Wildfire Today

Chilean President declares state of catastrophe due to numerous wildfires

Bill GabbertFebruary 6, 2019February 7, 2019UncategorizedChile, DC-102 Comments

A DC-10 Very Large Air Tanker is en route from San Bernardino, California

(This article first appeared at FireAviation.com)

DC-10 air tanker — Tanker 910, a DC-10, at McClellan October 10, 2017. Photo by Sergio Maraschin

One of 10 Tanker Air Carrier’s DC-10 very large air tankers is en route to Chile. Tanker 910, N612AX, departed from San Bernardino, California Wednesday. It made a stop at La Aurora International Airport in Guatemala later in the day, and information on Flight Aware appears to indicate that it will also stop at Pisco, Peru.

John Gould, President of 10 Tanker said the aircraft is expected to arrive at Santiago, Chile early Thursday morning. He said it will be working for the National Forest Corporation, or CONAF (Corporación Nacional Forestal), which is a Chilean private, non-profit organization, through which the Chilean state contributes to the development and sustainable management of the country’s forest resources. CONAF is overseen and funded by Chile’s Ministry of Agriculture. There is no one governmental agency that has the authority, responsibility, and resources to manage wildfires in the Country.

On Tuesday Chilean President Sebastián Piñera declared a state of catastrophe in some regions of the country due to unusually hot weather and numerous wildfires. Below is an excerpt from Prensa Latina:

[Undersecretary of the Interior, Rodrigo] Ubilla said that this extreme measure seeks to strengthen the network of logistical support to deal with these disasters, and that these commanders will be responsible for ‘controlling public order, operationally support the tasks of prevention, fire fighting and adopt all necessary measures to avoid risks to the population.

More than 8,000 hectares [19,000 acres] of forests and pastures have already been burned by flames, dozens of homes have been destroyed and hundreds of people evacuated, according to reports from the National Forestry Corporation (CONAF) and the National Emergency Office of the Ministry of the Interior (ONEMI).

Two years ago Global Supertanker’s 747 very large air tanker spent a month or so fighting fires in Chile working out of Santiago. Andrea Avolio, a vice president of the company, said their aircraft is presently down for several weeks undergoing heavy maintenance. She said the company has not received any inquiries from officials in Chile about it being deployed.

Dan Snyder, CEO and President of Neptune, said he has recently had some informal discussions with folks in Chile but no orders have been placed. Neptune sent one of their BAe-146s, Tanker 03, to Concepción, Chile two years ago at the same time the 747 was farther north in Santiago.

A spokesperson for Aero-Flite said as far as she knew the company has no plans to send one of their RJ85 large air tankers to South America. Currently three of them are working in Australia.

Last month an IL-76 airplane hauled a Kamov Ka-32A11BC helicopter to Chile to fight fires. And on Christmas Eve Billings Flying Service unloaded one of their CH-47D Chinooks off a ship in Chile.

Billings Flying Service CH-47D helicopter — Billings Flying Service’s Helicopter 03, a CH-47D Chinook, being unloaded from the ship in Chile. Billings Flying Service photo.

Climate change brings less rain with more dry lightning and wildfires to Tasmania

Bill GabbertFebruary 6, 2019September 21, 2020UncategorizedAustralia, climate change, lightning, Tasmania

wildfires in Tasmania satellite photo — Satellite photo of smoke from wildfires in Tasmania, January 21, 2019. The red dots represent heat detected by the satellite. NASA & Wildfire Today.

Climate change has already brought alarming change to Tasmania, the huge island south of the Australian mainland. Until recently it was assumed that the climate differences would not be massive since it was thought by some that the ocean surrounding the island would not be heating as quickly as it was in other areas.

Now the southwest area of the state, the heart of its world heritage area, is being described as dying — the rainforest and heathlands are beginning to disappear. The nearby seas, it turns out, are warming at two to three times the global rate.

Richard Flanagan writes about this issue in an opinion article at The Guardian. Below is an excerpt:

…Then there was the startlingly new phenomenon of widespread dry lightning storms. Almost unknown in Tasmania until this century they had increased exponentially since 2000, leading to a greatly increased rate of fire in a rapidly drying south-west. Compounding all this, winds were also growing in duration, further drying the environment and fuelling the fires’ spread and ferocity.

Such a future would see these fires destroy Tasmania’s globally unique rainforests and mesmerizing alpine heathlands. Unlike mainland eucalyptus forest these ecosystems do not regenerate after fire: they would vanish forever. Tasmania’s world heritage area was our Great Barrier Reef, and, like the Great Barrier Reef, it seemed doomed by climate change.

Later [Prof Peter] Davies [an eminent water scientist] took me on a research trip into a remote part of the south-west to show me the deeply upsetting sight of an area that was once peatland and forest and was now, after repeated burning, wet gravel. The news was hard to comprehend – the enemies of Tasmania’s wild lands had always had local addresses: the Hydro Electricity Commission, Gunns, various tourism ventures. They could be named and they could be fought, and, in some cases, beaten.

Six weeks ago, the future that Davies and others had been predicting arrived in Tasmania. Lightning strikes ignited what would become known as the Gell River fire in the island’s south-west. In later weeks more lightning strikes led to more fires, every major one of which is still burning.

New edition of the “Red Book” published

Bill GabbertFebruary 5, 2019UncategorizedRed Book

The 2019 edition of the Interagency Standards for Fire and Fire Aviation Operations, commonly known as the “Red Book” is now available. Dated February 1, 2019, the document provides direction for fire programs in the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and Bureau of Indian Affairs.

When the Red Book first came out it was roughly six by eight inches with a spiral binding and while it probably was not carried on the fireline, it could easily be brought to incidents by overhead personnel working at the incident base. This latest edition is well over 500 pages which probably means few firefighting personnel will carry a paper version, relying instead on an electronic copy on a portable electronic device.

Even the “Executive Summary of Changes” is 20 pages long. This seems to be a trend in wildland fire agency documents and reports, making an executive summary section far, far longer than it should be. According to Wikipedia an executive summary is:

…a short document or section of a document, produced for business purposes, that summarizes a longer report … in such a way that readers can rapidly become acquainted with a large body of material without having to read it all.

The 20-page “Executive Summary of Changes” in the Red Book does not summarize anything. It lists every change that was made. And it is much too long for a busy executive to read.

The entire 2019 Red Book can be downloaded, or you can do it chapter-by-chapter.

Trail runner attacked by a mountain lion defended himself by suffocating the lion

Bill GabbertFebruary 5, 2019February 5, 2019UncategorizedColorado3 Comments

It happened near Fort Collins, Colorado

A man who went for a run alone yesterday on a trail at Horsetooth Mountain Open Space (map) just west of Fort Collins, Colorado was attacked by a mountain lion. While defending himself he managed to suffocate the animal, killing it, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The runner was then able to leave the area and get himself to a local hospital.

The victim of the attack described hearing something behind him on the trail and was attacked as he turned around to investigate. The lion lunged at the runner, biting his face and wrist. He was able to fight and break free from the lion, killing the lion in self-defense. The runner sustained serious, but non-life threatening injuries as a result of the attack.

As wildlife officers searched the trail area described by the runner, the body of a juvenile mountain lion was found within feet of several possessions that the victim asked the officers to look for on the trail. The lion has been taken to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife animal health lab for a necropsy.

“The runner did everything he could to save his life. In the event of a lion attack you need to do anything in your power to fight back just as this gentleman did,” said Mark Leslie, Colorado Parks and Wildlife Northeast Region manager.

Mountain lion attacks on people are rare, with fewer than 20 fatalities in North America in more than 100 years. Since 1990, Colorado has had 16 injuries as a result of mountain lion attacks, and three fatalities. Lion populations are doing very well in Colorado, but they are elusive animals and tend to avoid humans. Most people will never see a lion in the wild, but they are there. If you live, work, or play in mountain lion country, it is important to be alert.

The article was corrected to show that the attack occurred west of Fort Collins, Colorado.

Tax tip for retired first responders

Bill GabbertFebruary 4, 2019UncategorizedTaxes2 Comments

Earlier we wrote about tax provisions that could reduce federal taxes for those who had property losses during the 2017 and 2018 wildfires in California.

There is another federal tax program that can save retirees money. It applies to retired public safety officers, defined by the IRS as “law enforcement officer, firefighter, chaplain, or member of a rescue squad or ambulance crew”. Basically, you don’t have to pay taxes on money from your retirement annuity that is used to buy health or long-term care insurance. The premiums, up to $3,000, can be for coverage for you, your spouse, or dependents.

Here are a few more details from IRS Publication 721 (page 18):

Publication 721, on page 1 and 2, also describes another benefit for federal firefighters and other public safety federal employees related to early distributions from a governmental plan, spousal benefits, and annuities received by the spouse, former spouse, or child of a public safety officer killed in the line of duty.

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Jim. Typos or errors, report them HERE.

Tax relief for victims of November 8 wildfires in California

Bill GabbertFebruary 4, 2019February 4, 2019UncategorizedCalifornia, Camp Fire, Taxes, Woolsey Fire1 Comment

Applies to victims of the Camp and Woolsey Fires

People who reside in or had businesses in the areas that burned in the wildfires that started in California on November 8, 2018 could qualify for federal tax relief.

The Camp and Woolsey Fires destroyed thousands of homes in Butte, Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Since the President declared the fires to be major disasters residents with losses in those locations may be able to take advantage of slightly extended deadlines for filing federal tax returns.

In addition, taxpayers in the federally declared disaster areas have the option of claiming disaster-related casualty losses on their federal income tax return for either the year in which the event occurred, or the prior year. See IRS Publication 547 for details. IRS Publication 976 has instructions for tax relief for the California fires of 2017.

Individuals may deduct personal property losses that are not covered by insurance or other reimbursements. IRS Form 4684, Casualties and Thefts, has more details.

General information about the program can be found at the IRS website.

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Jim. Typos or errors, report them HERE.