The agency stated, the Army did not furnish “a place of employment free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm”
Continue readingAlabama firefighter killed while responding to brush fire
Michale Johnston was a member of the Equality Volunteer Fire Department
Continue readingAttempting to redefine the common denominators of tragedy fires
“A Classification of US Wildland Firefighter Entrapments Based on Coincident Fuels, Weather, and Topography”
Continue readingFirefighter injured last month passes away in hospital
Christian Johnson, 55, was severely burned on the Spring Coulee Fire in Washington
Continue readingAutopsy shows CAL FIRE firefighter died of heat exposure
His body temperature was 107.4 degrees
Continue readingThree firefighting helicopters have crashed in Portugal recently, killing 2 pilots
In the last 16 days two pilots have been killed in three helicopter crashes in Portugal while fighting wildfires.
The most recent fatality occurred today, September 5, involving a helicopter owned by Afocelca, a private firefighting company working for various Portuguese pulp producers. There are media reports that the aircraft crashed after hitting power lines, but that can’t be confirmed. The helicopter went down near Valongo, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Porto.
Reuters reported that yesterday, September 4, another helicopter crashed in Portugal while assisting wildland firefighters. Thankfully the pilot only had minor injuries.
The red dots represent heat detected in Portugal by a NASA satellite September 5, 2019.In a third incident in Portugal, a pilot died August 20 in a helicopter crash.
From Safe Communities Portugal:
A helicopter fighting a fire in Castro Daire, Viseu, fell shortly before 13:00 hrs today Sunday 20th August, killing the pilot, Américo Sousa, aged 51 years.
The helicopter crashed into high-voltage cables, crashed and burned, and the pilot was trapped in the helicopter, according to a source at the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MAI).
The helicopter had just dropped off a GNR GIPS team at a fire at Cabril, Castro Daire.
Américo Sousa was an experienced pilot. For several years, he had been flying helicopters on several missions, but especially for rescue and firefighting
The helicopter was based at the Air Media Center in Armamar, Viseu. The Eurocopter AS350 Ecureuil belonging to Everjets is a single-pilot single-pilot helicopter with a maximum capacity of 5 people.Castro Daire’s mayor, Fernando Carneiro, and fire chief commander Paulo Almeida confirmed the helicopter’s fall.
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Eric. Typos or errors, report them HERE.
Firefighter seriously injured on wildfire in Okanogan County, Washington
A firefighter suffered serious burns September 1, 2019 while working on a 142-acre fire near Spring Coulee Road in Okanogan County, Washington.
The information below is from Okanogan County Emergency Management, September 3:
Christian Johnson, Assistant Chief of the Okanogan Volunteer Fire Department, has suffered serious injuries while on the Spring Coulee Fire. He has second and third degree burns over 60% of his body.
Christian is currently in a medically-induced coma at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. They are trying to stabilize him so they can proceed with skin graft surgery. He will be looking at a minimum of 2-3 months in the ICU.
Christian has served his country as a sergeant in the Army, and was deployed with the Washington State National Guard from November 2003- May 2005 in Baghdad. He retired after 22 years of service and has volunteered for the Okanogan Fire Department for 20 years.
Christian is a selfless man, who is always willing to help those in need, and never asks for anything in return. We are now asking for your help to make this long journey a little easier for him and his family. Any amount of donations are greatly appreciated and will go towards helping the family with travel, housing, food, etc.
If anyone would like to make a donation, they may use the GO FUND ME account or make a donation to: Christian Johnson Donation Account at North Cascades Bank, PO Box 672, Okanogan WA 98840.
Below: Video of the Spring Coulee Fire in Okanogan County, Washington, September 1, 2019. Okanogan County Emergency Management.
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Tom. Typos or errors, report them HERE.
Report released for a firefighter fatality in Texas
Occurred on a wildfire in March, 2018
Continue readingFirefighter fatality after training hike
The U.S. Fire Administration received notice of the following firefighter fatality:
Yaroslav Katkov
Firefighter
CAL FIRE, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
On Sunday, July 28, 2019 Firefighter Katkov was on a training hike with his crew in San Diego County. During the hike he suffered a medical emergency and was immediately flown to Temecula Valley Hospital in Riverside County where he passed away on Monday, July 29, 2019.
Age: 29
Gender: Male
Status: Wildland Part-Time
Years of Service: 1
Our sincere condolences go out to Yaroslav’s family, friends, and co-workers.
One fatality in air tanker crash in France
Sécurité Civile S-2 air tankers. Screenshot from the video below.Friday afternoon at about 5:20 local time, August 2, an air tanker pilot, the only one on board, was killed in the crash of an S-2 in France near Généracx while working on a wildfire.
The accident was confirmed by the Prime Minister. The name of the pilot has not been released.
Sécurité Civile turbine-powered S-2s can be seen in the video below.
For years Sécurité Civile had been pondering what to do about replacing their nine S-2s that are approaching their structural life limit of 25,000 hours, according to the agency. Their plans announced in 2016 were to retire the S-2s between 2018 and 2022 which would require a two-year extension of the type certificate. The goal was to acquire aircraft that could carry more water or retardant, would reduce operating costs, and would be multi-role. On June 18, 2019 Conair delivered the first of six Dash 8-Q400MR air tankers to the Sécurité Civile base at Nimes-Garons in France. The Q400MRs will slowly replace the aging S-2 air tankers. Initially the newly arrived aircraft will be handled by the Direction Générale de l’Armement for acceptance procedures prior to beginning active duty. Securite Civile has operated two Q-400 air tankers since 2005.
In addition to the nine S-2s and two Q-400s, France also has twelve CL-415s and 40 helicopters. Like CAL FIRE, Sécurité Civile replaced the radial engines on the S-2s with turbines.
Our sincere condolences go out to the family, friends, and co-workers of the pilot.