Photo by Bill G – Page 15

Seasonal firefighters now eligible for health insurance

Thanks to the petition that John Lauer, a firefighter on the Tatanka Hotshot crew started, seasonal firefighters now have the opportunity to purchase health insurance through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) published an interim final rule on July 19 that puts the new provision into effect immediately. This is a big friggin’ deal for firefighters, so congratulations, Mr. Lauer, for taking the first steps that made this happen.

Here is the pertinent text from the interim rule that was just published:

OPM is amending 5 CFR part 890 as follows:
PART 890—FEDERAL EMPLOYEES HEALTH BENEFITS PROGRAM
Section 890.102 to be amended by adding paragraphs (h) and (i) to read as follows:
§ 890.102 Coverage.
* * * * *
(h) Notwithstanding paragraphs (c)(1) and (2) of this section, an employee who is in a position identified by OPM that provides emergency response services for wildland fire protection is eligible to be enrolled in a health benefits plan under this part.
(i) Notwithstanding paragraphs (c)(1) and (2) of this section, upon request by the employing agency, OPM may grant eligibility to employees performing similar types of emergency response services to enroll in a health benefits plan under this part.
[FR Doc. 2012-17623 Filed 07/17/2012 at 8:45 am; Publication Date: 07/19/2012]

In the text that accompanied the interim rule, the OPM wrote:

OPM is committed to making the process for signing up for FEHB coverage simple and streamlined so that the firefighters covered by this rule can secure their new benefits with minimal burden. We are working closely with the Departments of Agriculture and Interior to ensure firefighters are able to promptly enroll for FEHB coverage.

After President Obama visited the Waldo Canyon fire on June 29, he directed that federal agencies offer seasonal firefighters the opportunity to purchase health insurance.

I have to admit I was skeptical that it could happen this quickly and even initiated a poll (now closed) asking our readers if they thought it could be implemented in the month of July. Happily, I was wrong, along with 70 percent of the folks who participated in the poll. Here are the results:

Thanks go out to Bill B.

Photo by Bill G

Photos of air tankers being reloaded at Rapid City Air Tanker Base

On Saturday we had the opportunity to visit the Air Tanker Base at the Rapid City Regional Airport. The crew, led by Base Manager Gordon Schaffer, was busy keeping three P2V air tankers reloaded with retardant as they returned from fires, paused on the ramp to get another 2,000 gallons of the red stuff, and took off again.

On Saturday the three air tankers working out of the base were from Neptune, Tankers 43 and 07, and 48 from Minden. The staff at the base consisted of the Base Manager, the Ramp Manager, a radio operator/dispatcher/office-assistant, and a 2-person reloading crew. In addition, there were three to four mechanics checking the aircraft every time they reloaded. The mechanics work for Neptune and Minden, the companies that operate the air tankers which are contracted to the federal government. The Minden mechanic said that when the tanker relocates to another air tanker base, which happens frequently, he usually travels with the aircraft, and a chase vehicle with additional mechanics and equipment follows on the ground, sometimes arriving a day or two later.

On Sunday, July 22, two of the three air tanker crews will be on mandatory days off, and another will come off of their days off, resulting in Tankers 45 and 48 being available at the base beginning at 9 a.m.

All of these photos were taken by Bill Gabbert.

(More photos are below.)
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Update and map of the Myrtle fire in South Dakota, July 22, 2012

UPDATE at 5:21 p.m. MT, July 22, 2012:

This afternoon firefighters conducted a large burnout to tie in a fireline on the southeast side of the fire in Cold Brook Canyon, and from there north along Song Dog Road (didn’t this used to be called Shirt Tail Road?). It put up a great deal of smoke and looks bad if you don’t know what’s going on, but I was there on scene and the portion I saw went very well.

No time for more right now. Will post photos later.

=========================

Original article at 8:40 a.m. July 22:

The incident management team assigned to the Myrtle fire in the Black Hills of South Dakota is calling the fire 20 percent contained and 9,075 acres. It is likely that much of the fire received some rain from 6 to 8 p.m. on Saturday as thunderstorms with a great deal of lightning moved through the Black Hills. The Elk Mountain weather station 1 mile east of the fire measured 0.28″, and the BKF1 Portable weather station 4 miles west of the fire recorded 0.16″.

The most current map the team has provided, below, was current as of 11:56 p.m. June 20.

Myrtle Fire map at 1156 pm, June 20, 2012 — Myrtle Fire map at 11:56 p.m., June 20, 2012 provided by Hahnenberg’s incident management team. (Click to enlarge.)

An update from the Incident Management Team:

Date: July 21, 2012, at 10:00 p.m.

Current Situation: Firefighters continued to make progress on containment of the Myrtle Fire today. Containment of the fire was increased to 20% this evening with additional containment on the northern perimeter of the fire. Firefighters and crews were able to construct hand line and dozer line on the western perimeter of the fire. Afternoon thunderstorms prevented a planned firing operation to occur this afternoon on the eastern perimeter of the fire. Overnight, firefighters will improve containment lines and patrol the fire perimeter.

On Sunday, firefighters plan to improve and hold containment lines on the northern perimeter of the fire. On the western side of the fire, crews will continue line construction to the south. On the eastern side of the fire, crews are planning to conduct a firing operation that was delayed today due to weather and safety considerations. Public Information Officers will be available for media tours at 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. on Sunday at the staging area in Pringle. A community meeting will be held in Pringle tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. in the community building next to the fire station.

Weather: Scattered thunderstorms developing in the afternoon is anticipated to continue on Sunday and through the first part of next week. Temperatures will be in the 90’s tomorrow with a minimum relative humidity of 30% and increasing in the afternoon with the development of the expected thunderstorms. Winds will be light and variable throughout the day.

Information about the status of evacuations can be found at InciWeb.

air tanker Photo by Bill G South Dakota

Tanker 07 drops on the Myrtle fire

A video/slide show of Tanker 07, a P2V, dropping on the Myrtle Fire. All photos were taken near Rifle Pit Road on July 19, 2012 at 8:24 p.m. by Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today. And no, it did not crash into the trees; it exited the area safely and went back to Rapid City for the night.

air tanker Myrtle Fire Photo by Bill G South Dakota

South Dakota: Myrtle Fire causing evacuations south of Pringle

UPDATED at 11:20 p.m., July 19, 2012

The Myrtle Fire that was reported Thursday at 1:30 p.m. has already burned 1,200 to 1,500 acres and is causing evacuations between Pringle and Hot Springs in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The fire started about 3 miles east of the small town of Pringle between US Highway 385 and Beaver Creek Road.

A wind shift in the late afternoon made things difficult for firefighters. As you can see in the photo above which looks toward the north, the fire was pushed by a west wind when the picture was taken at 4:12 p.m. At around 5 or 6 p.m., when the temperature at the nearby Elk Mountain weather station was 104 degrees and the relative humidity was 9 percent, the wind died and then began blowing out of the north and northeast. This caused spotting across Highway 385 as the fire spread rapidly to the west and south. By 10 p.m. it was approaching Shirt Tail Road and at 10:45 the Hot Springs Fire Department was toned out to assist with evacuations in the “Argyle Road West” area, which is south of Pringle and north of Hot Springs. Some areas north of Argyle Road and south of Wind Cave National Park are affected by the evacuations.

Myrtle Fire map at 1018 pm, Jun 19, 2012 — Myrtle fire. Map showing heat detected by a satellite at 10:18 p.m., July 19, 2012. Click to enlarge.

InciWeb should have more information about the fire on Friday.

The first heavy air tankers were requested at about 3:40 p.m., and two were dispatched from Montana, the dispatcher told the Incident Commander. About an hour later two additional large air tankers were requested. The first one, a P2V, arrived at 7:14 p.m., almost six hours after the fire was reported. The second arrived before 8 p.m. As far as I know the additional two that were ordered did not arrive at all on Thursday.

What’s wrong with this picture: the first air tankers arrived at the fire AFTER a Type 1 Incident Management Team (Hahnenberg) was ordered, which is used for managing the largest, most complex wildfires. Who knows, the IMTeam, with an ETA of 6 p.m. Friday, may arrive before the third and fourth air tankers show up.

That decision to release the DC-10 very large air tanker from its Call When Needed assignment on Monday is not looking very brilliant right now.

Myrtle Fire helicopters — Helicopters dropping on the Myrtle Fire, July 19, 2012. Photo by Bill Gabbert

We posted some videos of the fire HERE, and more photos are below:
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Myrtle Fire Photo by Bill G South Dakota

10 years ago today, the second air tanker crash of 2002

Tanker 123 crash near Estes Park, CO, July 18, 2002. Credit: Matt Inden – Special to The News

Ten years ago today, on June 18, 2002, the second air tanker crash of the year occurred, killing the two-person crew of Tanker 123, as one of the wings fell off of the PB4Y-2 as it was operating over the Big Elk fire near Estes Park, Colorado.

Tanker 123 at Chester, California — Tanker 123 at Chester, CA in the late 1990s. Photo from Wikipedia

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation found extensive stress fatigue and fractures in key components of the aircraft, which was manufactured in 1945 for the U.S. Navy, transferred to the Coast Guard in 1952, discarded in 1956, and converted into an air tanker in 1958.

This crash occurred just a month after another fatal air tanker crash. Near Walker, California on June 17, Tanker 130, a C-130A, experienced a major structural failure. As you can see in the video below, both wings fell off the aircraft just after it completed a retardant drop. The three members of the crew were killed.

The NTSB also found fatigue cracks on that aircraft, which was built in 1957, discarded by the military in 1978, and converted into an air tanker in 1988. At the time of the crash, the airframe had logged 21,863 flight hours.

Following the crashes, the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management commissioned the Blue Ribbon Fact Finding Panel on Aviation to “identify key information for planning the safe and effective future of the aviation program.” It was led by James E. Hall, who had served for seven years as Chairman of the NTSB. After their December 2002 report, the USFS and the BLM declined to renew the contracts on nine C-130A and PB4Y-2 air tankers, and ordered the remaining large air tankers to undergo an improved inspection program before they returned to active service.

Memorial 2002 air tanker crews — Memorial for the 2002 air tanker crews, at Greybull airport. Photo by Bill Gabbert, July 14, 2012.

In a June 17, 2012 Denver Post article about the two air tanker crashes on June 3, 2012, Mr. Hall was quoted as saying:

I am extremely concerned. It’s been 10 years, and precious little has been done.

In a June 21, 2012 article in the New York Times he was quoted again:

We’ve failed to invest. We’re stepping back to these old tankers and old aircraft, and we’ve done nothing to develop any new technology.

air tanker Photo by Bill G

Fire near Cascade, South Dakota

Fire West of Cascade — Fire south of Cascade, SD, July 16, 2012. Photo by Bill Gabbert

Monday night there was a shitload of lightning in the southern Black Hills of South Dakota, which may have been the cause of a fire burning a couple of miles west of Cascade. This fire had probably burned a few dozen acres when I arrived, but it slowed down when a few sprinkles hit it. The lightning did not slow down, however.

Fire West of Cascade, SD — Fire south of Cascade, SD, July 16, 2012. Photo by Bill Gabbert

lightning Photo by Bill G South Dakota

Helicopters at Custer

I stopped by the Custer, South Dakota airport the other day and talked with the helitack crew and checked out the firefighting helicopters on the ramp.

The K-MAX in the photos is operated by Swanson Group Aviation and is assigned to Custer as one of the 34 Type 1 helicopters on national contracts this year. It can be a little rare to see a Type 1 ship actually parked at their “assigned” station, since as a national resource they move around frequently. This one and the AStar below had just returned from working on fires in Colorado.

K-MAX helicopter, N161KA — K-MAX at Custer, SD. Photo by Bill Gabbert

These photos look like they are distorted — no helicopter can look like this, right? But they are unedited except for cropping. Kaman Aircraft only built 38 of them between 1991 and 2003, and 25 are still flying. Eight of those 25 are on exclusive use contracts with the U.S. Forest Service for firefighting. My theory is that the USFS likes the K-MAX because it is much less expensive than the other five models of Type 1 helicopters on contract, but they can still count it as a Type 1, even though it may be about 20 gallons short of being able to carry the 700-gallons of water required as the minimum for a Type 1. The K-MAX has about 25 percent of the capacity of an Aircrane and the cost is also about 25 percent. The USFS pays $1,924 per flight hour for a K-MAX K-1200 compared to $7,718 for an Aircrane which can carry 2,650 gallons of water.

The most striking feature — well there are several, actually — are the two counter-rotating main rotors. Since they rotate in opposite directions, the torque is balanced, leading to striking feature number two — there is no need for a tail rotor. Striking feature number three is the extraordinarily thin width of the ship when viewed from the front. It looks like there is barely enough room for one pilot to squeeze into the cockpit.

The K-MAX is one of the few helicopters specifically designed to do nothing but carry external loads. Kaman made no compromises. There is no room for a passenger, very little room for internal cargo, and no wasted space or weight.

AStar helicopter at Custer, SD, N357TA — Eurocopter AS 350 B3, N357TA, at Custer, SD, July 8, 2012. Photo by Bill Gabbert

The second helicopter at Custer was a Eurocopter AS 350 B3, usually called an AStar. This one is operated by Roberts Helicopters out of Cheyenne, WY.

It’s nice that the two helicopter vendors got together and coordinated the paint schemes.

AStar and K-MAX helicopters. Photo by Bill Gabbert

A little trivia about the AS 350 B3: it was first helicopter model to land on the summit of Mt. Everest, 29,030 feet above sea level.

helicopter Photo by Bill G South Dakota

Landowners criticize management of White Draw fire

White Draw Fire June 29, 2012 — White Draw Fire, 9:36 p.m., June 29, 2012, a few hours after it started. Photo by Bill Gabbert

In a meeting with Senator John Thune (R-SD) on Friday, some local property owners criticized the strategy and tactics that the Incident Management Team used while suppressing the White Draw fire, which burned 9,000 acres northeast of Edgemont, South Dakota.

Here are some excerpts from an article in the Rapid City Journal:

The Edgemont Volunteer Fire Department was the first on the scene, fire chief Paul Nelson told Thune.

Nelson is frustrated with the Forest Service’s handling of the fire in its early stages and its poor communication with local firefighters.

Several local volunteers and landowners believe the fire could have been stopped in the early stages if federal officials would have consulted with them on everything from roads to equipment availability.

The firefight was mismanaged, Ben Reutter said.

“They wouldn’t ask the local guys where the roads were. That’s unacceptable,” Reutter said.

Reutter’s father, 68-year-old Edward Reutter, suffered a heart attack shortly after the fire headed for his property last Friday. He died the same night at a Hot Springs hospital.

“It was the stress,” his daughter-in-law, Becky Reutter, said.

The fire started on the edge of some rough country, volunteer firefighter and rancher Toy Litzel said. “But it could have been fought.”

Forest Service officials were unaware of roads that could have given them better access to the fire and wouldn’t take the advice of the area’s residents, locals said.

“They didn’t listen to us,” Nelson said.

[…]

There was also an underlying regret among local residents that four lives were lost in the fire when a C-130 cargo plane from the North Carolina Air National Guard crashed July 1. Two members of the crew survived the crash.

The Forest Service’s lack of regard for the local community was evident when a memorial service for the fallen men was set for 6 a.m. July 5, without notifying local residents, Reutter said.

“A lot of people would have come,” he said.

After visiting with the Edgemont area residents, Thune conferred with fire officials and U.S. Air Force representatives.

Black Hills National Forest Supervisor Craig Bobzien assured Thune that his agency was “tied in with local firefighting resources very well.”

Bobzien said the local resources were used. Firefighters from larger departments were brought in so the local units could go home in case of new fires.

“I hope there wasn’t any sort of misunderstanding there,” Bobzien said. Bobzien assured Thune he would follow up on any concerns.

This is not the first time an Incident Management Team has been criticized for the failure to communicate with locals. For example, in April a Montana landowner was awarded $730,000 after some of their land burned in the 2000 Ryan Gulch wildfire.

Without knowing exactly where, how, and under what burning conditions the locals thought the IMTeam could have stopped the White Draw fire, it is difficult to say they are wrong. However, under the hot, dry, windy conditions while the fire was cranking out thousands of acres a day, no experienced wildland firefighter would have been out in front of it while it was exhibiting extreme fire behavior. And no ranch road, two-track, or Interstate Highway can stop a timber fire pushed by strong winds.

John Thune Photo by Bill G Ryan Gulch Fire South Dakota

Smokejumpers make history on Parker Peak fire in South Dakota

Update at 10:08 a.m. MT, July 4, 2012:

It is apparent from some comments left on this article that we were misinformed by the Northern Rockies Type 2 Incident Management Team’s press release. While smokejumpers did jump on the Parker Peak fire on Monday, three of our readers said this did NOT make history.

=================

(Original article, July 3, 2012)

Smokejumpers made history yesterday. For the first time ever, they jumped on a fire in South Dakota. I was taking photos in the general area and saw a jump plane overhead and heard him on the radio saying he was returning to Grand Junction, but I didn’t imagine that it had just kicked out a load of smokejumpers on the Parker Peak fire — a fire that you can easily drive to that already had several engines hard at work. I thought maybe a jump plane was substituting for an Aerial Supervision Module….or something. But, when firefighting resources are stretched thin, all help, ~~even~~ especially smokejumper help, is appreciated. (Just kidding folks!)

The Parker Peak fire is burning just a couple of miles east of the White Draw fire northeast of Edgemont, South Dakota, and south of the Highway 86/18 junction. This morning, Bob Fry’s Northern Rockies Type II IMT assumed command of the fire. It is 10% contained, has burned 800 acres and has 70 personal assigned, in addition to one Type 1 crew, one Type 2 crew, five engines, and one dozer. Five structures and two outbuildings are threatened by the fire.

Photo by Bill G smokejumpers South Dakota

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