Wildfire Today

News and opinion about wildland fire

Wildfire Today

Tag: air tanker

North Carolina panel recommends eliminating 20 of 38 wildfire aircraft

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , 2 Comments on North Carolina panel recommends eliminating 20 of 38 wildfire aircraft

A watchdog group of the North Carolina General Assembly, the Program Evaluation Division, has recommended that the Division of Forest Resources eliminate 20 of the 38 aircraft that they use for the management of wildland and prescribed fires. The report also recommends that of the other 34 aircraft owned by the state, that 5 of them be eliminated.

Here are the recommendations about the fire-related aircraft from the 89-page report, which also covers the management of other state-owned aircraft.

Function Currently Eliminate Remaining
Fire Control (3 single-engine fixed wing, and 3 Bell UH1H helicopters) 6 2 4
Fire Patrol (single-engine fixed wing) 18 11 7
Suppression (air tankers, 1 CL215 & 4 SEATs) 5 1 4
Suppression/Rx burn 2 1 1
Transport 3 1 2
Salvage/parts 4 4 0
TOTALS 38 20 18

The Canadair CL215 air tanker has been grounded since 2008 because it needs a 5,000-hour inspection that is expected to cost $1 million. The Forest Resources staff expects that the inspection would reveal repairs that would cost an additional $500,000 to $1,000,000. The agency does not have the money for the inspection and repairs, or a pilot for the aircraft.

The other four air tankers are Single Engine Air Tankers (SEATs). Three are Melex M18A’s, and one is a Rockwell S2R.

Dromader M18B SEAT
Melex M18B Dromader

The report says, about the Division of Forest Resources’ aviation program:

According to Division of Forest Resources staff, the division has the second largest aviation fleet for forest protection in the country. However, the state is ninth in acres of forest land and experienced fewer acres of forest fires over the last three years than 16 other states. Other states use their National Guard, private companies, and resources from other states arranged through interstate compacts to fight fires.

The Division of Forest Resources, in an official response to the report, said in part:

Nationally, North Carolina ranked third, fifth, and fourth in 2007, 2008, and 2009 respectively, for the most number of wildfires in a state…. The average fire size for the 3-year time period was the third best (meaning smallest) for states that had 3,000 or more fires for each of the three years.

…

A better measure of efficiency for a wildland fire fighting aviation fleet may be to look at cost per number of fires, cost per average fire size, cost per homes protected, etc.

Senate Majority leader Martin Nesbitt is not convinced that the recommendations in the report should be followed, saying:

Thank God we don’t have forest fires all the time, but it’s kind of like if you did a study of the efficiency of fire trucks you’d find out that they’re terribly inefficient.  They sit in the firehouse most of the time but they are there when you need them.

The Division of Forest Resources has commissioned a separate study of their fire aviation program which should be completed by Conklin and de Decker by August 1, 2010. The Division asks that the General Assembly not make any decisions about reducing their fleet until that second study is complete.

Patent awarded for containerized air drop system

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , 6 Comments on Patent awarded for containerized air drop system
Caylym PCAD drop
Caylym photo (click to see larger version)

Caylym Technologies inexplicably continues to develop what they call a “precision container aerial delivery system” (PCAD) for suppressing wildfires. In fact, they recently issued a press release announcing that Canada issued a patent for their system, which involves shoving up to 14 containers of water or retardant, each weighing about 2,000 pounds, out the rear door of a C-130 aircraft. The 200 gallons of water are supposed to disperse from each of the paper containers, but in the photo above from their web site, it appears that at least one container seems to be hurtling toward the ground, possibly still full of liquid?  It’s hard to tell, and it is the only photo found on their web site that shows the containers after they leave the aircraft.

Since they are so proud of their system, it seems odd that they don’t have videos on their web site showing one of the drops in progress.

If there is any chance in hell that a full 2,000-pound container would impact the ground, there is no way a firefighter could be within 1/2 mile of the drop. And even if there is a 100% guarantee that the containers will all empty, how much damage could even an empty container weighing 100 pounds do to someone on the ground?  And then there’s the issue of finding and removing from remote locations the 14, 100-pound empty containers from each drop.

The company claims they could operate at night, primarily because the aircraft is equipped with GPS.

By utilizing modern aviation technology and GPS, these aircraft are capable of combating wildfires in mountainous terrain, at night, in very limited visibility. Think of the possibilities!

Yes. Just think. Please.

This becomes the latest addition to our lame-ass ideas category.

UPDATE July 23, 2010:

The system was recently tested at the Yuma Proving Grounds.

Air attack training in Redding

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags

The Redding, California Record Searchlight has an article about the Air Attack Management class currently underway at the Northern California Training Center in Redding. The class involves actual water drops from air tankers and helicopters in the field. The students spent last week in a classroom and a flight simulator at McClellan Air Force Base.

Here is a video from the site about the interior of an S-2T air tanker.

The Air Attack Management class satisfies the training requirement for the positions of Helicopter Coordinator, Air Tanker Coordinator, and Air Tactical Group Supervisor.

Firefighting in Minnesota

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags 5 Comments on Firefighting in Minnesota
Air Tractor air tanker
An Air Tractor Fire Boss air tanker taxis to pick up water at the Hibbing Tanker Base near the Hibbing International Airport Wednesday afternoon. (MPR Photo/Derek Montgomery)

Fighting a wildfre in Minnesota is different in some ways. The Land of a Thousand Lakes has a lot of aircraft runways….as long as your aircraft is equipped with floats like the Air Tractor in the photo above. Even the U.S. Forest Service owns at least a couple of aircraft on floats, vintage aircraft at that, DeHavilland Beavers which were last manufactured in 1967.

Minnesota Public Radio has an interesting article about the current fire conditions in their state. As you can see in the fire potential maps we posted yesterday, the northern part of the state has “above normal” wildland fire potential. It is so dry that the land management agencies have assembled a large contingent of firefighting aircraft, including two large air tankers, three CL-215’s, two Air Tractors, and 15 helicopters.

The article has a great slide show of 11 photos of their firefighters and their equipment. Check it out.

Testing a MAFFS 2

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags ,
Testing a MAFFS wildland firefighting unit
(Click for a larger photo) Air Force Reserve C-130 Hercules loadmasters fire the Modular Airborne Firefighting System II unit April 22 during the 302nd Airlift Wing's annual MAFFS wet fire test at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. The wing test fired the new "MAFFS II" system in preparation for the U.S. Forest Service's MAFFS certification week April 25-May 1 in Greenville, S.C. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Stephen J. Collier)

The Modular Airborne Firefighting System (MAFFS) air tanker aircraft and crews are in South Carolina this week for training and recertification. The photo above shows the new generation of MAFFS, the MAFFS 2, being tested. It discharges the water or retardant out the side paratroop door rather than out the rear ramp.

Pilot dies in air tanker crash in Canada

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , ,

The Telegraph-Journal and other news outlets are reporting that a pilot died in the crash of an air tanker in New Brunswick, Canada. Here is an excerpt from the article.

Ron Clowes, a pilot from Grand Falls with Forest Protection Ltd., was conducting a practice flight in a water bomber when the plane crashed shortly after taking off from the airport, just before 2 p.m.

Air Tanker Crash
The engine of a downed Forest Protection Limited aircraft sits several metres away from the crash site near the Miramichi Airport on Friday. Pilot Ron Clowes, 62, died in the crash. Photo: KRIS MCDAVID/TIMES & TRANSCRIPT

He was the only person in the plane, and no other injuries were reported.

The plane reportedly clipped the tops of some trees before crashing close to a building at Envirem Technologies, a peat moss facility near the airport.

The Miramichi police, fire department, and airport emergency crews quickly descended on the scene, which was littered with debris from the downed aircraft.

David Davies, managing director for Forest Protection Ltd., said in an interview Friday evening he had no information on what might have caused the plane to go down.

He said Clowe was an experienced pilot who had worked with the company for a decade putting out forest fires, and had 13,000-plus hours in the air.

“He was a very well-liked, well-respected person,” Davies said.

“The ground crew, the maintenance crew, everyone liked him.”

He said Clowes was flying a TBM Avenger aircraft, an American torpedo bomber first used in the Second World War, which the company had converted for forest fire service.

The company once held the largest civilian fleet of Avengers in the world, but has gradually sold them over the years, and now owns only three, Davies said.

Cpl. Todd Chadwick of the Miramichi police said in an interview late Friday that it will take time to determine the cause of the crash.

He said the Transportation Safety Board of Canada is scheduled to arrive this morning to begin their investigation, and that police will continue to secure the site until all the evidence has been gathered.

“It will be a lengthy investigation,” he said. “And of course, once (the evidence) is collected, they will need to analyze it before they can determine what happened.”

Forest Protection Ltd. is a joint government-industry company that conducts aerial fire protection, insect control and herbicide programs, with offices in both Fredericton and Miramichi.

Davies said everyone at the company is still reeling from the crash, and that Clowes’ family had been contacted.

“I spoke to a family member, a sister, and I think everybody now is in a state of shock,” he said.

“Our concern is for the family at this time. This has all been a very big shock for all of us.”

Davies said Clowes had battled countless fires during his years with the company and was a brave a pilot.

Our sincere condolences to the family and coworkers.