While most areas in the western United States, with the exception of parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, wait for their fuels and weather to dry out, many firefighters in the east have been busy lately. The Intelligence section at the National Interagency Fire Center is too busy this time of the year to issue a daily Situation Report, so we assembled information about a number of fires east of the Mississippi River.
Tennessee
A prescribed fire conducted by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) that got out of control in Blount County on Wednesday has burned 400 to 500 acres as of Thursday morning. TWRA officials said the wind picked up unexpectedly while they were treating a unit in the Foothills Wildlife Management area.
A fire in the Cherokee National Forest has burned 150 acres six miles north of Unicoi. Additional aircraft, dozers, engines, and firefighters have been ordered. (The tweet below is about this fire.)
North Carolina
Mike Martin’s brush pile he was burning behind his house Wednesday near Etowah escaped as winds blew flames onto his porch. He went to grab two five-gallon buckets of water, but by the time he returned it was too late. He tried to go into the house to retrieve his car keys, but the fire was too hot. Both the Ford SUV and the house were destroyed even though the fire department responded quickly from their station two miles away.
A fire in the Nature Conservancy’s Nags Head Woods Preserve blackened about 250 acres on the Outer Banks. It started on March 22 and spread for three days.
New Jersey
A wind-driven brush fire burned 86 acres in Port Republic Wednesday afternoon. With help from two water-dropping helicopters, about 30 firefighters stopped the spread.
When most people hear of wildfires that are managed with a strategy of limited suppression they think of fires in remote areas of the western United States. But last summer the Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina managed the Bald Knob Fire for over a month until it was knocked out by rain after burning 1,200 acres, only taking suppression action when it was absolutely necessary. Other fires in the Southeast have been managed in a similar manner but they don’t get the publicity western fires receive.
The firefighters in North Carolina benefited greatly from an adjacent 1,950-acre prescribed fire unit, a portion of which had been completed just six months before. Both that prescribed fire and another 120-acre project served as barriers to significant spread of the wildfire.
Below is an excerpt from a report about the management of the Bald Knob Fire:
The James Lake prescribed burn was treated six months prior to the wildfire and stopped the Bald Knob fire on the southeastern edge, creating a barrier to nearby communities and private land. The Clinchfield prescribed burn, treated last year, provided protection to several nearby residents west of the wildfire by allowing firefighters to utilize existing fuels breaks to contain the wildfire. Likewise, the Dobson Knob prescribed burn, treated last year, would have provided control opportunities for fire fighters had the wildfire grown that large towards the northeast. All of these treatments were critical in containing the fire and were used in the decision for managing the fire for resource benefit.
Existing lines from the surrounding prescribed burns were used in the confine and contain strategy for the Bald Knob fire. The only prescribed fire area that experienced fire activity in the Bald Knob fire was the Lake James burn. On August 5th, a localized thunderstorm with high winds allowed the wildfire to spot across the control line into the Lake James burn unit.
The Lake James fuel treatment clearly influenced the spread of the wildfire. FLN monitoring plots in the Lake James treatment area showed a significant reduction in Mountain Laurel and Rhododendron shrub height throughout the burn unit. The decrease in this highly volatile live fuel within the burn unit when compared to the surrounding untreated area was likely significant in reducing spread of the wildfire. The Clinchfield and Dobson knob prescribed burn units experienced a similar reduction in Mountain Laurel and Rhododendron, providing a fuel break that supported the management decision.
The Bald Knob Fire, which started on July 14, is in the top-center of the image, in pink and red. All images are from the USFS report. Click to enlarge.
The report, which can be download here (4.7Mb), is mostly well written and very informative. We like how they overlaid weather stat graphics with a transparent background over the Google Earth image — very creative. On the other hand, one of the other graphics uses 10 shades of red and 5 shades of blue on one map to represent 15 different wildfires and prescribed fires. We are fairly certain a plethora of very different colors are available that would make the map more useful.
Cell tower fire ignited by sky lanterns. Screen grab from video at TWCNews.
What could possibly go wrong when dozens of sky lanterns or fire balloons were released from the Carolina Speedway in Gastonia, North Carolina last weekend? The wind blew some of them into a cell phone tower, igniting it just out of range of the water cannon on the Union Road Volunteer Fire Department’s fire engine.
Below is an excerpt from TWCNews, which has a video with more images of the tower fire:
“…My first thought was I hope this is not what’s fixing to happen. But it wound up happening. Our second thought was how are we going to get that far up to put the fire up,” said Union Road Volunteer Fire Department Chief Craig Huffstetler.
The Union Road Fire Department was already on hand in case there were any injuries or brush fires. But the cell phone tower quickly threw several challenges their way. Their ladder truck couldn’t reach all the way up to the fire, there were no fire hydrants nearby, and they’d never fought a fire quite like this one.
It took 20 firefighters, nearly 6,000 gallons of water, help from a neighboring department. And maybe a little luck to finally get the fire out.
These dangerous devices have started dozens of fires and are illegal in at least 25 states. Entire countries have banned them, including Austria, Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, Spain, Germany and parts of Canada. The National Association of State Fire Marshals adopted a resolution in 2013 urging states to ban the sale and use of the devices.
The other 25 states need to get off their collective asses and ban these damn things.
In this video flight and ground crews working for the North Carolina Forest Service conduct training exercises with Single Engine Air Tankers at Kinston International Jetport on March 9, 2015. The aircraft are M-18 Dromaders that can drop 500 gallons of water or fire retardant on wild fires.
View from #ilm of woods fire burning off Hwy 74/76 in Compass Pointe area of #brunsco. @ncforestservice on scene. pic.twitter.com/QRBAgjetoi
— Jon Evans (@JonEvansWECT) April 6, 2015
The Compass Pointe fire in Brunswick County has forced nearly a 100 households to evacuate as the fire spread to 500 hundred acres in southern North Carolina.
Here’s a few facts about the blaze, from the North Carolina Forest Service:
— Fire is contained at 500 acres. It spread from 15 acres at initial attack.
— 89 homes threatened and evacuated. The Compass Pointe subdivision, off U.S. Route 74 and and U.S. Route 76 was emptied. Residents were allowed back in by 6 p.m. on Monday, a local TV news station reported.
–5 homes damaged. 1 outbuilding lost, 1 boat damaged and 1 pull-behind trailer lost.
— 8 tractor plows, two helicopters and 3 SEATs responded.
Access to the fire, which is burning in the southern tip of the state, proved tricky for crews. Trains going through the area had to be stopped, and fire crews had to work around tracks and pipelines transporting flammable gasses. The fire threatened a local water treatment plant, and sent embers into flower beds, onto roofs and across many roads.
The fire’s cause remains unknown, said county Fire Marshal Scott Garner. There were no prescribed burns in the area.
“BLACK MOUNTAIN, NORTH CAROLINA — Officials say a wildfire that scorched hundreds of acres in Black Mountain is 20 percent contained.
Fire officials say the wind is playing a big role in the difficulty of fighting the fire that’s damaged six structures, including four mobile homes, destroying one of those homes.
Fire officials say the fire started around 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday off Exit 66 on Dunsmore Avenue. That’s in the Ridgecrest area of Buncombe County.
More than 500 acres had burned as of 8 p.m., Black Mountain Fire Chief Steve Jones said. He also says the flames were 100-feet tall at one point.
At 3:30 p.m., a helicopter dropped off North Carolina Forest Service crew and then went back up to drop buckets of water on the wildfire.
At least 20 different agencies are on the scene to help contain the wildfire, including Red Cross. Chief Jones says protecting houses is one of the biggest concerns right now.
“We think we have everyone evacuated that needs to be,” Chief Jones said. “However, if you live in this area and you’re close to the fire, we suggest you just leave.”
Homes on Dunsmore Avenue were evacuated, but around 9 p.m. people safely returned back to their homes.”
Officials said a woods fire in Franklin, North Carolina, is now contained.
Michael Wilkins, district ranger for the U.S. Forest Service, said the fire started around 2 p.m. Thursday and burned about 85 acres of land off Highway 64 on Corundum Hill Road in the Cullosaja Gorge Community.
Wilkins said the high winds, low humidity and steep, rocky country presented some challenges. He said 15 or 20 homes are in the area, but the fire burned around them and has not caused any damage to the homes. Homeowners evacuated on their own and are in a safe location.
The North Carolina Forest Service leads the joint effort to fight the woods fire, with the U.S. Forest Service, Macon County Fire Service, Macon County Emergency Management and local fire departments assisting, officials said. The Cullasaja Gorge Fire and Rescue department was the main fire department on scene, but others also helped.
Cullasaja Gorge Fire and Rescue Chief Paul Corbin said about 100 total personnel and about 20 trucks responded to the scene.
Law enforcement officers with the North Carolina Forest Service (NCFS) were named the 2014 Investigative Team of the Year by the North Carolina Chapter of the International Association of Arson Investigators at the North Carolina/South Carolina Arson Conference in Myrtle Beach. The event was attended by more than 360 fire investigators, fire marshals and detectives from both states.
Left to right, Amery Wells, law enforcement supervisor, N.C. Forest Service; Capt. David Newton, Scotland County Sheriff’s Office; Michael Hardin Jr., senior assistant district attorney, District 16A; Sam Niemyer, D-3 law enforcement district ranger, N.C. Forest Service; Jamie Laviner, investigator, Scotland County Sheriff’s Office. Not pictured: Kristy Newton, district attorney, District 16A, and Dawn Layton,chief assistant district attorney, District 20A.
The honor was bestowed upon NCFS Law Enforcement Supervisor Amery Wells, Law Enforcement Rockingham District Ranger Sam Niemyer and other members of the team for an investigation that took place between July 2011 and May 2012. During that period, 78 fires were intentionally set in Scotland, Richmond and Hoke counties. The team used a combination of strategies to narrow down the case to a single suspect who would later be charged and convicted on 50 felony counts of setting fires and malicious use of incendiary devices.
Robert Smith, NCFS chief of law enforcement, said the investigation was challenging and unique due to the geographic area that covered portions of three counties, eight fire districts and two prosecutorial districts, among other factors. He pointed out that investigating a series of fires, even if a few are in the same general area, is complicated.
“Effective communications between investigative team members and numerous resources from different counties and fire districts was critical to the success of this investigation,” Smith said.
Smith said developing the working relationships and overall trust between all of those parties was essential. He credited the team with doing an outstanding job to develop and nurture longstanding relationships that transcended jurisdictional lines and using their individual strengths and skills to work extremely well together.
“They used a combination of good old-fashioned investigative skills mixed with technology such as tracking devices and GIS mapping, to put together a thorough case,” he said.
The factor of time and distance repeatedly challenged investigators to develop new strategies for static and mobile surveillance that covered a large geographic area over a lengthy time span. It was, however, a challenge to get the legal authority to use the tracking device. In January 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision in U.S. vs. Jones that required a search warrant for tracking devices. In May 2012, judges were still new to this case, as was the investigative team, making the warrant process more time-consuming than normal. The team collaborated on proper verbiage and content prior to discussing the case with the signing judge to be sure everything was in proper order and to the letter of the law.
The team also had the daunting task of collecting and analyzing a large volume of data, evidence, leads, witness interviews, photographs and other information, which quickly became a huge undertaking to sort and track. There was also the ongoing process of analyzing the data to formulate hypotheses, which was even more challenging and often frustrating for the team.
The suspect turned out to be a former law enforcement officer. As such, he was familiar with investigative tactics, interview techniques and surveillance techniques. It was later determined that he was also using a scanner to monitor radio traffic of emergency response personnel.
“Considering all of the challenges, the investigative team maintained a unified and determined effort to bring successful closure to one of the most complex wildland fire investigation cases in North Carolina history,” Smith said.
The team invested more than 1,000 man hours of time and resources and wrote in excess of 1,000 pages of discovery evidence. Their work led to 52 felony charges for intentionally setting fires and use of malicious incendiary devices, and a $1 million dollar bond set for the suspect, the largest in North Carolina for a wildland fire case. The suspect pleaded guilty in November 2013 to 50 of the 52 felony charges and was ordered to pay more than $15,000 in restitution. He was sentenced to 60 months of supervised probation to begin in May 2016 at the end of an unrelated federal prison sentence.
“I’m very proud to have played just a small role in this investigation. But even more so, to have witnessed the amount of dedication, professionalism and teamwork these guys demonstrated throughout this entire investigation,” Smith said. “They are all very deserving of this award for 2014.”
MAFFS 8, a C-130 at Cheyenne, May 7, 2013. Photo by Bill Gabbert.
I spent part of the day Tuesday at the refresher training and recertification for the crews of four military C-130 Modular Airborne FireFighting System (MAFFS) aircraft at Cheyenne, Wyoming. Let’s see… what time was I there?
The clock at the 153 Airlift Wing in Cheyenne. Photo by Bill Gabbert.
MAFFS can be activated to provide surge capacity when the small feet of contracted federal air tankers is tied up on going fires or initial attack.
The training incorporated some of the changes to the system that were influenced by the crash of one of the MAFFS air tankers, MAFFS 7, last year in South Dakota. It appeared to be very thorough. Here is the training — by the numbers:
4 — MAFFS C-130 aircraft plus one for backup
6 — Lead Planes
160 — people from the two Air National Guard units, plus one or two dozen ground support personnel mostly from the U.S. Forest Service
49 — missions
373 — drops
80 — flight hours
MAFFS test, Cheyenne, WY, May 6, 2012. US Air National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. Patricia Findley
At Cheyenne we talked with the Air National Guard MAFFS managers from the two units participating in the joint training, Major Jeremy Schaad from Wyoming’s 153 Airlift Wing, and Lt. Col. Brian Rachford from North Carolina’s 145 Airlift Wing.
One of the changes that has been implemented is the development and use of standardized written pilot qualifications for all four military bases that can each activate two aircraft and crews. When four people on the MAFFS #7 crew were killed last year no such uniform guidelines existed. Until 2013, each Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve MAFFS base used their own criteria for determining the requirements to serve on a MAFFS aircraft. The new standards specify how many base flight hours and hours spent on previous MAFFS missions are required to be the pilot in command and the copilot. They also formalize across the four MAFFS bases procedures, training, and written manuals.
There is now an increased focus on taking the time to analyze the specific scenario for each mission, including the weather conditions and the influences of the fire.
The Air Force report about last year’s MAFFS 7 crash on the White Draw Fire said a microburst of turbulent air out of a thunderstorm was one of the causes. During a previous retardant drop on the fire about five minutes earlier, the aircraft experienced a drop in airspeed despite operating under full power. Before the second drop the crew discussed the air speed problem but decided they could adjust to the conditions. The plane crashed on the second drop. Firefighters on the ground reported very strong wind speeds about the time of the fatal drop. One estimate was 50 mph.
The MAFFS 7 flight crew obtained a detailed weather forecast for the fire they expected to fly that day in 2012, the Waldo Canyon fire at Colorado Springs, but they did not have one for the fires in South Dakota, nor did they request one when they were diverted from the Arapaho Fire in Wyoming to fires in South Dakota.
The last time the four MAFFS bases sent their eight aircraft and crews to one location for joint training was in 2010. In 2012 all four bases conducted the training on their own. This year the California and Colorado bases each did their training independently, and the Wyoming and North Carolina bases joint-trained in Cheyenne.
The crash report did not specifically state that the lack of joint training the year of the accident was an issue, but it did say this:
Local training did not include different terrain conditions, density altitudes and congested pit operations, all of which are essential components in order to comprehend what live MAFFS operations entail. Additionally, all four MAFFS units were not integrated in order to provide a more realistic learning environment for new and seasoned MAFFS crewmembers.
Tuesday May 7, 2013 I found myself in Cheyenne, Wyoming where two Air National Guard units were conducting their annual training and recertification for using their Modular Airborne FireFighting Systems (MAFFS).
The 153 Airlift Wing from Wyoming and North Carolina’s 145 Airlift Wing got together along with six lead planes for ground-based meetings and airborne exercises.
I’ll write more about the MAFFS training later, but until then, here are some photos.
Filling the MAFFS with water (for training drops) and compressed air. The MAFFS also have an on-board air compressor which can be used if there isn’t one provided at an air tanker base. The larger tank with the blue dot holds 3,000 gallons of retardant or water. The smaller white tank is for compressed air (at 1,200 psi) which pushes the retardant out of the larger tank. Two Loadmasters operate the MAFFS unit in the cargo hold of the C-130.
