News and opinion about wildland fire
The March winds were blowing almost like a Santa Ana in Wind Cave National Park Sunday afternoon. When I was taking these photos I had to brace myself by leaning against something or by getting down on one knee to minimize camera movement. At one point the wind drove a few little hard kernels of snow, “corn snow” into the crevices of my coat and the camera, but that only lasted for a few seconds.
Very strong winds pushed the East Argyle Fire across 107 acres of private land in the Black Hills of South Dakota on Monday. At one weather station in the area a wind gust of 55 mph was measured, challenging firefighters from state, federal, and local fire departments. The fire, which is south of Pringle, SD (map) was reported at 1:34 p.m. on Monday. Thanks to decreasing winds and temperatures reaching down to about 12° during the night, it was contained by mid-morning on Tuesday.
These photos were taken by Bill Gabbert at approximately 4 p.m. MT, March 5, 2013.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized6 Comments on Elk and bison in Wind Cave National Park 
It was a beautiful day in the Black Hills Saturday so I drove into Wind Cave National Park. The elk and bison seemed to be enjoying the warmish weather (40 degrees) and sunshine.
The little guy below approached my truck. I assumed he wanted to either inspect it for road salt that he could lick off, or might want to use it as a scratching post, so I moved forward about 50 feet. He followed, so I moved again, and he came along again. I blew my horn thinking it might scare him away. It startled him and he froze, but then the rest of the group, about 30 bison, started walking toward me, and I, uh, suddenly remembered something I needed to do and left the area.
All photos are by Bill Gabbert, and protected by copyright.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized3 Comments on Badlands National Park, New Year’s Eve There were no fires in Badlands National Park yesterday.
Click on the images to see larger versions. All photos were taken by Bill Gabbert.
I love living within 15 minutes of a national park. In this case it’s Wind Cave in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Late this afternoon I grabbed my cameras and drove into the park to see what was out and about.
I saw some deer in the distance and wanted to get some shots of them, but of all the large animals in Wind Cave, the deer are one of the more skittish. So I parked my truck where they could not see me and with a hill shielding me from their sight, I sneaked up to get as close as I could. When I crested the hill they saw me at the same time I saw them. They froze for one second and I quickly took this photo:
Then they immediately ran. And you can see why the species is named White Tail Deer:
Later I saw a herd of at least 50 elk about a half mile away — I was glad I had a 400mm lens. Here is a portion of the herd:
Continue reading “Photo safari in a national park”
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized15 Comments on Air Force report says microburst caused crash of MAFFS air tanker 
(Update: On November 29, 2012 the Air Force released the full report on the crash. More details are at FireAviation.com HERE and HERE.)
A US Air Force report concluded that strong winds out of a thunderstorm caused the crash of a military C-130 air tanker July 1. The accident occurred on the White Draw Fire near Edgemont, South Dakota and resulted in four fatalities. Two crewmen in the rear of the aircraft were injured but survived. Those two were operating the Modular Airborne FireFighting System (MAFFS) in the cargo hold which enables the C-130 to function as an air tanker, capable of dropping up to 3,000 gallons of fire retardant.
The report said a microburst of turbulent air out of a thunderstorm caused the crash. During a previous retardant drop on the fire 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 about five minutes after the first one.
A lead plane flying a half-mile ahead of the C-130 experienced a microburst that pushed it within 10 feet of the ground. According to a news release from the Department of Defense:
The investigation also determined factors that substantially contributed to the mishap included the failure of the Lead Plane and Air Attack aircrews to communicate critical operational information; as well as conflicting operational guidance concerning thunderstorm avoidance.
“If you add all the pieces up, it was very clear they should not have attempted the second drop,” said Brig. Gen. Randall Guthrie, the Air Force Reserve officer who led the investigation. “With all apparent conditions, they should not have gone ahead.”
The Associated Press reports:
“They struggled to keep that [lead] plane flying,” Guthrie said. A second small plane also reported “more than moderate turbulence.”
The crews of those planes failed to alert the trailing C-130 to go around the storm, the investigation found. Instead, the lead plane crew advised the C-130 to drop its load of retardant to lighten the craft to help it climb.
“We felt like they had information and the importance of that information was not passed,” Guthrie said. Those crews later said “they also didn’t really add all those factors up themselves.”
The C-130 dropped the retardant but crashed seconds later, dropping into a lightly-wooded plateau, then into a ravine and breaking apart.
The aircraft that crashed was MAFFS #7 from the North Carolina Air National Guard’s 145th Airlift Wing based at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport.
We are working on obtaining a copy of the full report. We we get it, we’ll update this article with a link.
Killed in the crash were Lt. Col. Paul Mikeal, 42, of Mooresville; Maj. Joseph McCormick, 36, of Belmont; Maj. Ryan David, 35, of Boone; and Senior Master Sgt. Robert Cannon, 50, of Charlotte. The two seriously injured were Chief Master Sgt. Andy Huneycutt and Sgt. Josh Marlowe of Boiling Springs.
UPDATE: links to the report can be found at FireAviation.com
Thanks go out to Al
