The accident occurred July 7, 2020 on the Polles Fire west of Payson, Arizona
Continue readingAccident kills firefighting helicopter pilot in Oregon
August 25, 2020 | 4:24 a.m. PDT
White River Fire August 18, 2020. InciWeb.The pilot of a helicopter was killed August 24 while assisting firefighters on the White River Fire in Oregon. According to the U.S. Forest Service the K-MAX helicopter was dropping water in rough terrain when the accident occurred.
Wasco County Sheriff’s Office and Forest Service air and ground resources responded immediately to the site. There will be an investigation into the accident, and the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration have been notified. The firefighter has not yet been identified.
The White River Fire has burned 1,102 acres of timber and light logging slash 11 miles southeast of Mt. Hood since it started from a lightning strike August 17. It is being suppressed by 304 personnel and a Type 2 incident management team led by Incident Commander Brian Goff.
We send out our sincere condolences to the family, friends, and co-workers of the pilot.
White River Fire August 24, 2020Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Jeff.
Helicopter crashes while working on the Polles Fire in Arizona
(Updated at 8:18 p.m. MDT July 7, 2020)
Officials from the Tonto National Forest confirmed that a helicopter crashed today while working on the Polles Fire in central Arizona. The only person on board was the pilot, who was deceased. He was identified in a press conference as Bryan Boatman, 37, with Airwest Helicopters out of Glendale, Arizona. He leaves behind a wife and 8-year-old child.
The Chief of the Pine-Strawberry Fire District said the pilot’s wife arrived at the Payson Airport as the body was being retrieved from the accident scene.
The helicopter crashed north of the main fire in a remote area only accessible on foot or by helicopter while transporting supplies for hand crews. After the crash was reported to the fire’s Incident Commander at 12:22 p.m. Tuesday, a Sergeant with Sheriff’s office was transported to the scene via short haul, suspended on a rope under a helicopter. He began the process of the investigation and removing the pilot’s remains.
A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said the UH-1H helicopter went down about 10 miles west of Payson.
A Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) has been issued at the Payson airport due to the crash, Airport Coordinator Dennis Dueker said. All flights in the area will be grounded until the TFR is lifted.
As of Monday night the Polles Fire had burned 580 acres 11 miles west of Payson, Arizona.
The Southwest Area Type 1 Incident Management Team (IMT) #2 led by John Pierson was scheduled to assume command of the fire July 6 at 6 a.m.
Six hotshot crews and three other hand crews are working in conditions described by the incident management team as extreme. They have been working shifts late into the evening for the last few nights, spiked out in remote locations relying on helicopters to fly in their food, drinking water, and supplies.
The IMT said there are no current threats from the fire to the communities of Pine-Strawberry or Payson.
The fire started July 3 from lightning. It is only accessible by helicopter.
Our sincere condolences go out to the family and friends of the pilot, and the firefighters that were working on the Polles Fire.
Thanks and tips of the hat go out to Tom, Eric, and Kelly. Typos or errors, report them HERE.
Coulson aviation is adding Chinooks and Blackhawks to their helicopter fleet
(This was first published at FireAviation.com)
Britt Coulson with one of their recently acquired Blackhawks.The Vice President of Coulson Aviation describes the new Chinook and Blackhawk program they are undertaking with Unical. He also updates us on the firefighting aircraft they have working in Australia during the 2018-2019 bushfire season. It was filmed at the HAI Heli-Expo in Atlanta, March 5, 2019.
If you are having trouble viewing the video, you can see it on YouTube.
Many of the new and retrofitted firefighting helicopters are Firehawks
(This article was first published at FireAviation)
New Los Angeles County FD Firehawks. Photo by LA County FD. March, 2018. At that time it still needed to swap out the landing gear and have the belly tank installed.Firehawk helicopters are becoming more popular across the wildland fire services, especially in California.
A rather loose definition of a Firehawk is a Blackhawk, a Sikorsky UH-60 or S-70i, usually with an aftermarket 1,000-gallon external water tank for fighting fires, and a suction hose for refilling while hovering.
The earliest Firehawk that we are aware of was used in 1998 when Los Angeles County leased one with a belly tank from Sikorsky for about four months. (I’m sure someone will correct me if there’s an earlier occurrence.) Since then many of the newly acquired firefighting helicopters have been, or will be, Firehawks. CAL FIRE has signed contracts and expects to have 12 brand new converted S-70i ships within three years. Their first fully modified aircraft should arrive in June. Other examples of Firehawks include — Los Angeles County’s five (not all are fully modified yet), San Diego Fire Rescue has a one (but it is not yet fully modified), Ventura County has started converting three HH-60L Blackhawks into Firehawks, and Coulson is partnering with Unical to convert about 10 UH-60 Blackhawks. There are also other companies that have various configurations of Blackhawks with tanks.
As far as I know most of the above ships will have external water tanks, which require installing a longer landing gear to raise the ship, making room for the belly tank. Coulson, on the other hand, is installing a version of their removable RADS tank internally, and at least one company, Simplex, for example, has built another version of a removable internal tank. The company had it on display last year in Sacramento and at HAI Heli-Expo in Atlanta today.
Simplex internal Blackhawk tank.Seen at HAI Heli-Expo in Atlanta, March 5, 2019.
Seen at HAI Heli-Expo in Atlanta, March 5, 2019.For the record, Sikorsky, the company that manufactures Blackhawks, does not support the use of an internal water tank in the ships. They are not worried about the floor being able to hold it, but are concerned that in the event of a hard landing the tank, especially when full, could pose a danger to the crew. A belly tank, their theory contends, would not threaten the crew as a projectile, but could crush under the aircraft, absorbing some of the energy — not unlike the crumple zone in the front of a well designed automobile.
Coulson to add up to 10 additional helicopters to their fleet
Will partner with Unical Air to acquire Boeing CH-47 and Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk aircraft for firefighting and other purposes
Continue readingHelicopter crash, with injuries, starts fire, and rescuers are burned over
In addition to the personnel injured in the helicopter crash, two rescuers became victims
Continue readingNevada Forestry and National Guard helicopter bucket training
https://twitter.com/NevadaForestry/status/864914749640671232
Personnel from Nevada this week conducted aerial fire suppression and water bucket training on the heels of a wet winter and ahead of what could quickly turn into a very active summer for area firefighters.
Training throughout the week included several scenarios that mirrored real situations.
“In advance of what promises to be a challenging fire suppression season, this training aims to improve interagency crew cooperation and interaction, especially communication between ground and air crews,” National Guard spokesman Sgt. 1st Class Erick Studenicka said, according to the Record-Courier newspaper.
A bucket drop test during training with the Nevada Division of Forestry and Nevada National Guard. Courtesy photo.Fire crew extracted with minutes to spare
They had to leave behind a helicopter bucket, chainsaw, pump, and a flight helmet which were all consumed by the fire.
Continue readingLarge helibase sets up in Colville, WA
Tom Story, who is in Washington documenting some of the wildfire activity, spent time on Monday at the Hopps Helibase near Colville, WA. While in Washington, Tom also spent time with 200 U.S. Army soldiers who were training to assist in the firefighting effort.
Here is his dispatch from the Hopps Helibase on Aug. 25, 2015.
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Walker’s Area Command, based in Colville, WA, in August of the 2015 fire season, has setup a large helibase on farmland south of town. The property is owned by the Hopps family, thus giving the base it’s name. The facility allows both civilian contract helicopters a base and a location for military ships to stage until needed on the numerous fires in the area.
At Hopps this morning; August 25th, were a pair of Bell 205 A1++, two AStar A350s, one Bell 206 L4 as well as one of Columbia Helicopters Boeing Vertols joined by a couple of Blackhawks and a Chinook flying in from their overnight base at Fairchild A.F.B outside of Spokane.
The Federal Aviation Administration is operating a temporary tower at the helibase since up to 20 helicopters are anticipated to be using the base as the fire season continues in northeast Washington.
