Tag: Arkansas

Fire detection aircraft missing in Arkansas

(UPDATE at 5:17 p.m. CST, February 1, 2014)

The fire detection plane with pilot Jake Harrell on board which has been missing in Arkansas since January 31, 2014 has been found. There is still no word on the status of Mr. Harrell. More information is in a new article here. We will also post additional updates at that location.

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(UPDATE at 3:30 p.m. CST, February 8, 2014)

The search for the missing pilot and plane continues. Today, visibility has kept the air fleet on the ground, but as of 3:30 p.m. CST two large ground crews have been out for several hours.

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(UPDATED at 12:21 p.m. CST, February 4, 2014)

Incident Management Team plans strategy — The Incident Management organization in Mena continues to pour over maps of the area, collaborating on strategy for a possible weather break Tuesday afternoon. AFC photo.

The searchers looking for the Arkansas fire detection plane and pilot Jake Harrel that disappeared January 31 are again battling weather that for a while restricted their activities, but a break in the weather at noon allowed ground crews to deploy to their designated routes.

The Civil Air Patrol covered 1,206 square miles by air yesterday, in addition to the other areas covered by helicopters and Arkansas Forestry Commission planes.

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(UPDATED at 5:57 p.m. CST, February 3, 2014)

Searchers are still combing through and over the forests of Arkansas looking for the fire detection plane and pilot Jake Harrel that disappeared January 31. After low visibility kept most aircraft out of the air on Sunday, better weather today allowed nine Civil Air Patrol airplanes and several helicopters from the state police and National Guard to participate in the search in addition to ground crews. Recent ice storms blocked roads with downed trees and limbs, slowing the progress on the ground. Some of the roads are being reopened with chain saws and dozers.

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(UPDATED at 12:38 p.m. CST, February 2, 2014)

The search continues for the missing airplane and pilot who was on a fire detection mission in Arkansas when he failed to check in as scheduled after his last radio contact at 1:11 p.m. CST, January 31, 2014.

The aircraft had an Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) on board and searchers have been looking for signals from the device but have found nothing yet. ELTs are no panacea, in fact older versions activate properly in only 12% of crashes according to NOAA. Newer models with the Cospas-Sarsat system have a higher accident survivability rate,

Below is information released this morning from the Arkansas Forestry Commission about the missing plane:

“Teams Continuously Search for Missing AFC Pilot, Jake Harrell

Mena, Arkansas — Ground crews searched all night along routes below the supposed flight path of missing AFC pilot, Jake Harrel. Last night, more than 200 miles were traveled along back roads and rugged trails, searching for some sign of the pilot or plane.

Ground squads are focusing today on the north side of the supposed flight route with steep slopes, near Oden. Four wheelers will be used to access challenging sections of terrain. This concentrated efforst is based on information from Jakes cell provider about what is thought to be his last transmission before he went missing on Friday. The Incident Command Post in Mena is carefully monitoring the weaher situation as ice and rain may move through the area. Search crews will not stop; however aerial search attempts may not be possible today.

“We are doing our best to speculate about which direction Jake may have taken the plane on Friday, if his visibility was becoming difficult. We are hopeful that by narrowing search efforts to this area, that we may have a good chance of locating him,” said Billy Black, AFC Investigator.”

ICP for Jake Harrell search — Incident Command Post. AFC photo.

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(UPDATED at 7:30 p.m. CST, February 1, 2014)

Search crews are still looking for the missing fire detection aircraft and pilot in Arkansas. At about 6:50 p.m. CST the Arkansas Forestry Commission issued this update:

Search efforts continue through the night for missing AFC Pilot, Jake Harrell. “We are going to be here until we find Jake. Tonight and tomorrow’s efforts are already planned and we are aggressively covering as much ground as quickly and safely as possible,” said State Forester, Joe Fox.

More information.

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(Originally published at 11:15 CST, February 1, 2014)

MALVERN, Ark. (ARKANSAS FORESTRY COMMISSION) – An Arkansas Forestry Commission pilot has failed to check in with AFC Central Dispatch in Malvern.

AFC pilot, Jake Harrell, failed to check-in with AFC Central Dispatch (in Malvern) yesterday after 1:11 p.m. Jake was flying a regularly scheduled fire detection flight from Malvern to points throughout west Arkansas. His last known location was Oden, with the supposed intent of traveling toward Wickes.

Jake is 34 years old and is a seasoned pilot with the AFC, since 2005. He had flown many times on the very route that he traveled yesterday. He currently flies as a part-time pilot with the AFC and works full time with the North Little Rock Police Department. He also serves with the Arkansas Air National Guard 188th Fighter Wing.

Ground crews include two and three-person teams searching gridded locations in Montgomery and Polk Counties – close in proximity to a possible route he may have been flying between check points in Oden and Wickes. Crews are searching by foot and four-wheelers. Chainsaw crews and dozers are on standby. Two Civil Air Patrol planes and a National Guard helicopter are assisting with search efforts from the air. Visibility is difficult from the air at this time; ground crews have better visibility until conditions clear.

The Incident Command structure in Mena is a Unified Command team with the following partners involved: Arkansas Forestry Commission, Polk and Montgomery County Law Enforcement, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, Arkansas National Guard, U.S. Forest Service, Arkansas State Police, Emergency Management crews from Polk and Montgomery County, local volunteer fire departments, and the Civil Air Patrol.

Arkansas

More lightning fires in Arkansas

More than 1,000 wildfires burned this year in Arkansas, according to KAIT8 news, and many were human-caused. But lightning’s rising on the list of causes for fires in the state. State Forester Joe Fox said that 15 percent of Arkansas fires are usually caused by lightning — and some years it’s under 3 percent. But according to Fox, lightning has caused more than half the fires in the last two months.

The Arkansas Forestry Commission yesterday activated military Blackhawks for fire suppression in the state.

Wildland firefighter LODDs, 2010

At Wildfire Today we try to keep track of the line of duty deaths (LODD) of firefighters working on wildland fires. The past year, 2010, again produced a lengthy list of firefighters who passed away while doing their job. We make no claim that it is a complete or official tally. If you are aware of any that we missed, let us know. Some of the dates are approximate and may be the date of the report of the fatality. The last three incidents are gray areas, in that the victims were not all firefighters, or were not necessarily actively involved in fire suppression at the time of the incident. They were included because they were very significant incidents.

At the end of the list is a report from the U.S. Fire Administration providing their statistics on the number of LODDs for 2010.

January 11. Australia. A firefighter was killed and four others were injured when their fire truck rolled over while they were responding to a grass fire at Lake Mokoan near Benalla in northeast Victoria, Australia. (map)

April 11. Kansas. A firefighter was overcome by smoke and died while working on a fire west of Peru.

April 24. New Brunswick, Canada. 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.

June 23. Washington. The chief of the Franklin Fire District 4 in Basin City, Washington, was killed when a snow cat that had been converted to a fire apparatus rolled about 100 feet down a hill while he was working on a vegetation fire.

July 30. Russia. Wildfires in Russia killed at least 25 people including 2 firefighters, and destroyed over 1,000 homes. Some reports say three firefighters died in the fires.

July 31. Canada. An air tanker crashed while working on a fire in British Columbia. The Convair 580, operated by Conair, went down in central B.C. The two pilots were killed.

August 2. Arkansas. A firefighter was operating an Arkansas Forestry Commission 2002 International tractor trailer, and was en route to check on the status of an earlier fire. The tractor trailer load reportedly shifted causing the vehicle to cross the roadway center line, go into a ditch and then overturn.

August 11. Portugal. Civil protection officials said a female firefighter died, one fireman was badly burned and their team had to be evacuated when they found themselves surrounded by flames after a sudden change in the direction of the wind in Gondomar region. On Monday, a fireman was killed and another seriously injured when their truck fell into a burning ravine in the mountainous Sao Pedro do Sul area.

August 13. Spain. Two firefighters were been killed in wildfires. The blazes hit near the village of Fornelos de Montes in the country’s northwestern Galicia region, close to the border with Portugal, where several forest fires are still raging.

September 21. Spain. A 46-year old firefighter died while extinguishing a wildfire in Senes.

September 24. Ohio. A firefighter was killed when a pressurized tank failed and he was struck by debris.

September 24. Virginia. A firefighter collapsed and later died while working on a fire in New Church, Virginia off Route 13.

November 16. South Carolina. A firefighter was suppressing a grass fire in the median of Interstate 20 when a van rear-ended a sedan as they approached the fire scene. The sedan was pushed into two parked fire trucks causing them to crash into a firefighter, causing his death.

November 23. California. One inmate was killed and 12 were injured when their crew carrier vehicle was involved in a head-on accident. Three of the injured were in critical condition. The elderly driver of the other vehicle was also killed. As far as we know the inmate crew was not assigned to a fire at the time of the crash.

December 5. China. A massive wildfire in Tibet’s Sichuan province killed 22 people, including Chinese soldiers during a rescue operation. Of the 22 killed, 15 were soldiers, two were workers with the grassland administration, and five others were local civilians.

December 6. Israel. At least one of the 43 government employees that were killed in the Carmel Mountain fire in Israel was a police officer. The Police Chief in Haifa (Israel) died in the Line of Duty from her burn injuries after 4 days of hospitalization. She was the first ever woman police chief there, and was gravely injured in the Carmel forest fire, while driving along with the bus full of Prison Service cadets that burned and killed the cadets as well.

Below is the The U.S. Fire Administration’s report of the on-duty firefighter fatalities in 2010. Click on FullScreen to see a larger version.

Arkansas Australia California Canada China Israel Ohio Portugal Russia South Carolina Spain Victoria Virginia Washington

Prescribed burning in Arkansas

The Arkansas News Bureau has a thoughtful article about prescribed fire as one of the tools used for managing forests. It is written by Joe Mosby, the retired news editor of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Here is an excerpt:

“This is what those earlier people found in Arkansas, said John Andre, ecologist with the Ozark National Forest. He told of records from the 1829-1845 period in the Government Land Office that said (this area) was surveyed with an average of 29 trees per acre, and these had an average diameter of 14 inches. Today, the choked forest has anywhere from 60 to 100 or more trees to the acre.

“In those days, they drove wagons through these forests. Can you imagine trying that today?” Andre said.

Historical accounts of Southern woodlands include descriptions of enormous trees and open, grassy floors. These accounts often detail the abundance of animals that inhabited the woodlands as well. Take a walk in the Ozarks today and you’ll likely find a dense canopy of smaller, shade-loving trees instead of a more open forest landscape.”

An article at NWAnews.com, also about prescribed fire, has a different point of view from an official with the Arkansas Sierra Club. An excerpt:

“Some don’t agree with the controlled-burn policy.

Tom McKinney, forest chairman with the Arkansas Sierra Club, said the Forest Service is burning too much Arkansas forest. He said the Forest Service is mistakenly trying to convert the forest from an uplands oak forest to an oak-pine savannah.

Much of the forest doesn’t need fire to rejuvenate itself, he said. The wet climate rots dead trees and leaves unlike Western forests that are in dryer climates.

He said the Sierra Club believes the Forest Service should revert to burn levels of the 1980s, about 20, 000 acres a year.

“We think their policy is to spend money in the guise of restoring biodiversity,” McKinney said.”

Arkansas