Tag: smokejumpers

Wildfire morning briefing, November 25, 2012

Additional resources ordered for Colorado’s Fern Lake Fire

A large Type 1 helicopter and six smokejumpers have been ordered for the Fern Lake Fire which has been burning in Rocky Mountain National Park since October 9 eight miles west of Estes Park, Colorado. The jumpers will fill overhead positions on the fire.

Dry and unseasonably warm weather has contributed to the fire spreading in recent days to a total of 1,200 acres. For the month of November, the area has only received 0.01″ of precipitation. A record was recently set for the highest Energy Release Component (fire danger index) recorded for this time of year. The weather forecast for the next seven days calls for more dry weather, except for a 10 percent chance of rain on Monday.

Little direct action has been taken on the fire due to steep terrain, hazardous trees, heavy fuel loads, and the difficulty in extracting a firefighter should an injury occur.

Other articles on Wildfire Today about the Fern Lake Fire

Cameras to watch for fires in Oregon

Two web cameras are being installed to watch for wildfires near Lake Chinook in Central Oregon. Firefighters will be able to access the images on their computers or cell phones, according to the Bend Bulletin. The Oregon Department of Forestry has plans for eight web cams in Grant, Hood River, Wasco and Wheeler counties.

Dogs rescued that were found by firefighters

The dogs that were part of a dog fighting operation discovered by firefighters while suppressing a fire near Rogersville, Tennessee are being rescued. Personnel with Animal Rescue Corps have removed 65 dogs from the facility in Cheatham County. Firefighters had to suspend their suppression operations after they discovered the facility threatened by the fire that housed dogs and roosters used for dog and cock fighting.

Opinion: how to reduce cost of wildfires

An opinion piece at the Denver Post has some suggestions on how to hold down the increasing costs of suppressing wildfires in the west. Here is an excerpt:

…For example, mapping areas at high risk of fires and landowner education of the costs of building in the WUI must expand.

The federal government also should provide technical assistance and incentives to local governments to direct future building away from the WUI. At the same time, Congress could limit or restrict mortgage deductions for homes in the WUI, while also allowing insurance companies to charge higher premiums in fire-prone areas.

Thanks go out to Dick

C-27J used for first time on missions in the United States

C-27J assisting with recovery from Hurricane Sandy, delivering generators and other equipment to the New York area, November 3, 2012. National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. David Speicher.

A bill was introduced in the Senate in July to transfer 14 surplus C-27J Spartan aircraft from the Department of Defense to the U.S. Forest Service to be used as air tankers. Nothing has happened to the bill, S. 3441, except to be transferred to a committee, where only 3 percent of the bills introduced in 2009-2010 were enacted.

The Air Force no longer has any C-27Js in Afganistan, but recently they were used for the first time on a mission in the United States. Air National Guard crews from Ohio, Mississippi and Maryland flew the first-ever C-27J domestic operations missions transporting power generation equipment and Humvees to Stewart Air National Guard Base, N.Y., to help provide needed power resources to areas affected by Hurricane Sandy.

According to 1st Lt. Ken V. McGee, a public affairs officer for the Ohio Army National Guard, the 1484th Transportation Company was convoying about 70 trucks and 118 soldiers to set up a food and water distribution point in New York City as part of Ohio’s response to assist neighboring states. An advance team was airlifted by three C-27Js: one each from Maryland, Ohio and Mississippi ANG units.

“This gets the equipment there faster than on the ground,” said Lt. Col. Gary Laubach, an aircraft commander from 135th ASQ.

The C-27J crew flew their plane to Macon, Ga., Oct. 27 – safely out of the path of Hurricane Sandy. On Wednesday, they returned and were immediately put on alert for disaster relief missions.

“It feels different when you are so close to home and closer to your state,” said Laubach while talking about the difference between this mission and past disaster relief missions. “One of our pilot’s mothers is in the affected area and will be out of power for a week. This mission was great – extremely satisfying. It feels good to get stuff to the people who need it; I only wish I could be there when the generators get plugged in where the people need the electricity. This is the best mission you could get.”

Another aircraft the military wants to stop using is the C-23 Sherpa. A Florida Army Guard C-23 transported 6,500 pounds of Meals Ready to Eat from Fort Belvoir, Va., to Farmingdale, N.Y., over the weekend. The U.S. Forest Service has at least one C-23 that they use for dropping smokejumpers.

C-23 C-27J Sherpa smokejumpers

Smokejumpers’ DC-3 retires

DC-3 smokejumper — Jump-42, a US Forest Service DC-3, retires. USFS photo, taken at Ogden, Utah, October 24, 2012.

A retirement ceremony was held Monday, October 24 in Ogden, Utah, for a 69-year old firefighter that served for 42 years. It was J-42, a DC-3 that for four decades flew firefighters and smokejumpers around the western United States. Manufactured in 1943, its radial piston engines were replaced with modern turbines a number of years ago, extending its life while providing more reliability and requiring less maintenance. Most recently the aircraft had been assigned to the smokejumper base at McCall, Idaho.

There is still one other US Forest Service DC-3 remaining, stationed at Missoula. It also went through the turbine conversion years ago, but recently serious structural problems were found which required extensive repairs. That aircraft is expected to begin flying again next year. It will probably be used for a few more years before it too faces retirement.

Approximately 607 DC-3s were built between 1936 and 1942. At that time their cost was $79,000. Most of them had 14-cylinder Pratt and Whitney radial engines.

After being around the DC-3s off and on while on fire assignments, I never got used to the strange, new turbine sound coming from the aircraft after the conversion. I loved hearing those 28 cylinders. We still get to hear it from the 36 cylinders in the two radial engines on the currently-flying P2V air tankers operated by Neptune Aviation out of Missoula. But the days for hearing that sound are numbered, as the air tanker fleet transitions to the “next generation”.

When I worked on the El Cariso Hot Shots in southern California, we were told that previously, in the 1950s or 1960s, a DC-3 had been stationed at a nearby airport, possibly Ontario, ready to transport El Cariso and the Del Rosa Hot Shots to fires.

I flew in one of the USFS DC-3s in the 1970s, from Redding, California to a fire on the Plumas National Forest. At the time I had a cold and my ears had difficulty equalizing in the unpressurized aircraft. The pain was severe as we climbed to cruising altitude and leveled off. After a while my ears finally equalized and the pain subsided. That’s when we began our descent and the process started all over again.

Thanks go out to Ken and Chris.

DC-3 smokejumpers

Wildfire morning briefing, September 14, 2012

Three telecom companies to pay $12 million for 2007 fire

The California Public Utilities Commission has reached an agreement with Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint in which will each company pay $4 million for the ignition of the 2007 Malibu Canyon Fire, which destroyed 10 homes, burned 3,836 acres, while injuring three firefighters.

Utah power company being sued for starting fire

About 100 property owners have filed a lawsuit against Rocky Mountain Power for starting the Wood Hollow Fire which destroyed 52 structures and left one man dead in June. A fire investigator determined that the fire, which was south of Salt Lake City and north of Mt. Pleasant, was caused by arcing between two high-voltage lines. The power company claims the lawsuit is unnecessary because they are offering cash settlements to land owners.

Smokejumper dines with President Obama

A smokejumper from Boise, Idaho was one of three people who won a contest sponsored by the Obama campaign, for which the prize was dinner with the President. Each of the three winners brought a guest for the August 20 meal in Washington, DC, and smokejumper Ben Oakleaf in the photo above brought his mother.

Here is the way the campaign described Mr. Oakleaf:

Winner Ben Oakleaf is a wildfire smoke jumper from Idaho, and described as “proud to have a President who supports the environment and stands up for the middle class.” He brought his mother Judy, a retired high school English teacher.

Mr. Oakleaf is one of the lead trainers of rookies at the Boise smokejumper base.

Here is a link to photo which shows some of the other winners, which were a music professor from North Carolina and an assistant high school principal from Florida.

Insurance company creates their own fire department

The September 24 issue of Fortune magazine has an article describing how some insurance companies are dispatching firefighters to protect the homes of some of their high-end customers if they are threatened by an approaching fire. Chartis, a division of AIG, previously contracted with the Bozeman, Montana based Wildfire Defense Systems to provide fire protection, but in 2010 created its own internal fire department. The company has 14 firefighters who this year have taken their 7 engines to 12 fires in the western United States.

Thanks go out to Kelly

smokejumpers

Spread of fire near Casper slows

DC-10 drops on Sheep Herder Hill fire on Monday

This spectacular photo of Air Tanker 911, a DC-10, dropping on the Sheep Herder Hill Complex near Casper, Wyoming was taken by Alan Rogers of the Casper Star-Tribune yesterday. The photo, along with the video we posted on September 10, tends to disprove the assertions that the Very Large Air Tankers can only be used in “flat or gently-rolling terrain”.

The Casper Star-Tribune has several other photos of the interior of the DC-10 on their web site along with an article about the aircraft. We thank Mr. Rogers for allowing us to use this excellent photograph.

The fire, which became known as the Sheep Herder Hill Complex when a new fire started a couple of miles away Monday night, grew by about 600 acres on Tuesday to a total of 15,887 acres, according to Neal Kephart, a spokesperson for the fire. The Type 2 Incident Management Team led by Incident Commander Todd Pechota took over management of the new fire, named Elkhorn, and aggressively attacked it Monday and Tuesday with engines, aircraft, and smokejumpers, stopping the spread after it burned 8 acres.

Map of Sheep Herder Hill Complex, September 11, 2012. ESRI

Evacuations are still in effect for 150 homes, and another 800 are threatened, according to Mr. Kephart.

Firefighters are getting a break from the weather today, with a forecast for a high temperature of 67 degrees and a 7 to 9 mph wind out of the east and northeast. The relative humidity will bottom out at 21%.

The DC-10 and Tanker 40, a BAe-146, are still parked at the Casper airport 15 miles northeast of the fire along with 4 single engine air tankers, but as of 11:30 a.m. today had not been used yet today.

Other resources on the fire include 7 helicopters (4 large Type 1s, and 3 smaller Type 3s), 17 engines, 4 dozers, and 292 personnel. Two of the helicopters are from the National Guard.

air tanker smokejumpers Wyoming

Photos of Tanker 41 and smokejumpers at Missoula.

Tanker 41 at Missoula — Tanker 41. Wildfire Today photo

Here are a couple of photos taken at Missoula, Montana today. Tanker 41 is the second BAe-146 that Neptune Aviation has leased from Tronos, a company based on Prince Edward Island in Canada. The air tanker can’t be put into service for the U.S. Forest Service until the agency resolves a protest about the contracts that were recently awarded for next generation air tankers.

The photo below shows smokejumpers loading onto a Twin Otter aircraft after being dispatched to a fire.

Smokejumpers loading onto an aircraft at Missoula, August 11, 2012. Wildfire Today photo.

And, for a bonus, we have a photo of the TBM air tanker that Missoula’s Museum of Mountain Flying purchased last year. The TBM flew into Missoula on October 10, 2011 and is on display at the museum. TBM’s could carry about 600 gallons of retardant. This compares to the 3,000 the BAe-146 can hold. or the 20,000 gallon capacity of the 747 supertanker.

A TBM air tanker at Missoula’s Museum of Mountain Flying. Wildfire Today photo.

BAe-146 smokejumpers

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.

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(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

Nine smokejumpers killed in Russia

File photo of Russian smokejumpers. Photo: Mark Thiessen/National Geographic

UPDATE at 11:35 a.m. MT, June 7, 2012: A ninth firefighter has unfortunately died. (Reported by Chuck Bushey of the IAWF and by the Russian media company ITAR-TASS from a Rosleskhoz Federal Forestry Agency source.)

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Russian authorities announced on June 7 that eight smokejumpers were entrapped and killed in a wildfire in southern Siberia. The eight jumpers were part of a team of 14 that parachuted into the fire. The other six managed to escape from unexpected fire behavior thought to be caused by a wind shift. One was admitted to a hospital with serious burn injuries.

The BBC reported that authorities have opened a criminal negligence investigation into the incident.

Last year we told you about an excellent article in National Geographic about the smokejumping program in Russia. The country has 4,000 jumpers working out of 340 bases across the country.

Our condolences go out to the family and coworkers of these firefighters.
Thanks go out to Dick

fatality lodd Mark Thiessen Russia smokejumpers

Paratroopers hung up in trees are rescued by fire department

Smokejumpers occasionally get hung up in trees, but they are trained to use the rope they carry to lower themselves to the ground. But two military paratroopers had to be rescued by fire departments after they landed in trees near Rainier, Washington Thursday afternoon. Neither was injured. Here is an excerpt from an article in The News Tribune:

The Joint Base Lewis-McChord fire department used a ground ladder to retrieve a male paratrooper who was stuck more than 30 feet in the air. But they had to wait for the Thurston County Special Operations Rescue Team to rescue the female paratrooper, who was between 70 and 75 feet off the ground, Lacey fire battalion chief Steve Crimmins said. The team includes firefighters from six fire agencies equipped and trained for rescues on steep slopes and in trenches, collapsed buildings and trees.

Firefighters were able to position a ladder truck close enough to get the female paratrooper.

I have never heard of a smokejumper that was rescued by a ladder truck.

And speaking of smokejumpers, the U.S. Forest Service smokejumpers who have always used the traditional round parachute, are transitioning to the square chute like the Bureau of Land Management has been using for a long time. Some jumpers are receiving training now on the “new” chute in preparation for the upcoming fire season.

smokejumpers

Smokejumping in Russia

National Geographic has a great article about fighting wildland fires in Russia, specifically, smokejumping in Russia, where they have 4,000 jumpers working out of 340 bases across the country. According to the article written by Glenn Hodges, who with a photographer spent over three weeks observing and camping with the firefighters, it is a whole different world compared to fighting fire in the United States or Canada.

Here are some excerpts from the article, which is a must read:

It’s a shoestring operation—just $32 million a year to cover 11 time zones, less than the United States might spend in a few days of a heavy wildfire season. But with their mismatched uniforms and 50-year-old biplanes, Russian smokejumpers do what their countrymen do so well: make do with less. Less money, less equipment, and yes, less caution—even with fire.

When we break camp the next day to return to Shushenskoye, I’m surprised to see that the campfire is left smoldering. It’s a hot July day, which would be bad enough without the helicopter’s rotor wash blowing everything all over the place, but the risk doesn’t even seem to register with Alex, central Siberia’s most powerful firefighting official. In the U.S., firefighters would douse a fire on an ice floe in the dead of winter, especially with journalists around. But here they play the odds the way they see them, and perfect safety is burdensome and unnecessary. Fire shelters and fireproof clothing? Too expensive, but that’s OK, because the odds of needing them are low. Seat belts? Impractical. Thousands of times you will buckle and unbuckle, and probably for nothing. Campfire? It’s not going anywhere.

and…

The smokejumpers are true woodsmen—hunting, fishing, and trapping sable in the off-season to make ends meet, as nimble with an ax and knife as they are with their hands. When they land at a fire and make camp, they don’t just make tent poles and shovel handles from saplings, they make tables, benches, shelves—you name it. I’m amazed to see one guy make a watertight mug out of birch bark.

It’s a good thing their outdoor skills are solid, because their equipment often isn’t. When we return from the fire line, Valeriy discovers that one of his brand-new experimental smokejumper boots has melted. The rubber sole is a mash of black goo. His boots lasted “an hour, at best” he says angrily, before launching into a torrent of complaint about poor Russian equipment. “This tent like from Second World War,” he says, pointing at the canvas tent that will welcome mosquitoes and rain into our lives for days to come. The tents have no mosquito netting, the chain saws are heavy and unwieldy, the backpacks have no waist straps, the pull-on boots are made of cheap synthetic leather (and feet must be wrapped in towels to make them fit), the clothing is neither fire retardant nor water resistant. And everything is heavy.

Mark Thiessen smokejumpers