Wildfire Today

News and opinion about wildland fire

Wildfire Today

Tag: Colorado

Colorado researching methods for transmitting near real-time fire information to firefighters

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , ,

Above: One of Colorado’s two Pilatus PC-12 “Multi-mission Aircraft” at McClellan Air Field, March 23, 2016. Photo by Bill Gabbert.

Colorado’s Center of Excellence for Advanced Technology Aerial Firefighting is requesting information from vendors who could supply equipment that would transmit from aircraft near real-time information about wildfires directly to firefighters on the ground.

The state’s Division of Fire Prevention and Control recently acquired two Pilatus PC-12 Multi-Mission Aircraft. Sensors on the planes can detect and map the location of fires and transmit near real-time spatial data, still images, and short video clips to the Colorado Wildfire Information Management System (CO-WIMS), a web-based situational awareness platform. Fire managers can log into CO-WIMS to view fire perimeters and the other data generated by the aircraft. Firefighters on the ground who have access to the system can view the information as long as they have a good 4G cellular connection. However, many remote areas do not have cellular service.

Colorado’s Request for Information is asking for descriptions and prices of systems that could get this data directly into the hands of firefighters actively engaged in suppressing a fire. Responses are due by June 13, 2016.

This could supply half of the Holy Grail of Wildland Firefighter Safety, providing to firefighters near real-time information about the location of a fire. The other half is near real-time information about the location of firefighters.

Colorado's Pilatus PC-12 "Multi-mission Aircraft"
Guy Jones, one of the pilots for Colorado’s Pilatus PC-12 “Multi-mission Aircraft”, explains the sensing capabilities of the aircraft’s equipment at McClellan Air Field, March 23, 2016. Photo by Bill Gabbert.

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Bean.

Brush Fire Department

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags 7 Comments on Brush Fire Department

Above: the Brush! Fire Department in Brush, Colorado. Photo by Bill Gabbert.

I have driven through the town of Brush, Colorado several times and each time I thought about the name of the fire department. I casually looked along Highway 71 as I passed through hoping the FD would be on the main north-south road, but didn’t see it.

A couple of weeks ago as I drove through the town on the way to Colorado Springs I decided to hunt down the fire department. It didn’t take long to spot the Brush! Volunteer Fire Department on the west side of town on Edison Street/Highway 34. And I finally got the photo I wanted. After leaving it occurred to me that I should have knocked on the door and asked about the exclamation point — “Brush!”.

I wonder how many other cities are named after a type of vegetation, and thus have a (vegetation) Fire Department like Brush? There’s Forest, Mississippi and the Forest Fire Department. Anyone know of others?

New Director chosen for Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags ,

Mike Morgan named the next Director of the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control

Governor Hickenlooper and Chief Mike Morgan
Chief Mike Morgan (right) with Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper at the announcement about proposed wildfire legislation January 23, 2014. Governor’s office photo.
Mike Morgan, Chief of Colorado River Fire Rescue, has been selected as the next Director of the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control. He will replace the current director, Paul Cooke, who announced his retirement on February 1, 2016.

Chief Morgan’s first fire service position was as a volunteer with the Rifle Colorado Fire Department in 1986. Five years later he became their first full-time employee. Today he is the chief of Colorado River Fire Rescue which was formed in 2014 when the Burning Mountains Fire Protection District and Rifle Fire Protection District merged.

Colorado River Fire Rescue
Colorado River Fire Rescue photo.

The department’s web site lists 37 full time firefighters, 22 part time, and 15 volunteers in addition to an administrative staff.

Chief Morgan has been very active in the Colorado State Fire Chiefs (CSFC) association. When he was president of the group in 2013 they issued a nine-page position paper with recommendations for the Interim Committee on Wildfire Matters. At the time the state was reorganizing their fire organization. The CSFC’s top four recommendations were:

  1. Insure the stability and reliability of the current Colorado state-wide emergency radio system.
  2. Continue to invest in the development, expansion & implementation of the State resource mobilization plan.
  3. Expand the current local, regional and State command, control, and coordination capabilities.
  4. Provide sufficient funding to the Division of Fire Prevention and Control (DFPC) to fulfill its stated missions.

Chief Morgan believes the Division of Fire Prevention and Control is the focal point for Colorado’s fire prevention and suppression efforts, and should find new and innovative ways to serve its customers. When asked what his desire is for his new position, he said, “to represent all of Colorado’s fire service, large and small, and to unify our voice to protect the residents, visitors, and responders of our great state”.

Chief Morgan
In a video posted online by Colorado River Fire Rescue, Chief Mike Morgan (left) congratulates a firefighter.

If the videos Colorado River Fire Rescue has posted online are any indication, Chief Morgan runs a department that is not afraid of having a lighthearted social media presence.

In some of the videos, firefighters mouth the words to well-known songs, including Adele’s Hello. In another the Chief pins a badge on a firefighter after he supposedly rescues a cat in a tree.

Chief Morgan will assume his new responsibilities following a formal Transfer of Command Ceremony on April 22, 2016.

Sky lantern starts wildfire in Colorado

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , 3 Comments on Sky lantern starts wildfire in Colorado

Report says three sky lanterns were released — one started a fire.

sky lanterns banned states

There is a report that a sky lantern started a wildfire in Colorado on Saturday, March 12. A writer on Pinecam.com said that between 11:00 and 11:45 p.m. one of three of the devices that were released landed in vegetation and started a small brush fire. It occurred near Pine Grove, which is another name for Pine, Colorado. (map)

If this had happened in August rather than March, we might be writing a different story. The town is at 6,700 feet elevation, so there’s a good chance that the fuels are still somewhat wet or there could be snow. Nearby ridges are at 7,000 to 8,000 feet.

Sky lanterns were blamed for starting other fires just last month. One near Sun Prairie, Wisconsin burned 15 acres and another is thought to have ignited a four-plex structure in Santa Rosa, California.

Sky lanterns are banned statewide in 30 states, but not in Colorado.

These devices are small plastic or paper-covered hot air balloons powered by an open flame. They can travel uncontrolled for more than a mile, sometimes landing while the fire is still burning.

Articles on Wildfire Today tagged sky lantern.

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Allen.

Colorado lays out plans for development of wildfire decision support system

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , 6 Comments on Colorado lays out plans for development of wildfire decision support system

The decision support system that Colorado is developing is expected to provide frequently updated fine-scale predictions of weather that affects wildfires, and the behavior of going fires. It will use heat detected by satellites and hourly weather forecast updates from the National Weather Service to produce maps showing fire managers where multiple fires are expected to spread in the next 12 to 18 hours.

Much of the work is being done under contract for the state by the National Center for Atmospheric Research, a federally funded program headquartered in Boulder, in cooperation with the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. The organizations have distributed a detailed briefing document on the development schedule and a time line for deliverables, which you can read HERE (1.9 MB).

Below are a few images from the document.

Colorado Decision Support System

—————
Colorado Decision Support System

—————

Colorado Decision Support System

We have criticized the state of Colorado for not having their crap together for organizing and planning for the management of wildfires or for on-the-ground fire suppression, but they are developing some significant resources for gathering intelligence with their new fixed wing aircraft and now with this decision support system that will provide frequently updated predictions of fire spread using state of the art technology.

Their next logical step is to develop a management system and the firefighting resources to make use of this wealth of information. While there are some firefighting organizations that could use this data to their advantage and convert it to actions on the fire ground, at this stage it’s like *putting lipstick on a pig, at least within the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control.

*In 1992 Ann Richards, the former Governor of Texas, said at a South Dakota barbecue, “You can put lipstick on a hog and call it Monique, but it is still a pig”.

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Bean.

One company’s solution to tracking firefighting resources in real time

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , 4 Comments on One company’s solution to tracking firefighting resources in real time

Firefighting agencies that are uncomfortable sending wildland firefighters into dangerous areas without knowing in real time exactly where they are in relation to the flaming front of the fire now have more choices about how to avoid this dangerous practice that has contributed to the deaths of more than two dozen firefighters.

This video by the Southern Rockies Fire Science Network describes a collaborative project between the City of Boulder, Colorado and PAR Government to work toward what we have called the Holy Grail of Firefighter Safety — knowing the real time location of personnel and the fire.

This and the efforts of other companies along the same lines are making it more difficult for firefighting agencies to find excuses for their failure to implement solutions similar to this. I’m looking at YOU, U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Fish and Wildlife Service — as well as the state fire organizations that employ large numbers of wildland firefighters. Leadership is needed NOW to develop standards so that the tracking systems deployed are interoperable.

Articles on Wildfire Today tagged “holy grail“.

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Daniel.