The government of Manitoba, Canada, has purchased four CL-415 air tankers from Bombardier which will be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2010 and will continue into 2012. Manitoba currently has seven CL-215 air tankers, some of which will be replaced by the new aircraft.
The difference between the CL-215 and the 415 is that the 415 has turboprop engines, and has an updated cockpit, aerodynamics enhancements and changes to the water-release system.
Since 1994, Bombardier has delivered 75 CL-415 air tankers to the governments of Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Malaysia, Ontario, Quebec and Spain. In addition, 64 CL-215 piston engine aircraft are still in service.
The Wildland Fire Leadership Council (WFLC), at their March 16-17 meeting in Washington DC, agreed to establish a blueprint for a “Cohesive Wildfire Management Strategy.” This new strategy (which is not a policy) has three components:
I have to admit it is difficult to get a handle on what the new Strategy is all about. A lot of documents have been floating around but I have not seen any that provide a paragraph that clearly summarize this new initiative. The WFLC’s web site has a little information, including a record of decisions that were made at their March meeting.
The WFLC plans to conduct six to twelve forums in April and May at which the new Strategy will be presented and discussed. Dates and locations are tentative, but they may be held at the following cities: Anchorage, AK; Ruidoso, NM; Barnaget, NJ; San Antonio, TX; Boise, ID; Washington, DC; Casper, WY; Phoenix, AZ; Billings, MT; Sacramento, CA; Seattle, WA; Reno, NV; and Madison, WI.
The WFLC has been rather lethargic for the last year or two. Before their March meeting, the last one was held in November, 2008. The Council was “re-established by a Memorandum of Understanding” on April 12, 2010.
Below is the text of a news release from the DOI, USDA, and DHS about the new strategy.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has released their report on the fatalities of the two volunteer firefighters that died in Colorado in April, 2008 when, while responding to a fire, drove onto a bridge that had burned in the fire and had collapsed. Here is the report summary. The entire document is at cdc.gov.
=================================================== Volunteer Fire Chief and Fire Fighter Killed When a Wildland Engine Plummeted From a Fire-Damaged Wooden Bridge Into a Dry Creek Bed – Colorado
SUMMARY
On April 15, 2008, at approximately 1535 hours, a 30-year-old volunteer chief and a 38-year-old volunteer fire fighter died while driving their apparatus through thick black smoke onto a bridge that had collapsed from fire damage caused by a wildfire. They were responding as mutual aid to the wildfire in a neighboring community. Key contributing factors identified in this investigation include: excessive speed for reduced visibility/smoke conditions, lack of traffic control, lack of coordination between responding agencies and departments, and inadequate driver and multi-agency response training.
NIOSH investigators concluded that, to minimize the risk of similar occurrences, fire departments should:
ensure that fire fighters receive essential training on the emergencies that they will respond to and how to respond safely
Additionally, fire departments, municipalities, and authorities having jurisdiction should:
establish pre-incident plans regarding traffic control for emergency service incidents and pre-incident agreements with public safety agencies, traffic management organizations, and private sector responders
train on utilizing the national incident management system to effectively respond to and manage multi-agency incidents
be aware of programs that provide assistance in obtaining alternative funding, such as grant funding, to replace or purchase fire fighting equipment
The bridge, in 2004. Photo: Colorado Department of TransportationThe accident scene after the crash due to the collapsed bridge and subsequent fire damage. Photo: Colorado State Forest Service
Loadmaster Bill Whitlatch operates a new MAFFS 2 unit aboard a C-130J aircraft with the Channel Islands Air National Guard. Photo by Stephen Osman, Ventura County Star.
This morning the Wyoming Air National Guard’s 153rd Airlift Wing in Cheyenne, Wyoming is loading their two Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems (MAFFS) into a couple of C-130J aircraft in preparation for annual recertification of the equipment and the pilots and crews operating them. They will join six other C-130J’s at the South Carolina Technology and Aviation Center in Greenville, South Carolina from April 24 until May 1.
Up to 400 military and civilian personnel will participate in the recertification for the air tankers, including both classroom and flight training for military flight crews, civilian lead plane pilots and various support personnel. MAFFS support specialists and aviators from the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs, North Carolina Forest Service, and California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection will lead the week-long training.
In addition to the Wyoming MAFFS, the other six, two from each base, will come from the 145th Airlift Wing of the North Carolina Air National Guard in Charlotte, N.C.; the 146th Airlift Wing of the California Air National Guard in Port Hueneme, Calif., and the 302nd Airlift Wing with the U.S. Air Force Reserve of Colorado Springs, Colorado.
A few months ago the MAFFS bases began accepting delivery of a new generation of the equipment. Called MAFFS 2 (photo of MAFFS 2 test), they are also designed to be rolled into the back of C-130 aircraft, but they hold 400 more gallons, for a total of 3,400 gallons of retardant. However the main difference is that the nozzles, instead of exiting out the rear loading dock, are routed through a sealed portal (a modified paratrooper door) on the plane’s left side. This makes it possible for the plane to be pressurized; in addition, the crew and the rear door will no longer be coated with retardant. Wildfire Today wrote more about the new MAFFS 2 back in January.
MAFFS is a partnership between federal land management agencies and the military to provide supplemental air tankers to assist in fire suppression efforts nationwide during times of high fire activity. The system itself is a portable fire retardant delivery system that can be easily inserted into military C-130 aircraft, converting the vessel into an air tanker when the civilian fleet is fully committed.
Congress established the authority for the MAFFS program in the early 1970’s to support wildland firefighting through an agreement with the U.S. Forest Service. The military aircraft are requested by the National Interagency Fire Center and activated through the U.S. Northern Command, based on an agreement with the Department of Defense. The most recent MAFFS mission was mobilized in June 2008.
UPDATE April 22, 2010:
The Herkybirds.com site, which is devoted to C-130’s, has more information about the benefit of pumping the retardant out the side paratroop door, rather than out the back. According to “Maxtorq”:
The glory part about the system is hardly any clean up after flights . With the old system it would just cover the tail section , beaver tail, elevators and mist inside the ramp doors. All of our birds after so many hours had to be sent to depot to have the aft end of the aircraft removed and stripped and painted.
After MAFFS during the fire season it would come home for aircraft wash, the ramps floor deck would all have to come out along with D/Rails to be cleaned.
On April 15 the Governor of Colorado signed into law Senate Bill 10-102 which empowers the state to establish certification standards for users of prescribed fires. Here is the text of the bill:
(Capital letters indicate new material added to existing statutes; dashes through words indicate deletions from existing statutes and such material not part of act.)
CONCERNING THE CERTIFICATION OF USERS OF PRESCRIBED FIRE ACCORDING TO STANDARDS ESTABLISHED BY THE COLORADO STATE FOREST SERVICE.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Colorado:
SECTION 1. 23-31-313 (6) (a), Colorado Revised Statutes, is amended BY THE ADDITION OF A NEW SUBPARAGRAPH to read:
23-31-313. Healthy forests – vibrant communities – funds created. (6) Community watershed restoration. (a) In order to support communities and land managers in moving from risk reduction to long-term ecological restoration so that the underlying condition of Colorado’s forests supports a variety of values, particularly public water supply and high-quality wildlife habitat, the forest service shall:
(III) ESTABLISH TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION STANDARDS FOR USERS OF PRESCRIBED FIRE IN CONSULTATION WITH THE COLORADO PRESCRIBED FIRE COUNCIL OR AN ANALOGOUS SUCCESSOR ORGANIZATION.
THE FOREST SERVICE MAY ALSO CONSULT WITH LOCAL FIRE JURISDICTIONS. NOTHING IN THIS SUBPARAGRAPH (III) REQUIRES A USER OF PRESCRIBED FIRE TO BE CERTIFIED. THE STANDARDS SHALL:
(A) CREATE CERTIFIED BURNER AND NONCERTIFIED BURNER DESIGNATIONS FOR USERS OF PRESCRIBED FIRE ON PRIVATE AND NONFEDERAL LAND;
(B) ESTABLISH REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTIFIED BURNERS TO CONDUCT LAWFUL ACTIVITIES PURSUANT TO AUTHORIZATION UNDER SECTION 18-13-109 (2) (b) (IV), C.R.S., REGARDING FIRING OF WOODS OR PRAIRIE;
(C) IDENTIFY PROCESSES AND PROCEDURES FOR CERTIFIED BURNERS TO CONDUCT A PRESCRIBED FIRE;
(D) RECOMMEND ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES FOR PRESCRIBED BURN OPERATIONS;
(E) ESTABLISH TRAINING STANDARDS FOR CERTIFIED BURNERS; AND
(F) CLEARLY IDENTIFY PREEXISTING FEES, PERMIT REQUIREMENTS, LIABILITIES, LIABILITY EXEMPTIONS, AND PENALTIES FOR PRESCRIBED BURN PERSONNEL AND LANDOWNERS, INCLUDING THOSE SPECIFIED IN SECTIONS 25-7-106 (7) AND (8) AND 25-7-123, C.R.S.
Smokejumpers from the Missoula, Montana base are going to star in a new one-hour special on CMT, appropriately named SMOKEJUMPERS, on Friday night, April 23 at 10 p.m., ET/PT. Currently planned to be just a one-time special, the senior vice president of programming for CMT, Mary Beth Cunin, was quoted as saying that if the special is successful, they could green-light the show for a full year of episodes.
In 2008, a film crew from Megalomedia followed the Missoula jumpers as they trained and fought fires. They did not parachute from a DC-3, Shorts Sherpa C-23, or Twin Otter aircraft with the jumpers, but met them on the ground at fires. (Two smokejumper bases have USFS-owned DC-3 aircraft that have been converted to turbo prop machines–Missoula and McCall, Idaho.)
I talked with Missoula smokejumper Rogers Warren who explained that in 2008 the film crew had a special use permit from the US Forest Service which made it possible for them to film the jumpers and later use the footage for commercial purposes. A public affairs officer from the USFS accompanied the film crew most of the time.
Here is an excerpt from a press release from CMT about the program:
NASHVILLE – April 7, 2010 – CMT’s Friday night is getting hotter with the premiere of a new one-hour special, SMOKEJUMPERS, premiering on Friday, April 23 at 10:00 p.m., ET/PT. The special is the third piece of programming in CMT’s newly branded Friday night of adventure programming, CMT ADVENTURE COUNTRY, and immediately follows new episodes of GATOR 911 and DANGER COAST.
With hand tools, explosives, and the ability to think fast on their feet, SMOKEJUMPERS have one job – to contain the fire they are set to extinguish. But first, they must get there by parachuting into often unchartered territory and treacherous forests and mountains. The men and women of SMOKEJUMPERS show how they can often be the only hope to stop a fire burning out of control, and why they are the most important lines of defense against one of the deadliest natural disasters. Success means saving land, but failure could mean losing lives, property and costing millions of dollars in damage. The one-hour special, offers an inside look at this dangerous profession – from the nervous rookie jumper, to the twenty-year veteran, the thrill-seeking big-wave surfer, and the family man with a master’s degree. These SMOKEJUMPERS share one goal – to stop a potentially devastating and dangerous force of nature.
SMOKEJUMPERS is produced by Megalomedia, with Jonathan Nowzaradan as Executive Producer. Melanie Moreau and Bob Kusbit serve as Executive Producers for CMT.
The Danger Coast series, which follows waterborne firefighters with the Miami-Dade Fire Department, also looks interesting. Episode #102 will air Friday, April 23, at 9:30 ET, just before Smokejumpers.
Here are some photos from the CMT Smokejumper site:
