Based on the quonset hut design used extensively by the US military in World War II
Continue readingLost Lake Fire burns across Colorado River into Arizona
Updated 7:58 a.m. PDT May 29, 2022
Map of the Lost Lake Fire. The red line was the perimeter late in the afternoon of May 28, 2022. The white line was the perimeter earlier in the day.The Lost Lake Fire along the Colorado River on the California/Arizona border was mapped late in the afternoon on Saturday May 28 at about 5,300 acres. At that time about 30 acres had burned on the Arizona side, north of Agnes Wilson Road and west of 19.
Saturday evening resources assigned to the fire included two hand crews, eight fire engines, and one helicopter for a total of 150 personnel.
3:44 p.m. PDT May 28, 2022
Map of the Lost Lake Fire at 2:33 p.m. PDT May 27, 2022.The Lost Lake Fire which had been burning in California on the west side of the Colorado River, crossed the river Saturday prompting evacuations of about a dozen homes of the Colorado River Indian Tribes near Poston, Arizona.
It started Thursday morning but strong winds Saturday afternoon caused spot fires on the Arizona side of the river, which is the boundary between the two states.
The blaze is 11 air miles southwest of Parker, AZ and until it crossed the river it was 3 miles west of Poston. Saturday morning it had burned 5,900 acres but the afternoon growth is adding to that total.
Lost Lake Fire. Photo by Incident Management Team.
Lost Lake Fire. Photo by Incident Management Team.
This appears to be a briefing at the beginning of a shift on the Lost Lake Fire. In case any of the firefighters forget the name of the fire, they have a handy reference.Photos of San Diego’s Firehawk, Copter 3
San Diego Fire Rescue Copter 3 (N283SD) working a small fire near Scripps Ranch, April 7, 2022. Ryan Grothe.Ryan Grothe sent us these photos he took of San Diego Fire Rescue Copter 3 working a small fire in the Scripps Ranch area April 7, 2022.
San Diego Fire Rescue Copter 3 (N283SD) working a small fire near Scripps Ranch, April 7, 2022. Ryan Grothe.
San Diego Fire Rescue Copter 3 (N283SD) working a small fire near Scripps Ranch, April 7, 2022. Ryan Grothe.Below, I grabbed a photo of the helicopter at HAI in Anaheim, CA, January, 2020.
San Diego Fire Rescue’s new Firehawk at HAI 2020, January, 2020. Photo by Bill Gabbert.CAL FIRE Director gives update on C-130 air tankers
Tanker 118, during training flights at Ramona, CA February, 2022. Photo by Ryan Grothe.In an interview this week with CBS Bay Area, Joe Tyler, the new Director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said the seven C-130s that are being transferred from the US Coast Guard to CAL FIRE will go to Georgia this year to have the 4,000-gallon retardant tanks installed.
CAL FIRE Director Joe Tyler making the keynote address at the Aerial Firefighting conference in San Diego, March 22, 2022. Photo by Bill Gabbert.During Mr. Tyler’s first interview after becoming Director March 4, he told Fire Aviation two weeks later that it looked like the incorporation of the C-130s into their fleet might be pushed back to 2024 due the pandemic/endemic and supply chain issues. This was in spite of the agency’s efforts in attempting to facilitate movement of the project. In the CBS interview this week he generally confirmed the 2024 timeline, but also maintained hope that one or more would be in service before 2024.
Below is the CBS Bay Area interview with Mr. Tyler.
The U.S. Air Force was directed by Congress in December 2013 to perform maintenance on the seven aircraft and convert them to air tankers. At that time they were given $130 million for the project. In 2018 Congress appropriated an additional $20 million, bringing the total cost to $150 million. It has now been 3,066 days since the process started.
New CAL FIRE Firehawk delivered, destined for Prado
CAL FIRE’s new Copter 305 (N476DF) arrives at McClellan, May 12, 2022. Mike McKeig.Another of the 12 Sikorsky S-70i Firehawk helicopters that are being purchased by CAL FIRE arrived in the state today. Mike McKeig shot this photo as it landed at McClellan just before noon. It will be deployed at Prado, east of Los Angeles.
Multiple homes burn in Coastal Fire at Laguna Niguel, Southern California
Updated at 1:57 p.m. PDT May 12, 2022
At briefing Thursday morning at 8:30 fire officials said one firefighter working on the Coastal Fire in Orange County, California was injured and transported to a hospital. The evacuation orders are still in place, affecting about 900 homes. The Orange County Sheriff’s office has current information about evacuations.
The estimate of homes destroyed is still at least 20, said Orange County Fire Authority Chief Brian Fennessy. The fire has burned 199 acres.
The white areas represent heat on the Coastal Fire detected by FIRIS, 6:24 a.m. May 12, 2022.10 News reported that Southern California Edison sent a letter to the Public Utilities Commission regarding “circuit activity occurring close in time to the reported time” of the fire, according to the company’s spokesperson David Song.
“We submitted an initial Electric Safety Incident Report to the California Public Utilities Commission,” Mr. Song said. “SCE is required to submit an ESIR to the CPUC on certain types of incidents. … Our information reflects circuit activity occurring close in time to the reported time of the fire. …The submission of this report to the CPUC is intended to put them on notice of an incident so that it can conduct its own investigation.”
Coastal Fire, Orange County, CA, May 11, 2022. ABC7.Updated at 4:50 a.m. PDT May 12, 2022
Map of the Coastal Fire, 9:57 p.m. May 11, 2022. FIRIS.Below is a thermal image of the Coastal Fire at 11:13 p.m. May 11. The white areas represent heat.
Thermal image of Coastal Fire, 11:13 p.m. May 11, 2022. FIRIS.OCFA’s FIRIS Intel 24 on the Costal Incident. Second video of the incident showing the impacted structures along Aliso canyon trail and Coronado point road with the spot fires on top by the club house. Fire is holding at 195 acres. pic.twitter.com/NBMPorYRgD
— FIRIS (@FIRIS) May 12, 2022
8:15 p.m. PDT, May 11, 2022
Path of the Coastal FireA brush fire in the Laguna Niguel community of Orange County in Southern California spread into homes Wednesday. It was named “Coastal Fire.”
Brian Fennessy, Chief of the Orange County Fire Authority, said at 7:54 p.m. that the fire had burned about 200 acres and he was aware of approximately 20 homes that were destroyed or damaged. The Chief said some of the homes appeared to have been ignited not by direct flame impingement, but from the ember shower, possibly passing through unscreened attic vents.
Image from ABC7 showing the Coastal Fire at 6:10 p.m. May 11, 2022. Looking north.The fire started at about 2:45 p.m. Wednesday approximately a mile east of the coast, west of Aliso Creek, and was pushed by a moderately strong wind out of the west. It burned downhill to the creek, crossed it near a water treatment plant and ran uphill another half mile to rows of large, densely packed homes. By 6:20 p.m. the fire had crossed Pacific Island Drive near Clubhouse Drive.
There was a firebreak below the first structures that were in the path of the fire. It appeared to have prevented flames from the burning brush from directly impacting the homes, but the ember shower and then house to house spread did much of the damage in the community. As homes burned, radiant heat may have ignited the nearby neighboring structures. More embers were generated as each house went up in flames.
Discussion about mobile attack
Mobile attack on a fire near the Modesto Airport in California. KCRA.KCRA has good video footage of engines using mobile attack tactics, or pump and roll, on a grass fire near the Modesto, California airport. It appears to have been conducted safely and effectively, but this is a good opportunity to initiate a discussion.
In the video below the best footage begins at 3:48.
FIRE AERIALS | LiveCopter 3 has a look of a wind-driven fire near the Modesto Airport that officials say left a person with serious burns. https://t.co/y6VeRDJZs6
— kcranews (@kcranews) May 2, 2022
When I was an engine captain we conducted mobile attacks on grass fires similar to what is seen in the video. If we were the only engine at that location, we operated two nozzles. The one in front was on a short section of 1.5″ hose, and behind the truck a second crewman used a hard line to pick up anything that was still burning. When possible, like seen in the video, the engine was in the black, reducing the chance of a flareup endangering the crew or truck. If there was a second engine we might have just used the front 1.5″ hose and like in the video, count on the second engine to be sure the edge is all cold.
It is important to have a second nozzle, because it is common, unless you progress very slowly, for the fire to creep through the wet line after the first nozzle, and then you can have significant fire behind the engine crew, and you’ve lost what you just gained. It is also important to use a 1.5″ hose in front of the truck. You need the safety factor of that knockdown power and volume of water when you’re suppressing a fire close to the engine. Too often a hard line with 3/4″ inside diameter is woefully insufficient.
What are your thoughts?
Angeles National Forest conducts four-week Firefighter Academy
For 100 people hired as GS-5 permanent seasonals
Continue readingCactus Fire stopped at 35 acres east of Big Bear Lake in SoCal
S-2T air tanker drops on the Cactus Fire, April 30, 2022. @BrookesLori.Yesterday firefighters stopped the spread of a wildfire in Southern California in the San Bernardino National Forest after it burned about 35 acres in Cactus Flats east of Big Bear Lake. Soon after it started it was putting up a smoke plume with occasional puffs of dense black smoke. The incident commander ordered a total of six fixed wing air tankers which assisted firefighters as they installed a hose lay around the perimeter.
Cactus Fire, April 30, 2022. @jojacaliente
Cactus Fire, April 30, 2022. San Bernardino NF photo.
Map showing the location of aircraft over the Cactus Fire at 3:17 p.m. PDT April 30, 2022. ADS-B Exchange.The video below was shot by the FIRIS aircraft at 2:22 p.m. PDT April 30, 2022.
San Diego County Sheriff agrees to purchase Bell 412EPX helicopter
It will be the first twin-engine helicopter in the Sheriff’s fleet
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