weeks the USFS brought in on a temporary day by day basis eight “Large” Type 2 Convair CV-580 air tankers, three from the state of Alaska and five from the Canadian government.
  • 1 DC-10 Very Large Airtanker with a capacity of 12,000 gals. This was hired on a day by day Call When Needed contract. The USFS refuses to award any exclusive use contracts for Very Large Air Tankers, such as the DC-10s or the 747, which can carry 11,800 and 20,000 gallons, respectively.
  • 8 military aircraft specially outfitted to fight fires with an average capacity of 3000 gals. Six have been activated. Four are in Texas and two are in Idaho. CAL FIRE may have activated a seventh one for state responsibility fires in California.
  • 3 CL- 215 scooper aircraft which can deliver an average of 1300 gals. of water per trip.These are on a Department in Interior CWN contract. They are trying to get two more through an international agreement with Canada.
  • More than 100 wildland fire response helicopters, including exclusive use contracts for:
    • 2 dozen Type-1 heavy helicopters
    • Over 40 Type-2 medium helicopters on national contracts
    • Over 50 Type-3 light helicopters on local or regional contracts
    • Additional helicopters are available through call-when-needed contracts

All of these assets support the more than 16,000 federal firefighters (10,500 are Forest Service), and 1000 Forest Service firefighting engines.

The Forest Service takes the safety of our employees and contractors seriously and we insist on maintaining stringent airworthiness standards that were developed after two airtankers crashed in 2002, resulting in the loss of both crews. The Forest Service does not take shortcuts on safety. No responsible person is saying waiting more than nine years to make a decision about how to rebuild the air tanker fleet is taking a “shortcut”.