Portions of Northern California may receive more than 10 inches of precipitation during the next 7 days
Continue readingTraining day at the 69Bravo water source
Chinook dropping water during Coulson training day, Oct. 19, 2021, at 69Bravo Helistop. N43CU. @SoCalFirePhotoCoulson Aviation conducted a day of training this week at the water source called 69Bravo Helistop, the facility on one of the highest peaks in the Topanga area of the Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California. In the time-lapse video below shot by @SoCalFirePhoto you will see Chinooks and a Sikorsky S61 repeatedly filling their tanks and returning for more.
The site has four dip or snorkel tanks which enable helicopters with external buckets or fixed tanks to quickly refill with water. The buckets are lowered into the tanks, while helicopters with “snorkels” insert a hose with a pump into the water.
In June the four old 6,000 gallon vinyl/rubber pumpkins were replaced with new 8,000 gallon metal tanks.
Time lapse of part of the @CoulsonAviation training day yesterday. @LACoFDPIO @LACoFireAirOps @VCFD @OCFireAuthority @SCE pic.twitter.com/zlq9AtnhSW
— SoCalFirePhoto (@SoCalFirePhoto) October 21, 2021
The site also has two pads where helicopters that must land to refill can obtain water from fire hoses to be connected to the tanks by on-scene firefighters. Or, pilots can land and take a break if needed.
The facility was built by the very generous land owner and has been used with his permission. Several years ago Los Angeles County arranged to purchase the 34-acre property at a price reportedly less than half the market value, making payments over a seven-year period ending in 2024.
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The Cobra program lasted for 19 years
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Continue readingExamining how fuel treatments affected suppression of the Caldor Fire in California
Illustration of ignition of a backfire, from the US Forest Service video below.The U.S. Forest Service has released a video — the second in the Forest News: California National Forests series. In this episode the agency examines how fuel treatment areas on National Forest System lands changed the intensity of the Caldor Fire and provided opportunities for community defense. The blaze burned more than 221,000 acres near South Lake Tahoe in August and September.
The video was written, directed, and narrated by Joe Flannery, the Acting Regional Fire Communications Team Lead in the Forest Service’s California region.