That’s the title of a video, all in slow motion, showing firefighters working on the Bybee Creek Fire in Crater Lake National Park.
Continue readingBybee Creek Fire burns up to Crater Lake
Above: Tanker 55, a CV-580, drops water on the Bybee Creek Fire July 28, 2016. NPS photo. Click to enlarge.
The Bybee Creek Fire has burned close to the rim of the Crater Lake caldera in southwest Oregon. The 720-acre fire, when throwing out burning embers up to a half mile ahead, created one spot fire inside the caldera in Crater Lake National Park.
Information released by the Type 3 incident management team Wednesday morning reported that a fireline has been completed around the entire fire, but some of it is indirect. Firefighters will burn out the fuel between the line and the fire as soon as conditions are favorable.
A Type 1 incident management team has been ordered and some of its members were on scene Wednesday morning. A decision will be made, in light of the current state of the fire, if the Type 1 team will assume command of the fire.
The fire is burning in the scar from the 2006 Bibee Fire. One of the objectives of the incident management team is to keep the fire east of the Pacific Crest Trail, which is closed near the fire.
The Rim Village and National Park Headquarters are under a Level 1 evacuation notice — be ready to leave immediately.
Two water-scooping CL-415 air tankers, helicopters, and large air tankers have been assisting the firefighters on the ground. We asked spokesperson Lucinda Nolan if the helicopters were obtaining water from Crater Lake and she said “Gosh, no.” The scoopers are using water from Lost Creek Lake 27 miles southeast of the fire. Ms. Nolan said the air tankers have been dropping fugitive retardant which fades quickly to become nearly invisible, and water.
Fire Aviation has photos of the scoopers and other air tankers which have been based at the Medford, Oregon airport.
The park is still open, but a section of the West Rim Road is closed.
Introduction to the Redmond Tanker Base
Above: a 47-second video showing the aircraft at the Redmond Tanker Base on June 13, 2016.
Clouds were hovering just above the ridges bordering the valley around the Redmond, Oregon airport when I was there on Monday, June 13. There was a chance of rain across the entire Pacific Northwest and there were no orders for the four large air tankers staged at the Redmond Air Tanker Base.
Eric Graff, who has been the base manager for the last 12 years, said they had been busy in recent days sending tankers to fires in Oregon and northern California. They had pumped 165,000 gallons of fire retardant into tankers so far this fire season.
Base Manager Eric Graff (left) and timekeeper Cynthia Buehner at the Redmond Air Tanker Base.Working with Mr. Graff on Monday was Cynthia Buehner, in her third season as timekeeper for the base, and summer seasonal, Marissa Kraweczak, whose previous experience before this year was on the Zigzag Hotshots.
Also at the base was the normal contingent of pilots and mechanics for the four tankers that were on the ramp — three Aeroflite RJ85s, and one Neptune Aviation P2V. One lead plane was also on scene.
Aeroflite’s Pilatus PC12 (right) and a lead plane (left) at Redmond, Oregon. Photo by Bill Gabbert.I asked Mr. Graff if dispatchers proactively tried to group aircraft from the same company together at a tanker base, and he said no, it was not intentional. Aeroflite recognized that they had three of their tankers and crews at Redmond and called a meeting, with executives flying in on the company’s Pilatus PC12. The state of Colorado recently purchased two PC12s to use as intelligence gathering and communications platforms, calling them “multi-mission aircraft”.
Other fire-related operations at the Redmond Airport include the Redmond Smokejumpers, the Northwest Fire Training Center, the Redmond Hotshots, and the Regional Air Group which supplies pilots for the jumpers and lead planes.
Tanker 163 at Redmond, June 13, 2016. Photo by Bill Gabbert.
Tanker 44 at Redmond, June 13, 2016. Photo by Bill Gabbert.
Tanker 162 at Redmond, June 13, 2016. Photo by Bill Gabbert.
Tanker 161 at Redmond, June 13, 2016. Photo by Bill Gabbert.
Tanker 44, in the foreground, and Tanker 161 at Redmond, June 13, 2016. Photo by Bill Gabbert.Photos of air tankers departing from Medford
Above: Tanker 163 departing from Medford, Oregon.
We have been honored recently with a wealth of information and photos from Medford, Oregon. Tim Crippin took these between June 7th and 9th of air tankers departing from the air tanker base for the Pony Fire in Northern California.
Tanker 162 departing from Medford.
Tanker 85 departing from Medford.Report from Medford air tanker base, June 9, 2016
The progression of the three air tankers through the retardant loading and refueling procedures was “like a ballet on the tarmac”.
Continue readingBlown tire on air tanker closes runway at Redmond Airport
Above: Air Tanker 44, with a blown tire, on the runway at Redmond. Photo by Redmond Fire Rescue.
A runway at the Redmond Airport closed for approximately an hour June 9 after Air Tanker 44, a Korean War vintage P2V, blew a tire while landing after reporting problems with the landing gear. The tanker had been working the Akawana Fire in Oregon. There were no injuries.
In 2010 Air Tanker 44 had a problem with the hydraulic system which caused a brake failure upon landing at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport (JeffCo) in Colorado. It slid off the end of the runway, but thankfully both pilots walked away.
Because of an ongoing paving project, there is only one functioning runway at Redmond, so all landing and takeoff activity was shut down, including commercial aircraft and tankers assisting with the Owyhee Canyon and Akawana fires. The firefighting aircraft were diverted to Klamath Falls for reloading and refueling.
Below is an excerpt from an article at KBND:
…Redmond City Manager Keith Witcosky was there. He tells KBND News the emergency call initially came in just before 12:30 p.m. that a plane’s landing gear wasn’t working. “It was coming from the fire near Camp Sherman. When it came into view the landing gear was down, and it stayed down. However, as it reached about halfway across the runway, the left rear tire blew; so it skidded and began to bank a little bit to the right, but the pilots did a great job at keeping it straight. There were no injuries, no fire, no smoke; but, just a totally destroyed tire.”
…No word on how many tankers were impacted by the 50-minute closure, but Witcosky says they are busy at the Redmond Airport, right now. “We were out here for a half an hour, waiting for that plane to come in and we saw three tankers go in and out, within about a half an hour to an hour…
The tire on Tanker 44. Photo by the City of Redmond.It is unknown if the blown tire was related to the problem with the landing gear, but we are aware of at least three crashes or accidents caused by problems with the P2V landing gear or hydraulic system — T-44 at JeffCo in 2010, T-55 at Minden in 2012, and T-48 at Fresno in 2014.
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Kristin.
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell talks about recovery at the Soda Fire
Secretary Jewell discusses the rehab of the Soda Fire and the illegal occupation of a National Wildlife Refuge.
Continue readingReview of the 2015 wildfire season in the Northwest
Photo above: Firefighters observe the Cougar Creek Fire southeast of Mt. Adams in southern Washington in 2015. From InciWeb.
The U.S. Forest Service has produced an exhaustive summary and review of the 2015 wildfire season in what they call their Pacific Northwest Region — what the interagency community calls the Northwest Geographic Area — Oregon and Washington.
The report is huge, 281 pages. In addition to general information about the fire activity, it includes sections about weather, air quality, technology, and summaries of 28 fires with 14 of those being covered in greater detail than the others.
The main 281-page report can be be found here (it’s a LARGE file). There is another version they call an “Interactive Story Journal” which provides summary information from the main report as well as interactive web maps, videos, and numerous photos as well as “time-enabled fire progression maps” for selected fires.
Below are some excerpts from the report:
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Most Severe Fire Season in Modern History
The 2015 fire season in the Pacific Northwest was the most severe in modern history from a variety of standpoints. Oregon and Washington experienced more than 3,800 wildfires (almost 2,300 in Oregon and more than 1,500 in Washington) that burned more than 1,600,000 acres (more than 630,000 acres in Oregon and more than 1,000,000 acres in Washington)—including 1,325 fires representing 507,000 acres on U.S. Forest Service lands (information as of September 30, 2015).
Initial Attack was successful in rapidly containing all but about 119 of these fires. This response represents an almost 97 percent Initial Attack success rate. Approximately 50 of these fire escapes occurred during a ten-day period in mid-August when numerous Large Fires (a wildfire of 100 acres or more in timber or 300 acres or more in grass/sage) were already burning in the Pacific Northwest. During this time, the Northern Rockies and Northern California were also experiencing unusually high numbers of wildfires. This situation limited the ability to rapidly obtain Initial Attack reinforcements as well as almost all types of firefighting resources needed for Large Fires.
Tragedy Strikes
Tragedy struck on August 19 when three U.S. Forest Service firefighters were killed while attacking a fire on private land near Twisp, Washington.
During this severe fire season, approximately 675 structures were lost. While well over 16,000 structures were threatened, most were saved from loss by aggressive suppression actions.
2015 Fire Season Milestones
- In August, to help support Washington State’s fires, the Emergency Support Function 4 (ESF4) was activated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
- The Emergency Conflagration Act—that authorizes the Oregon Office of the State Fire Marshal to mobilize structural firefighters and equipment to assist local resources battling fires—was invoked by the Governor of Oregon on July 30 in response to the Stouts Creek Fire, on August 13 for the Cornet Fire and Windy Ridge Fires, on August 14 for the Canyon Creek Fire, and on August 20 for the Grizzly Bear Complex.
- The Washington State Fire Service Mobilization Plan is implemented to provide personnel, equipment, and other logistical resources from around the state when a wildland fire or other emergency exceeds the capacity of local jurisdictions. In mid-August, the Chief of the Washington State Patrol authorized such a state-declared mobilization on the Carpenter Road Fire, the Kettle Complex, and the Okanogan Complex.
- The Pacific Northwest Region had the highest priority in the nation for firefighting resources during these dates: July 25 and 26, August 14-31, and September 8-13.
- The Pacific Northwest Region was under a Preparedness Level 5 (the highest, most severe level) from August 13 through September 4.
- The greatest number of uncontained fires occurred on August 18: 25 Large Fires totaling 822,512 acres in the Pacific Northwest Region (105 Large Fires totaling 2.2 million acres nationally).
Weather
The first six months of 2015 were the warmest first six months of any year over much of Oregon and Washington since record keeping began in 1895.
These record-warm temperatures observed during the winter and spring, coupled with below-average precipitation, led to an exceptionally poor snowpack throughout the winter and spring.
From June 1 through September 15, a total of 51,019 lightning strikes were recorded over Oregon and Washington. The average for fire seasons from 2000-2014 through September 15 is 78,775 strikes. While the number of the 2015 strikes was below this average, the background of drought in 2015 enhanced the ability for lightning strikes to ignite multiple fires in short periods of time.
New occupants in the fire lookout tower at Malheur
Lookout tower at #Malheur occupied by stern new observers armed with talons, beaks. #Oregonstandoff pic.twitter.com/sPETq2WAnC
— Deborah Hartman (@frankiecatPDX) February 11, 2016
Now that the terrorists who took over the facilities at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon have been arrested, there are new occupants in the fire lookout tower. Great Horned Owls.
Click on the photo a couple of times to see a larger version.
Occupation of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge ends
Last four arrested at Malheur.
Continue reading