News and opinion about wildland fire
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized5 Comments on Excessive Heat Warnings and Watches starting Monday on west Coast (Updated at 8 a.m. MDT July 31, 2017)
Above: excessive heat warnings. Below: Red Flag Warnings and Fire Weather Watches. All were updated at 7:50 a.m. MDT July 31, 2017.
Firefighters: be careful out there. It’s a good time to review how to prevent and deal with heat related illnesses. Drinking water is important, but it will not prevent heat exhaustion, heat stroke, or rhabdo. And those last two can kill.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized1 Comment on France will be ordering Q400’s to replace their S-2 air tankers Above: Bombardier Q400MR — Bombardier Photo.
This article first appeared on Fire Aviation.
(Originally published at 3:52 p.m. MDT July 29, 2017.)
France’s Securite Civile (Department of Civil Defence and Emergency Preparedness) is replacing their ageing turbine-powered S-2 air tankers with Bombardier Q400-MR’s. The bids for the contract were advertised in 2016 and this week Gérard Collomb, Minister of the Interior, announced that they will place an order for six of the Multi-role aircraft that can carry up to 2,600 US gallons of water or retardant.
For several years Securite Civile has been pondering what to do about replacing their S-2’s that are approaching their structural life limit of 25,000 hours, according to the agency. Their plans announced last year were to retire the nine S-2’s between 2018 and 2022 which would require a two-year extension of the type certificate. The goal was to acquire aircraft that could carry more water or retardant, would reduce operating costs, and would be multi-role. The Q400 MR (the MR stands for “Multi-Role) can haul cargo or passengers in addition to operating in the firefighting realm.
France considered the CL-415 water-scooping amphibious tanker formerly made by Bombardier, but it is no longer in production with the program being sold to Viking Air Limited in 2016. Viking is considering manufacturing them again, but for now they are providing service and support for the CL-215’s and CL-415’s operating around the world.
Securite Civile has operated two Q-400 air tankers since 2005, so retiring the S-2’s and acquiring more Q-400’s will reduce the complexity of the maintenance and operation of their fleet.
In addition to the 9 S-2’s and 2 Q-400’s, France also has 11 or 12 CL-415’s and 40 helicopters.
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Isaac.
Typos or errors, report them HERE.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized2 Comments on Fires in Modoc County, California grow by almost 20,000 acres Combined, the fires have burned 39,623 acres.
Above: Fire engines on the Cove Fire, part of the Modoc July Complex of fires in northeast California: ANF E31 and ENF E364. Uncredited/undated photo on Inciweb.
(Originally published at 9:08 a.m. PDT July 30, 2017)
The Complex of lightning-caused wildfires in Modoc County in northeast California grew by almost 20,000 acres on Saturday, bringing the total to 39,623 acres.
Most of the fires are west of Highway 395 and east of Highway 139, but the Cove Fire that had burned approximately 3,500 acres as of 2 a.m. Sunday is south and west of highway 139, nine miles southwest of Canby. It was extremely active Saturday night advancing to the southeast. Firefighters are working to create a fireline by utilizing the existing Forest Service Road 40N14.
The map below shows the locations of the fires in Modoc County, California.
One of the fires in the Complex, the Steele Fire east of Clear Lake, is currently 29,779 acres. On Saturday it crossed County Road 136 to the south, but crews and dozers were able to put a line around 75 percent of the slopover.
On Monday NorCal Incident Management Team 2 will turn over command of the fire to a Type 1 organization, the California Interagency Incident Management Team 4.
All of the articles about the Modoc July Complex of fires can be found here, with the most recent at the top.
Tornado of smoke from the Gorman Fire, most open flame put out, holding at about 75 acres. @FOXLA pic.twitter.com/cypqUKk8zy
— Kevin Takumi (@KevinTakumi) July 29, 2017
This is a very impressive large fire whirl over the Gorman Fire Friday in Los Angeles County, filmed by Kevin Takumi for FoxLA.com
The images are screenshots from Mr. Takumi’s video.
#GormanFire [update] at Gorman School Rd at I-5, Gorman, (Los Angeles County) is 135acres and 95% contained Forward rate of spread stopped. pic.twitter.com/tZPdQxzTEO
— CAL FIRE (@CAL_FIRE) July 29, 2017
The map shows the distribution of wildfire smoke at 10:29 a.m. MDT July 29, 2017. NOAA.
Above: 3-D map of the Sunrise Fire showing the perimeter at 12:30 a.m. MDT Jul 29, 2017.
(Originally published at 10:36 a.m. MDT July 29, 2017)
The Sunrise Fire continued to grow closer to the small community of Quartz, Montana on Friday, spreading east 1.2 miles on the southeast side closing in on Whisky Gulch Road to come within 1.0 to 1.3 miles of the Clark Fork River. It started July 16 in the Lolo National Forest 39 miles northwest of Missoula and 6 miles south of Riverbend.
The fire added another 1,200 acres on Friday expanding to about 5,500 acres as of the 12:30 a.m. mapping flight Saturday. One spot fire was found 0.4 miles ahead of the fire on the southeast side.
The Mineral County Sheriff added Quartz Creek to the list of evacuated areas which also includes Sunrise Creek and Quartz Flats.
Resources assigned to the fire: 14 hand crews, 5 dozers, 18 engines, 4 helicopters, 14 water tenders, 4 Skidgens, and 1 Masticator for a total of 522 personnel.
The weather forecast for the fire area for Saturday predicts temperatures in the mid-90s, relative humidity in the high teens, with winds out of the south switching to the northwest at 2 to 5 mph.
All articles about the Sunrise Fire can be found HERE, with the most recent at the top of the page.
