Ben Watkins is the winner in our contest to guess the date of the first assignment of a Type 1 incident management team on a fire. Mr. Watkins, a County Ranger with the North Carolina Forest Service, selected May 11. Dueitt’s team was ordered for the Mud Lake Complex in Florida on May 12. Congrats!
Other guesses that were close:
On March 8 we looked back at the weather in the United States over the last three months knowing that it could have an effect on wildfires over the next three to six months. However the extent to which past weather influences future fires is debatable and can be overridden by the weather conditions during the fire season.
What is YOUR prediction for the 2015 fire season? Like the first robin you see in the spring, the assignment of the first Type 1 Incident Management Team (IMT) is a sign that things are getting real. In the last few years there have been about 30 to 50 assignments each year for T1 IMTs.
So let’s have a contest about the date the first Type 1 IMT will be assigned on a fire.
How to enter: In a comment below this article give us your prediction of the date the first Type 1 IMT will be assigned to a fire in 2015. In case more than one person selects the correct date, include the state. A second tie breaker will be the general area within that state. The date is defined by the date they are actually dispatched to a fire, not necessarily arriving at the fire. For the purposes of this contest, a Type 1 IMT includes only the 16 national interagency IMTs listed here. Only one entry per person, of course.
Deadline for entries: write your date with the two tie breakers in a comment below this article before April 1, 2015. If an IMT is assigned before April 1, the deadline for entries will change retroactively to the day before that fire started.
Prize: the winner will receive a limited edition Wildfire Today cap. So that we can contact the winner, you must enter your correct email address in the form when you are writing your comment. As usual, email addresses will never be disclosed to anyone without your specific permission.
We are introducing a contest…a Photoshopping contest.
It is inspired by Colorado State Senator Steve King who said he will be introducing a bill in the legislature this week to establish a fleet of aerial firefighting resources for the state. In addition, he suggested this:
Can you imagine what advertising value would be if you had a Colorado Rockies sign on the tail of slurry bomber?
And “Firefighter Zero” chimed in with a comment on our article, saying:
Can you just picture a “slurry bomber” coming over the hill with NASCAR style advertising on it?
So I think we should lend a hand to the state of Colorado and give them some ideas. Do you have any suggestions? Send us a photo, a Photoshopped photo, which is your concept of how the new Colorado Aerial Firefighting Division (I just made up that agency name) could configure their air tankers or helicopters.
Any company logos that are copyrighted, and virtually all are, can’t be used. You will need to create your own advertising images. Here is more information about your submissions:
Images must be received by the end of the day on March 25, 2013. The best ones will be published on Fire Aviation.