Photos of the Tarrington fire in Virginia

Tarrington fire photo3
Firing out along a sidewalk at the Tarrington fire, Chesterfield County, Virginia, February 19, 2011. Photo: Richard Reuse.

Richard Reuse, an Area Forester with the Virginia Department of Forestry sent us a video and some photos that were taken at the Tarrington fire (map) in Chesterfield County, two miles west of Richmond, Virginia.

Here is a short video that Richard sent us:


From Richard:

This was one of the worst fire days I have ever seen in my 25 years in Virginia. 7% RH is just crazy low for Virginia and add 45mph winds and….. well, welcome to California.

There is some good archived videos on the fires we’ve had during the last week. You can look on the Richmond TV stations websites. NBC12, wric.com, and www.wtvr.com. I’m sure there is good coverage on the Virginia Beach and Charlottesville TV stations too. Most of the fire activity was in the eastern part of the state which is extremely rare.

Richard said it was the first time he had burned out from a sidewalk.

Tarrington fire, Feb. 20, 2011. Photo: Richard Reuse
Thanks Richard

Large Fire Cost Review released

Dollar SignThe U.S. Forest Service has released the Large Fire Cost Review for fiscal year 2009 (Oct. 1, 2008 through Sept. 30, 2009). It is posted on their Publication/Resources page.

Here are direct links to the related documents; they are all .pdf files:

An independent panel managed by Guidance Group, Inc. reviewed the six fiscal year 2009 wildland fires whose suppression costs exceeded $10 million (M). The six fires were: Backbone ($16.9M), Big Meadow ($16.9M), Knight ($12.1M), La Brea ($34.9M), Station ($94.7M), and Williams Creek ($14.2M). The Williams Creek fire occurred in Oregon, the others in California.

The review was conducted by:

  • Mike Degrosky, founder and CEO of Guidance Group, Inc.; DeGrosky’s emergency service background spans 34 years, including service as a rural fire forester, fire management specialist, unit fire supervisor, fire program manager volunteer fire department captain, career fire department training officer and consultant to fire and emergency organizations. He has served as a member of interagency IMTs and maintains current qualifications as an Operations Section Chief Type 2 and Incident Commander Type 3. DeGrosky has been a principal researcher and interviewer for several milestone Forest Service studies.
  • Philip Schaenman, President and founder of TriData. He is a senior consultant specializing in risk management for fire operations, and performance metrics for the fire service; Associate Administrator of the U.S. Fire Administration from 1976–1981
  • Donald Artley, past National Fire Director for the National Association of State Foresters working out of Boise; past Montana State Forester; past Chair of National Multi-Agency Coordinating Group; past NWCG Chair.
  • Richard Mangan,owner/president of Blackbull Wildfire Services, LLC; Type 1 Operations Section Chief; past USFS Forest Staff Officer; has served on numerous wildfire fatality investigations.
  • Peter Moy, CPA; has participated in financial and cost effectiveness reviews of many fire departments studies.
  • Paul Woodward, Professor in the Department of Renewable Resources at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, and President of Ram Fire International Inc.

Wildfire Today will be covering this 86-page report in more detail in the coming days. Check back later to read more coverage of this important report.

Which large fires are reviewed?

Earlier on Wildfire Today there was a discussion about the policy and thresholds that required these large cost fire reviews. The USFS has a policy requiring that their regional offices conduct reviews. Here is a quote from their “Region Large Fire Cost Review Guidebook, May, 2007“.

Each Region must [review] at least eight fires over 5.0M (if applicable for the region) and no less than 75% of their total fires over $5.0M. For example, if a region has 8 fires that meet the threshold they must do all 8 of them; if they have 15 fires that meet the threshold then 11 fires need to be reviewed (75% of 15 fires).

Congress has a different requirement, as stated in House Report 111-316 – Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010.

The conferees reiterate that both the Interior Department and the Forest Service should ensure that cost containment is an important priority when suppressing wildland fires. Both Departments must examine and report promptly to the Congress and on agency websites, using independent panels on each and every individual wildfire incident which results in suppression expenses greater than $10,000,000.

Firefighter seriously burned at wildfire in Georgia

From WAGT-TV:

Lincoln, County, Georgia:

A firefighter is recovering at the Joseph M. Still Burn Center after responding to a brush fire in Lincoln County, Monday afternoon.

Terry Kirkland of the Martins Crossroads Volunteer Fire Department received 2nd and 3rd degree burns to his body.

A spokesperson with the burn center tells 26 News, Kirkland is listed in fair condition at this time.

Early Monday afternoon, all departments in Lincoln County responded to the fire on McCormick Highway.

A large number of acres have been burned.

Crews are working to get the fire under control.

Our thoughts go out to the firefighter, the family, and co-workers.

Fighting wildfire with Blackhawk helicopters

Firehawk Helicopter
Firehawk helicopter at the Blackjack Bay Complex, May, 2002. Photo: Bill Gabbert

When I was working on the Blackjack Bay Complex in Georgia and Florida in May of 2002 we had a privately-owned Blackhawk helicopter assigned to the fire that was named “Firehawk”, as you can see in the above picture.

The Orlando Sentinel has an interesting article about Firehawk Helicopters Inc., a subsidiary of Brainerd Helicopters of Leesburng, Florida. Here is an excerpt:

Smaller, less-expensive helicopters typically make the initial attack when a wildfire breaks out. Heavy lifters such as a Firehawk, typically hired by the U.S. Forest Service for thousands of dollars an hour, turn out for the biggest, scariest fires.

The Black Hawk is fast, cruising at 160 mph and topping out at nearly 200. At 11,000 pounds empty and twice that loaded, it weighs four times as much as a typical police helicopter. Brainerd’s fuel trucks are labeled “Prey for the Hawk.”

His Black Hawks hoist 900-gallon buckets to unload their water on fires. A few rotorcraft can carry more — but none more safely than the Firehawks. Their seats flex as much as 12 inches to absorb the shock of a crash that could otherwise break a pilot’s back.

“That’s Chuck’s way of doing things,” said George Custer, a Forest Service incident commander. “All contractors want to be safe, but not all of them invest the kind of money that Chuck has invested in his tools.”

Chuck Brainerd had quit yanking timber out of swamps in 1977. The helicopter he had then wasn’t so trustworthy. “I was beginning to feel like every day could be my last.”

He quit transporting heart patients in 1986. “It felt good to help people, but it just wasn’t what I wanted to do.”

He found a better chopper, outfitted it as an airborne firetruck and went to a California blaze. That chaotic first day in September 1987 jarred him. “I thought, ‘Chuck, you’re in over your head.’ ”

Days later, Brainerd managed a difficult drop, soaking a smoldering tree. Ground crews cheered. “I thought, ‘Wow, I hit it.’ Then I was hooked and knew that I wanted to do it for the rest of my life.”

He flew to Yellowstone National Park a year later for the famous inferno that scorched the nation’s psyche and more than one-third of the park’s acreage.

He bought his first Black Hawk in 1995, then another, and then teamed with Brown Helicopters of Pensacola for three more.

All came pre-owned, including one from the Sultan of Brunei with gold-plated door handles still attached, and another from Hong Kong’s harbor patrol with machine-gun mounts still affixed.

Because Black Hawks and replacement parts are hard to get, it can be more challenging for the Brainerds than for the average copter company to keep the fleet in the air.

But Brainerd is a believer in the Army’s choice of aircraft: If the Black Hawk can survive bullet strikes and hard landings, it’s more than able to wage war on wildfires. National Guard units sometimes deploy their Black Hawks to forest fires; Los Angeles County bought two of them for firefighting.

The Brainerds’ copters, now reconditioned, reconfigured and repainted, might sell for $10 million each. It’s hard to say, because few such machines ever come on the market.

Until recently Firehawk Helicopters was the only private company in the country operating Blackhawks. Now, according to the Firehawk Helicopters web site:

Brainerd Helicopters and Brown Helicopters have teamed up.

Now located at Brainerd Helicopters facility in Leesburg, FL are three Sikorsky S-70A Black Hawks, owned by Brown Helicopters. These Black Hawks are going through an extensive inspection process, and are going to be equipped with the same avionics, mission equipment, and fire fighting capabilities as our original two Firehawks. For more information about this important development follow this Link.

Firehawk and Brown Blackhawks
Blackhawks, owned by Firehawk Helicopters, Inc. and Brown Helicopter, Inc.; photo: Firehawk Helicopters Inc
Firehawk helicopter
Firehawk helicopter. Photo: Red Huber, Orlando Sentinel, January 25, 2011

Here is a video featuring the Firehawks:

Continue reading “Fighting wildfire with Blackhawk helicopters”

Fire in Shenandoah National Park burns 1,800 acres

(Scroll to the bottom to see the latest update about the fire.)

Smith Run fire
The Smith Run fire as seen from the Hogback Overlook, looking North to MP 14-10. Browntown Valley is on the right. Photo from NPS Facebook page.

The Smith Run fire in Shenandoah National Park in west-central Virginia has burned 1,803 acres along the main artery through the park, Skyline Drive, requiring the closure of the highway between Front Royal and Rt. 211.

Shenandoah NP Smith Run fire
Smith Run fire. In the foreground, three firefighters stand near some sheds. In the distance, white smoke rises from several ridgetops in the mountains. Photo from Inciweb.

The fire is being managed by the Southern Region’s “Red” Type 1 Incident Management Team as part of a complex of fires, which also includes three fires on the George Washington/Jefferson National Forests: the Pickle Branch, Chestnut Ridge and Coffman fires. Since the fire started Saturday morning the team and the park have done a great job of providing information about the fire with updates on the park’s web site, photos on the park’s 75th Anniversary Facebook page, and an InciWeb page which has current information and a progression map of the fire (below).

Map of the Smith Run fire in Shenandoah National Park
Map of the Smith Run fire in Shenandoah National Park. Updated Feb. 21 at 6:00 a.m. Click to enlarge.

Rain and snow in the forecast should slow down the spread of the fire, but it may complicate their plans for some burnouts on Monday. Crews from the National Park Service, the Monongahela National Forest and Asheville Interagency Hotshots continue to work the fire, along with engines from the National Park Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service. Additional crews have been requested.

UPDATE @ 4:25 ET, Feb. 21

According to Shenandoah NP’s Twitter account the burnout operation scheduled for today has been cancelled. They also mentioned that the fire now has it’s own dedicated Facebook Page, adding to the multiple ways they are distributing information about the fire.

From the weather forecast, it appears that the fire is over, with three to five inches of snow predicted for Monday night. Here are the details:

Continue reading “Fire in Shenandoah National Park burns 1,800 acres”