Tag: Photo by Bill G

Inspections required on large air tankers

Neptune’s P2V air tanker 45 on the Whoopup fire southeast of Newcastle, WY, July 18, 2011. Photo by Bill Gabbert

Update at 11:37 a.m. MT, February 9, 2012

The other ten P2Vs passed the inspections.

Update at 4:52 p.m. MT, February 8, 2012

The Federal Aviation Administration has issued an Emergency Airworthiness Directive (EAD) that requires inspections of P2V aircraft after a large crack was found in a wing spar and skin on one of Neptune Aviation’s P2V-7 air tankers. The EAD, intended for the owners and operators of Lockheed P2V aircraft, says the 24-inch crack propagated through the wing front spar web, lower chord, and wing lower skin. The FAA is requiring “a detailed inspection for cracks, working fasteners, and other anomalies, including surface damage in the form of a nick, gouge, or corrosion; and repairing if necessary.”

We talked with a spokesperson for the FAA who told us that their agency does not “ground” aircraft, however the Emergency Airworthiness Directive requires that inspections of the P2V air tankers be completed within one day of the operators receiving the notification. Then they must report to the FAA the findings, positive or negative, of the inspections.

We will update this article when we have more information.

This affects all of the large air tankers that are under a standard U.S. Forest Service exclusive use contract. All 11 of them are P2Vs — nine operated by Neptune and two by Minden. In 2002 there were 44 large air tankers on USFS contracts.

One additional air tanker not affected is the jet-powered BAe-146 which is being flown by Neptune under temporary “interim” approval from the Interagency Air Tanker Board. After a year of testing it was granted “interim” approval status last fall and is being considered for full approval. The last we heard it was out of service and undergoing a major scheduled maintenance at the Tronos facility on Prince Edward Island in Canada. Minden also has a BAe-146 under development and is hoping to have it flying over fires this fire season.

The USFS cancelled Aero Union’s contract for their eight P3 air tankers last summer, saying the company did not complete some required inspections. The P3 air tankers are not affected by this FAA directive, but Aero Union has closed their doors and is auctioning their air tankers and other assets this month.

The remaining USFS-contracted air tankers were scheduled to come on earlier than usual this year. One of Minden’s P2Vs is scheduled to start on February 15, and the agency asked Neptune to have their first aircraft mission-ready by February 26. Three more airtankers are scheduled to begin their Mandatory Availability Periods (MAP) in March (one Minden, two Neptune), two are scheduled to begin their MAPs in April, and four are scheduled to come on board in May.

Rick Hatton, the President and CEO of 10 Tanker Air Carrier was not offered an exclusive use contract for their two DC-10 Very Large Air Tankers by the U.S. Forest Service, and only has a call when needed contract with the agency. The DC-10s carry 11,600 gallons, about four times the capacity of a standard large air tanker. Mr. Hatton told Wildfire Today this morning:

We did some good work with the 10s in 2011 in 6 states plus Canada. With over 420 missions on over 70 fires, we are hopeful of being awarded a multiple aircraft contract in 2012. Two are ready for that, and we can add one every 6 months if contracted. The 10 can do the work of 4+ alternative aircraft, and can really fill a big part of the fleet needed now and in future years.

The USFS has put all of their eggs into one basket, with all 11 of their contracted air tankers being the same model, except for the BAe-146 which has interim approval. This is not the first time that all aircraft of the same model have been grounded. The agency could have seen this coming and should have been prepared. Since the two fatal crashes in 2002 which permanently grounded several models of ancient air tankers, the USFS has had 10 years to rebuild the aging fleet, but sat on their hands watching the fleet decay from 44 air tankers to 11, as they were hampered by indecision and analysis paralysis.

Have the chickens come home to roost? Maybe the 24-inch cracks found in the 50+ year old P2V can be easily fixed, and perhaps the other 10 P2Vs will get a clean bill of health — until the next crash or Emergency Airworthiness Directive. Or, the worst case scenario is that an analysis will determine that a weakness has been discovered that, for safety reasons, will permanently ground all P2V air tankers, reducing the fleet to one air tanker on “interim” approval status.

We all know that 50-60 year old aircraft are going to have more safety and maintenance issues than more modern aircraft. The USFS’ request for proposal for “next generation” turbine-powered air tankers is a step in the right direction, but we didn’t see anything in the RFP that required WHICH generation they belong to, or that they be, for example, less than 20 years old. Jennifer Jones, a spokesperson for the USFS told us today that they expect to award the first of these next-gen contracts in April of this year. In addition, Ms. Jones told us:

Until we are notified otherwise by the vendors, we expect the [P2V] airtankers to be available at the start of their mandatory availability periods. The U.S. Forest Service is committed to modernizing the Large Airtanker Fleet. The agency is currently developing a strategy to improve and modernize the fleet.

The Hawkins and Powers C-130A air tanker that crashed on June 17, 2002 near Walker, California when the wings fell off, had a series of fatigue cracks in the skin panel of the right wing which grew together to become 12-inches long and were found to have propagated past the area where they would have been covered by the doubler and into the stringers beneath the doubler and across the lap joint between the middle skin panel and the forward skin panel.

air tanker Photo by Bill G

Olla stories, before and after fires

Ollas in Napak — Ollas remaining after a fire that destroyed huts in Napak in northern Uganda. Photo: Steven Ariong

I was surprised when I saw this photo of what was left after 32 grass-thatched houses burned in a wildfire in the northern Ugandan village of Napak. According to a report, the fire may have been started by locals who were hunting for rats. Among the debris and ashes, you can see quite a few ollas, large clay pots. Ancient people used these hundreds or thousands of years ago for storing water. They have a narrow neck to reduce evaporation.

I found it interesting that ollas are still being used today. If I wanted something in which to store several gallons of water I would simply go to a discount store and buy a plastic jerry can, but that may not be feasible for the folks that live in northern Uganda.

It was also interesting to me because I discovered two ollas in nearly mint condition that had been sitting around for hundreds of years.

It happened on April 25, 1989 when I was working as a wildland engine captain on the Cleveland National Forest east of San Diego. During the winter there were few wildland fires, and those of us that were not furloughed during the off-season usually found a special project to work on. The weather in San Diego County in the winter is mild, except in the higher elevations in the Laguna Mountains, so I volunteered to attend paraprofessional archaeologist training. After becoming qualified, it got me out of the office for weeks at a time, doing archaeology surveys in areas where we planned to conduct prescribed fires.

Another firefighter, Dave Volgarino, went through the training with me, and we did the surveys together, hiking cross country all day in very remote areas, busting through brush recording any native American sites or artifacts that we found, which were mostly left there by the Kumeyaay people. The most exciting stuff that we ran across were one or two arrow heads, mortar or grinding depressions in boulders, flakes where ancient people made projectile points, and very rarely some broken pieces of ollas or pottery.

Until…one day Dave and I were surveying in an area that looked like a pretty good place for camping.

The potential camping spot. USFS photo by Bill Gabbert.

It was a flat area under some oak trees about 1/10 acre in size adjacent to a seasonal creek. I was hiking through brush on the hill above the creek looking for any signs of ancient people and saw a rock overhang behind a chamise bush.

Ollas on the hill — The hillside where Bill Gabbert was searching. USFS photo by Bill Gabbert

I pulled the brush aside and could not believe my eyes. Not one but two ollas, in almost mint condition.
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Photo by Bill G

South Dakota state Fire Chief retires

2000 Jasper fire — The Jasper fire, about 2 hours after it started on August 25, 2000. Photo by Bill Gabbert

Joe Lowe, the Director (or Fire Chief) of the South Dakota Division of Wildland Fire Suppression retired on Monday. Joe was the first and so far the only Director of the agency that was formed in 2001. Before accepting that position, he worked in wildland fire suppression in southern California.

During most of the decade of the 1990s, there were few large fires in South Dakota. That began changing in August of 2000 when the Flagpole and Jasper fires burned 7,000 and 83,000 acres respectively in the Black Hills. Then-Governor Bill Janklow, who died of brain cancer on January 12, became extremely interested in wildfire suppression at that time.

I was the Incident Commander on the Flagpole fire for the first two days and received two late night phone calls from the Governor telling me he was sending resources to the fire, including 17 dozers and dozens of fire engines from across the state that later just showed up on the fireline. This was outside of the ordering system and the Incident Command System, and created havoc and safety issues on the fire. The Governor also directed that National Guard dozers take independent action on the Jasper fire, and threatened to start backfires without coordinating with the Type 1 Incident Management Team running the fire. The Incident Commander placed a resource order for U.S. Marshals who stood by at the Incident Command Post ready to put a halt to any actions that put firefighters in danger.

The next year, the Governor created the Division of Wildland Fire Suppression and put Joe in charge. Joe’s experience, management skills, and the fact that the Governor trusted him established a buffer between the Governor and the other wildfire organizations in the state — and we heard a collective sigh of relief. Joe brought additional professionalism and the concept of initially attacking fires with “overwhelming force” to the Division.

During his 10 years as the state Fire Chief, Joe, working with his interagency partners, helped establish the Northern Great Plains Interagency Dispatch Center, the Great Plains Interstate Compact, the State Handcrew Program, the State Aerial Firefighting Program, and the Rocky Mountain Type 2 Incident Management Team C.

Steve Hasenohrl, Assistant Chief for Administration, is the Acting Director until Joe’s replacement is named.

I tried to get in touch with Joe today, calling his gallery, Reflections of South Dakota, but he was out doing a television interview and setting up the gallery’s booth at the Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo which begins January 27. Joe has been an avid photographer for years, and opened the gallery with his wife Wendy in May of 2007.

His plans are to remain in the Rapid City area and to be available for assignments on large fires.

Jasper Fire Photo by Bill G South Dakota

Northern Great Plains Dispatch moves

The Northern Great Plains Interagency Dispatch Dispatch Center was evicted from their facility at the Rapid City Regional Airport. On January 9 they became operational in a brand new building located south of Rapid City adjacent to the new Black Hills National Forest Mystic Ranger District office at 8123 South Highway 16, Rapid City, SD 57702.

During most of the decade of the 1990s, there were few large fires in the Northern Great Plains area, which includes western South Dakota, northeast Wyoming, and northwest Nebraska. Then there were several large fires in 2000 and 2001 which demonstrated the need for a coordinated dispatch center in an area where previously each land management agency handled their own dispatching. Then-Governor Bill Jankow, who died January 12 of brain cancer, was instrumental in finding the location and funding for what became the Northern Great Plains Interagency Dispatch Center (NGPIDC). Most of the $1.8 million in funds to retrofit the old unused passenger terminal at the airport came from the State of South Dakota. The first 3-year lease for the building was signed in 2001 and after gutting the interior, building new walls and offices, and installing communications systems and a backup generator, it was put into service in 2003.

The FAA, which has a great deal of control over how land and facilities are used at airports, began complaining soon after the NGPIDC moved in, saying they were not aware until then that there was a new tenant at the airport. The lease was extended for another 3 years in 2004, but in 2006 the FAA sent an eviction letter claiming that the space was needed for hangars and other aeronautical uses. The airport and the NGPIDC argued the case that the dispatch center needed to remain, but the writing was on the wall and fire managers and government officials began looking around for alternatives.

In 2009 the U.S. Congress earmarked approximately $2 million for a new facility, thanks to support from Senators John Thune and Tim Johnson, and Representative Stephanie Herseth as well as some elected officials in Wyoming. Groundbreaking occurred in October of 2010, the building was complete in December of 2011, and the move-in process began. The new building has space for several offices, consoles for approximately a half-dozen dispatchers, and a large room which can be used for expanded dispatch during major emergency incidents, or for training during the off-season.

The agencies that are served by the NGPIDC include: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, South Dakota State Wildland Fire Suppression Division, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, Wyoming Forestry Division, and the Nebraska Forest Service.

The new phone numbers at the NGPIDC are 605-716-2738, 800-275-4955, and Fax 605-343-5075.

The South Dakota State Wildland Fire Suppression Division has offices for several of their employees in the dispatch center at the airport which will have to be moved before the airport bulldozes the building. The last I heard they were still uncertain about their new location.

I stopped by to check out the new facility on Wednesday, and Sheri Fox, Center Manager, was kind enough to let me take some photos. It turned out that a Fire Science class from Western Dakota Tech was just beginning a tour, so I tagged along.

Here are some photos I took of the new facility:
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Photo by Bill G

EIS decision: 30% of USFS lands now off limits for retardant

Retardant drop Whoopup fire — Tanker 45 makes a retardant drop on the Whoopup fire near Newcastle, WY, July 18, 2011. Photo by Bill Gabbert

On Tuesday U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell signed off on a decision that establishes new policies for the use of aerial fire retardant when fighting wildfires on U.S. Forest Service lands. Tidwell chose one of three alternatives in the final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that studied the use of retardant and how it affects water resources and certain plant and wildlife species. The new policy puts buffer zones around waterways and habitat for some threatened, endangered, and sensitive species in order to avoid applying retardant in those areas.

This will result in approximately 30 percent of USFS lands being off limits for retardant while fighting fire. There is an exception if human life or public safety is threatened.

The EIS was written in response to a July, 2010 decision by U. S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy in a lawsuit filed in 2008 by the Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics. The agency began soliciting public input on the EIS in May of last year.

Now firefighters and Air Tactical Group Supervisors will have roughly 12,000 maps identifying avoidance areas on 98 National Forest System units that identify locations of waterways and areas for hundreds of plant and animal species. Professional liability insurance anyone?

Link to the EIS documents.

Thanks go out to Dick

air tanker Photo by Bill G

Study: firefighters’ lung function decreases after exposure to smoke

A new study from the University of Georgia found that lung function decreases for firefighters who work on prescribed fires for multiple days and are exposed to smoke. Further, it showed that respiratory functions slowly declined over a 10-week season.

Unfortunately, even though the study was probably funded by taxpayers, you will have to pay a second time see the study’s results. It will cost you $41 to purchase the article that contains the detailed findings uncovered during the research. The University of Georgia decided to pay a private journal to publish the article, rather than placing it on the

Smoke, fire-N-of-Cascade-Rd-2006 — Firefighter working in smoke, fire near Hot Springs, SD in 2006. Photo by Bill Gabbert

University’s web site for free. We have written previously about taxpayers not being able to access taxpayer-funded research. Why does the government continue to fund research, if the product of the research is not made available? A call to Luke Naeher, the senior author of the study, was not immediately returned.

Here is a summary of the report, which thankfully, is provided by the University of Georgia at no cost.

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December 5, 2011

After monitoring firefighters working at prescribed burns in the southeastern United States, University of Georgia researchers found that lung function decreased with successive days of exposure to smoke and other particulate matter.

“What we found suggested a decline in lung function across work seasons,” said Olorunfemi Adetona, a postdoctoral research associate and lead author of the study published recently in the journal Inhalation Toxicology.

Luke Naeher, senior author and associate professor in the UGA College of Public Health, explained that the study was designed to investigate whether the 26 firefighters experienced a decrease in lung function working at prescribed burns compared with days they spent away from the fires. Previously, researchers had looked only at changes in lung function of wildland firefighters on days with exposure to smoke.

“Over a 10-week season, these workers’ respiratory functions slowly declined,” Naeher said, adding that there is need to investigate the degree to which these declines returned to their baseline after the burn season. Although results of the study show that lung function at the start of two burn seasons in a limited number of nine firefighters in 2003 and 2004 did not vary significantly, more definitive answers relating to the issue of longer term effect of exposure on lung function would require a different study design.

In recent years, the U.S. Forest Service has sought to better understand and improve its occupational exposure limits for firefighters across the country. Most studies have concentrated on burns in Western states where exposure to and composition of wood-smoke particulate matter may vary to some degree when compared with fires in the Southeast, including South Carolina, where the study was done.

Naeher said the study provides some preliminary information regarding the health effects of fine particulate matter exposure that is intermediate between two exposure extremes. On the low extreme lies ambient air levels typical for developed countries, while inhalation of particles by a smoker represents the opposite extreme. Much research in the field has focused on health effects at both extremes. However, the study of exposure at intermediate levels, like that experienced by wildland firefighters, and women and children exposed to indoor air pollution from cook stoves in developing countries is limited. Naeher’s research focuses on these two different populations, and he explains that the study of the body’s response tothese intermediate exposures may now be more urgent. For example, Naeher said, an initiative led by the United Nations Foundation aims to put clean-burning cooking stoves in 100 million homes in developing countries by 2020.

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UPDATE: We heard from Luke Naeher on December 14, 2011. He told us that the research was funded by the University of Georgia, and the Department of Energy-Savannah River Operations Office through the U.S. Forest Service. He sent us copies of two research papers that were published in journals owned by Informa, a company with their head office in Switzerland: Personal PM_2.5 Exposure Among Wildland Firefighers Working at Prescribed Forest Burns in Southeastern United States, and Lung function changes in wildland firefighters working at prescribed burns. Mr. Naeher said he cannot change the system in place for reporting science in the peer-review literature, but he will always share his published work freely with anybody who asks

firefighter health open access Photo by Bill G research smoke & health

USFS to contract for 7 to 35 turbine-powered air tankers

The U.S. Forest Service intends to add 7 to 35 turbine-powered air tankers to their contracted air tanker fleet. On November 30 the agency posted a solicitation for “Next Generation Airtankers”. These aircraft must be powered by turbine engines and have a “target” capacity of 3,000 to 5,000 gallons, with 2,400 gallons being the minimum acceptable. They must be able to cruise at 300 knots at 12,000 feet.

The USFS expects to contract for a minimum of 7 of these air tankers; three in 2012 and four additional in 2013, with options to bring on up to 28 more, for a total of 35 additional air tankers. Of course, having the option to add more does not guarantee they will. Three of the air tankers would start in May through June, 2012, and the additional four (of the basic seven) would start April through May of 2013. The air tankers would have 5-year contracts with options for 5 more.

The bids for this new contract must be received on January 10, 2012. The solicitation says the contracts will be awarded in January, 2012. The start date of May, 2012 does not leave much time for the USFS to evaluate and award the contracts, and for the potential air tanker operators to acquire and convert, if necessary, new aircraft and obtain certification from the FAA and Interagency Air Tanker Board.

The USFS only has 11 large air tankers under exclusive use contract now, all P2s operated by Neptune and Minden. They also have a short-term contract that expires this month for Neptune’s BAe-146 turbofan-powered air tanker which has “interim” approval from the Interagency Air Tanker Board. P2s were first manufactured in 1945 and have huge radial piston engines that require much maintenance and gallons of oil at frequent intervals. They carry 2,000 to 2,400 gallons of retardant and have a cruise speed of 195 knots (225 mph).

We have been very critical of the USFS for sitting on their hands for the last 10 years as the fleet of large air tankers, through inertia, incompetence, and an inability to make decisions, declined from 44 to 11. This is a huge step in the right direction and the agency should be congratulated for publishing the solicitation. But what they do in the next several years will be critical. We’ll wait to see if they actually award the contracts for the first seven air tankers, and if they exercise the options to continue to build the fleet beyond that. Seven newer air tankers to eventually replace the eleven 60-year old P2s, will help, but we need more than seven. The USFS has the ability to do the right thing, if they follow through. Let’s hope they do.

Tomorrow we will write about the aircraft that the air tanker vendors may be considering for this new contract.

air tanker Photo by Bill G

Missoulian: the state of the air tanker fleet

The Missoulian has an article about the current and future state of the air tanker fleet. Here is an excerpt:

Fighting fire from the air will remain a major tactic for the U.S. Forest Service, and the skies could start to get crowded soon.

“We want to have more than 11, but probably less than 44 large air tankers,” U.S. Forest Service national fire director Tom Harbour said in a recent interview with the Missoulian. “I think ultimately we’ll have between two and three dozen large air tankers.”

Eleven multi-engine retardant bombers remain under contract with the Forest Service, down from a fleet of 44 in 2004. Missoula-based Neptune Aviation has nine of those tankers, while Minden Air of Arizona has the other two.

“We’re looking all around to see what aircraft there are out there,” Harbour said. “We’re not doing any research in particular aircraft (within the Forest Service), but we’re interested in all designs. There are lots out there: old, new, big and little. And there are dozens of folks who have a particular platform they want to try. Neptune’s just been the first to take our criteria and put a plane in service.”

That would be Neptune’s new BAe-146 jet tanker, which won a short-term firefighting contract in September. The plane is the *first new model in nearly three decades to be certified for forest fire work. It is currently fighting fires in Texas.

Assuming the BAe passes additional field testing during the interim contract period, Neptune officials said they plan to phase in as many as 11 more jets as market conditions dictate.

Neptune CEO Kristen Nicholarsen said she’s heard of three or four companies developing retardant-dropping planes in pursuit of Forest Service contracts.

*Actually, the DC-10 and the 747 are aircraft models that are new to the air tanker fleet that have been certified by the Interagency Air Tanker Board in recent years.

Thanks go out to Dick

air tanker Photo by Bill G Tom Harbour

Very old and very new air tankers

Tanker 40 dropping in Newton Co TX — Tanker 40 dropping in Newton County Texas, posted October 3, 2011 on the official Facebook page of the Office of the Governor of Texas (click to enlarge)

Two very different air tankers are in the news, a very old one and the newest air tanker to join the federal fleet. Above is a photo, posted October 3, 2011 on the “Office of the Governor of Texas” Facebook page, of Neptune’s Tanker 40, a jet-powered BAe-146, making one of its first drops on an actual fire. The aircraft is not new, having entered service in 1986, but it was just recently converted into an air tanker. It least it is newer than the other air tankers currently flying that are 40 to 60 years old. The first P2s were manufactured in 1945 and the military retired their last one in 1984.

The photo below of a TBM dropping on a fire in 1972 is included here because a TBM is also in the news. The nonprofit Museum of Mountain Flying in Missoula has purchased one of the last TBM air tankers still flying and will be displaying it in their hanger at the Missoula International Airport. It is scheduled to arrive at Missoula today, October 10. [UPDATE: the TBM arrived in Missoula at noon on October 10. Photos and more information are at the Missoulian site.]

TBM air tanker dropping Vista fire — TBM air tanker dropping on the Vista fire, San Bernardino National Forest in Southern California, 1972. Photo by Bill Gabbert, Wildfire Today

Here is an excerpt from an October 8 article in the Missoulian about the TBM:

Dick Komberec can’t wait for Monday.

Barring weather or mechanical complications, that’s when a long-ago thoroughbred from the Johnson Flying Service slurry bomber fleet returns home to Missoula.

It’s a retrofitted World War II torpedo bomber – “TBM,” to guys like Komberec who flew them as sprayers and fire bombers for Bob Johnson from 1954 to 1973.

The airplane is flying, with a seasoned Canadian pilot at the helm, from New Brunswick, where it and dozens of its brethren served as sprayers and fire retardant planes at Forest Protection Limited for most of the past 40 years. But when it touches ground at the Missoula International Airport, it’ll be Missoula’s again.

The nonprofit Museum of Mountain Flying used a generous gift to buy the plane for an undisclosed but rock-bottom price. It’ll take its place inside the hangar among nine other pioneering mountain planes, including the centerpiece DC-3 that dropped smokejumpers to their deaths in the tragic Mann Gulch fire in 1949. That plane flew back to Missoula in October 2001.

“It’s an historic event for Missoula and the whole state of Montana, really,” said Stan Cohen, the museum board’s president. “It’s not as historic as the Mann Gulch airplane, but it’ll be the only Johnson TBM on display in the U.S.”

Plans are to house “Alpha 13” in the museum hangar, restore its Johnson Flying Service orange and white colors and, perhaps, take it for a spin now and then or do some demonstration water drops.

Other articles on Wildfire Today about Tanker 40 and the BAe-146.

Thanks go out to Bill M. and Dick

air tanker Photo by Bill G

We remember — 10 years ago

Bill's flag for 9/11 — Photo by Bill Gabbert

Today we are thinking of the 343 firefighters that died on 9/11 and the 55 who have died in the last 10 years due to World Trade Center-related illnesses.

Photo by Bill G