Video of the fire train used on the Delta Fire

firefighting train
A Union Pacific firefighting train on the Delta Fire. Screenshot from footage filmed by Dan Ryant.

Firefighting trains have been around for well over 100 years — the first ones were pulled  by steam locomotives, but you rarely see them since they are used in remote areas near a fire that has limited access by the public. The apparatus usually consists of one or more tank cars that each hold more than 10,000 gallons of water and a high-volume pump that can support a master stream and additional hand-held hose lines.

The concept is to protect the railroad infrastructure, keeping the right of way open for trains. And sometimes the railroad will serve as a fire line — the application of water could keep the fire from crossing to the other side.

The videos below of a Union Pacific firefighting train were shot at the Delta Fire, the 63,000-acre blaze north of Redding, California. The first one is from ABC news, featuring fire photographer Dan Ryant. The one after that is raw footage shot by Mr. Ryant mostly from the top of the train.

Convection columns and cracked air tanker windshields

Here is an excerpt from an article published this morning at Wildfire Today about the Delta Fire north of Redding, California.

“…There was no overnight mapping by a fixed wing aircraft Thursday night. One of the two U.S. Forest Service infrared scanning planes was down with mechanical difficulties, which could be the reason for the “unable to fill”. It was smoky over the fire during the night but that usually does not prevent imaging the fire, unlike clouds which prevent the infrared light from reaching the sensor on the aircraft. The ability to “see” through smoke is one of the primary attributes of infrared sensing technology. However an intense convection column containing smoke, ash, and burning embers can be confused with heat on the ground.

“During the large vegetation fires in southern California in 2003 some of the convection columns were so powerful that the windshields on six air tankers were cracked by chunks of debris that were being hurled into the air (page D-6 in 2003 California Governor’s Blue Ribbon Report; huge 20 Mb file). One pilot saw a four by eight sheet of plywood sail past at 1,500 feet.”

Do any of our readers who are pilots have similar experiences?