The short-haul extraction of a firefighter that was hit by a rolling rock “the size of a Volkswagen Beetle” on the Las Conchas fire in New Mexico, July 2, 2011.
The extraction of a firefighter who was injured by a falling tree on the Hastings Fire near Fairbanks, Alaska, June 16, 2011.
The 24-hour report on the crew carrier that overturned in southern California on July 4, 2011, injuring nine firefighters. (Wildfire Today originally covered this on July 5.)
An Interagency Aviation Accident Prevention Bulletin. An excerpt: “There have been multiple airspace related events with conditions that could lead to a mid-air collision. Analysis of past and recent near mid-air collisions revealed that communications, deviation from standard operating procedures, and situational awareness were common contributing factors.”
Firefighters on the Las Conchas fire short-haul an accident victim, July 2, 2011.
Usually a reporter from the scene of a wildfire talks about acres, engines, and steep, inaccessible terrain….. zzzzzzzz ….. I’m sorry … what was I writing about? Oh yeah. Well, reporter Suzi Theordory of Time Warner Cable in the videotaped report below had something unusual to talk about — several hundred gallons of water landing on her.
Reporter Drenched During Forest Fire Coverage – Watch more Funny Videos
What are the chances the pilot did this on purpose? 🙂 Probably unlikely. There was a lot of smoke between her and the helicopter which was probably the main target. Probably.
On June 7, 2011, two lookouts who had been observing a burnout operation on the Horseshoe 2 fire in southern Arizona had to quickly abandon their post when the fire spotted below them. They made a “rapid retreat” down a steep rocky chute, and after unsuccessfully trying to break into a house, broke into a second one where they took refuge and watched through the windows as the fire burned around them. One of the firefighters gained entry into the house by breaking a window with his ungloved hand, cutting his hand in the process, requiring stitches. His gloves were in his front pocket.
The house in which the firefighters took refuge on the Horseshoe 2 fire. One of the firefighters broke the window to the right of the door with his ungloved hand.The view from inside the rock house as the fire burned past.
A review of the incident has been released. The review team used an interesting bit of technology to enhance the understanding of the entrapment — they created some graphics which can be viewed in Google Earth, but of course you need Google Earth to view them.
A drop test of Air Tanker 40 at Missoula, MT July 11, 2011. A screen grab from Bill Moss' video.
Neptune Aviation has been putting their jet-powered BAe-146 air tanker through a second round of drop tests over the last week at the Missoula, Montana airport. The video below was shot by Bill Moss on July 11, 2011. To watch it, your best bet is to select “full screen”.
About the most recent tests, Mr. Moss told us:
The water drops were multiple passes testing each of the 4 drop tanks separate and then later they did combination drops using pairs of the 4 tanks. During the winter modification were made to the delivery outlets to improve the pattern coverage.
The design of Neptune’s tank system, including the number of tanks and the method for discharging the retardant through the nozzles has not been confirmed. As a point of reference, check out the photos we posted July 30, 2009 of Evergreen’s 747 Supertanker, showing the four external nozzles, and the interior, with the numerous retardant tanks.
The BAe-145, serial number E2049, first showed up at Neptune’s facilities in the spring of 2010. A Canadian company, Tronos, converted the jetliner to an air tanker, and Neptune conducted drop tests of the aircraft in July of 2010. Here is one of the photos that Bill Moss took of that first series of Neptune’s tests.
Tanker 40, drop test with water at Missoula Airport, July, 2010. Photo by Bill Moss
During the formal drop tests with retardant in 2010, Neptune’s BAe-146 did not meet the Interagency Air Tanker Board’s standards, being unable to obtain adequate line lengths for the higher coverage levels.
We were not able to find anything about the BAe-146 on Neptune’s web site, but there was this:
Our impeccably maintained Lockheed P2V fleet provides our customer with a safe, useful, and effective firefighting tool while we transition into a modern platform.
Minden
Minden Air, based at Minden, Nevada, has purchased three BAe-146 jets. One of them, serial #E2033, was scrapped, another, serial #E2106 according to Planespotters is “stored”, and the third, serial #E2111 is being converted into an air tanker. Here is an excerpt from a blog on Minden’s web site which also has some photos of the conversion process:
Slow and Steady Wins the Race
January 31, 2011
The BAE-146 Air Tanker project is moving along at a steady pace. Making certain the job is done right, everyone is ensuring the i’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed. Minden Air Corp is not just focused on the goal, but also highly dedicated to the proper processes. This attention to detail, and determination will ultimately be rewarded with a stellar product to provide to the US Forest Service and the World.
A brief description of the BAe-146 air tanker from Minden’s site:
The BAE-146 Air Tanker is the next generation initial attack aerial firefighter, fully capable of operating in today’s infrastructure with greater capability, speed, and range. Simply put, the BAE-146 will lead the Air Tanker industry into the future while refining the product. Key attributes of the BAE-146 Air Tanker include:
GPS interactive, 3000 US Gallon, Constant Flow tank
Proven jet reliability
Low speed maneuverability
Great airfield performance
Superior steep approach capabilities
Excellent initial attack range and speed
Small noise footprint
To aid in protection of natural resources and the public, today’s wildland firefighting environment demands a new aircraft with great qualities that can fit within a established system. The BAE-146 is that aircraft…the aircraft Minden Air Corp will use to navigate the industry’s future.
According to a list maintained by NIFC, in 2010 Minden had two conventional P2V air tankers under exclusive use contracts with the federal government. Neptune had nine P2V’s and Aero Union had eight P-3A’s under contract. This is a total of 19 large air tankers, compared to the 44 we had in 2002. Thanks go out to Bill for the video and photos.
MAFFS C-130 makes a drop on the Las Conchas fire, 6-27-2011. Photo: Jayson Coil
Modular Airborne Firefighting System (MAFFS) equipped military C-130 aircraft continue to supplement the fleet of privately-owned air tankers fighting wildfires in the southwest. Initially four were activated on June 15, and two are still working out of Kirtland Air Force base at Albuquerque, New Mexico. Here is an excerpt from a July 8 news release from the U.S. Northern Command:
Since being activated by the National Interagency Fire Center in Idaho June 15, the 302nd Air Expeditionary Group has performed 242 airdrops, dropping 559,993 gallons of fire retardant to help contain wildfires in the Southwest. Recent MAFFS efforts have been concentrated on the Las Conchas fire near Los Alamos in New Mexico.
Under the direction of the Joint Forces Air Component Commander for Air Forces Northern, four C-130 Hercules aircraft equipped with fire fighting capabilities deployed to Kirtland AFB, N.M. as part of the 302nd Air Expeditionary Group. Command and control of the aircraft is being provided by the 302nd AEG from Boise, Idaho.
The 302nd AEG is comprised of personnel from the Air Force Reserve Command’s 302nd Airlift Wing, Colo., the California Air National Guard’s 146th AW, Wyoming ANG’s 153rd AW and North Carolina’s ANG’s 145th AW.
MAFFS-equipped aircraft and crews from the Air Force Reserve Command’s 302nd Airlift Wing, the California Air National Guard’s 146th Airlift Wing, and the North Carolina Air National Guard’s 145th Airlift Wing have been flying the aerial containment missions for the last three weeks. On Thursday, the 145th AW aircraft and crews were released from duty. Personnel and two C-130s from the Air Force Reserve Command’s 302nd AW will remain at Kirtland AFB, N.M. available to support U.S. Forest Service fire containment efforts.
MAFFS is a self-contained aerial firefighting system, which can discharge 3,000 gallons of water or fire retardant in less than five seconds, drawing lines of containment that can cover an area one-quarter of a mile long by 60 feet wide. Once the load is discharged, the MAFFS system can be refilled in less than 12 minutes.
The MAFFS units are owned by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, one of several federal and state government agencies and organizations with roles and responsibilities in wildland fire suppression that make up the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. The Department of Defense is flying at the request of NIFC.
Exactly 10 years ago today the Thirtymile fire took the lives of four U.S. Forest Service firefighters and triggered a series of events and knee-jerk reactions that have been affecting firefighters ever since.
Killed that day were:
Tom L. Craven, 30, Ellensburg, WA
Karen L. Fitzpatrick, 18, Yakima, WA
Devin A. Weaver, 21, Yakima, WA
Jessica L. Johnson, 19, Yakima, WA
The tragic event set a precedent for charging a wildland firefighter with felonies for making mistakes during an emergency fire response. Politicians passed a federal law making it mandatory for the Department of Agriculture’s Office of Inspector General (OIG), which had no experience in wildland fire, to investigate fatalities of U.S. Forest Service personnel that occurred on a fire to decide if any federal laws were broken by firefighters during the suppression of the fire.
After the trainee wildland fire investigator for the OIG finished looking at the Thirtymile fire, on January 30, 2007 Ellreese Daniels, the crew boss of the four firefighters that died, was charged with 11 felonies, including four counts of manslaughter. The charges were later reduced to two counts of making false statements to which Mr. Daniels pleaded guilty on August 20, 2008. He was sentenced to three years of probation and 90 days of work release.
In 2007 the International Association of Wildland Fire conducted a survey of over 3,300 firefighters about the repercussions of a firefighter facing criminal charges following an accident on a fire. Of the full-time employees surveyed, 6% said that because of the possibility of criminal charges they would no longer accept any fire assignments, and 23% said they would not serve as an Incident Commander, the person in charge of all fire suppression activities on a fire. And 23% of the primary-duty firefighters said they would remove some positions for which they were qualified from their Incident Qualifications Card, or “red card. HERE is a summary of their other findings.
The Wenatchee World has an interesting article about the Thirtymile fire. Here is an excerpt that picks up with a discussion about the OIG investigation and the felony charges:
…“It’s not something we’re excited about,” Ken Snell, Forest Service fire director for the Pacific Northwest Region, said of the possibility of criminal prosecution. “No firefighter on any given day goes out there with the intention of hurting anyone.”
And as for the independent review by the Inspector General, he said, “I don’t want to say it wasn’t good, but it had an unintended consequence of shutting down or slowing our ability to learn” from fatal fires.
Snell said the agency now examines minor to moderate incidents or close calls to learn what mistakes are being repeated.
Dick Mangan, a retired Forest Service official who analyzes fire fatalities, said he thinks the changes have had a negative impact on firefighting.
“Unfortunately, four people lost their lives. There were obviously mistakes made at a number of different levels,” he said. “But the way it was (before Thirtymile), everybody else gets the benefit of learning from it, because it is free and open and everyone admits it. Now, there’s always the threat that when an investigation or review team comes in, if I tell them something it may be held against me.”
Fire commanders also know that the decisions they make in an instant, without full knowledge of the situation, and a prosecutor has years to pick apart each and every move and decide whether to file criminal charges.
“That has cast a fairly dark shadow over fire operations for a lot of people,” he said, adding, “Many have chosen not to take jobs that would put them in a liability situation anymore.”
John N. Maclean, author of The Thirtymile Fire published in 2007, said despite his shortcomings, Daniels should never have been prosecuted.
“It was certainly clumsy in its execution, and disastrous in its consequences,” he said. “People left the upper reaches of firefighting in droves, and today, they’re still having trouble filling incident command classes,” he said.
He said the changes won’t make fire managers more accountable.
“Forcing fire managers to obsess about process does not put out fires,” he said, “And having them always looking over their shoulder because they might be charged with felonies that would put them in jail for decades for what may have been a stupid mistake, but was an honest mistake, does nothing for the future of firefighting.”
The Yakima Herald has short bios of the four firefighters who died on the fire.
Shortly after Mr. Daniels was sentenced in 2008, we published the reaction of John N. Maclean, who after writing his book, has become an expert on the Thirtymile fire and the unintended consequences of the OIG investigations.
The Yakima Herald was extremely critical of the U. S. Forest Service and Ellreese Daniels for years leading up to his trial date, but the article they have about the 10-year anniversary shows a much more balanced tone.
