Tanker 07, a P2, on the Whoopup fire, July 18, 2011. Photo by Bill Gabbert
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.
U.S. Representative Michael McCaul at the Committee hearing. Photo: Alberto Martinez, American-Statesman
On Monday, October 17, 2011 a subcommittee of the House of Representatives’ Homeland Security committee held a field hearing in Austin entitled “Texas Wildfire Review: Did Bureaucracy Prevent a Timely Response?” The hearing was held in response to the loud complaints from Texas politicians that the federal government has not been providing enough support in dollars and firefighting resources to assist them in suppressing the numerous wildfires that have been occurring in the state since December, 2010.
The hearing was focused on speeding up the process of obtaining firefighting resources from the U. S. Forest Service and financial help from the Federal Emergency Management Administration. Texas Governor Rick Perry has slammed the federal government for deficit spending and has talked about Texas seceding from the United States, but he is seeking more than $200 million from the U.S. government to offset some of the $304 million the state has spent on wildfire suppression. Meanwhile Texas reduced the budget of the state’s wildland firefighting agency by 29 percent for the fiscal year that began in September.
Over the past several weeks there has been a lot of criticism that the USFS should have had more air tankers prepositioned in Texas, and the DC-10 Very Large Air Tanker has been a magnet for attention. When it was deployed to the state it had been working non-stop on fires in California and other states and the flight crew had bumped up against their mandatory days off. When it arrived, the aircraft had to sit for two days while the crew rested and a retardant plant was being assembled. There were complaints that the aircraft should have been able to begin working on fires immediately upon arrival.
But the DC-10, which delivered 280,000 gallons of retardant in 35 drops on fires in Texas, is just one air tanker and does not have any magical powers. Sure, it carries 11,600 gallons of retardant, four to five times more than conventional “large” air tankers that hold 2,200 to 3,000 gallons, but no single air tanker, no matter how big, could have prevented all of the damage from wildfires that Texas has been experiencing. As I’ve said many times before, aircraft do not put out fires. As long as the wind is not too strong, they can slow fires down enough to allow firefighters on the ground to put them out. It’s one tool in the tool box. Now that the U. S. Forest Service has allowed the number of large air tankers on exclusive use contracts to decline from 44 to 11, an air tanker that can carry as much retardant as four to five large air tankers, can be an extremely valuable tool in that box in the right conditions.
Texas Representative Michael McCaul, who organized the hearing, said “Despite all the warnings that Texas faced with it being the driest summer in more than 100 years, there was no prepositioned aircraft to help. We should have had more assets prepositioned. ” Tom Harbour, the Director of Fire and Aviation for the USFS, said the federal government had 3 large air tankers, 3 water-scooping air tankers, 15 single engine air tankers, and 12 helicopters in Texas on September 2 before the fires near Bastrop started.
The U. S. Forest Service has missed another deadline to produce a report about how to deal with the severe shortage of large air tankers. A strategy to replace the dozens of air tankers that were permanently grounded after two very old military surplus air tankers fell apart in mid-air in 2002 should have been developed no later than 2004. Since then, missing promised reports combined with analysis paralysis have resulted in the large air tanker fleet being reduced to 11 on July 29, compared to 44 in 2002. The USFS keeps saying that they have plenty, but in the last couple of weeks they brought on additional air tankers, including three Convair 580s and three CL-215 scooper air tankers, bringing the total to 17 medium and large air tankers on exclusive use contracts.Correction. “JR” tells us that the CL-215s are working on a Call When Needed contract day by day, so they could disappear any time.
The Riverside, California Press-Enterprise follows wildfire very closely and on Saturday published an article detailing the USFS’ multiple failures to produce the reports about how to reconstitute the large air tanker fleet. Here is an excerpt from the article written by Ben Goad:
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Forest Service has again missed its deadline to complete studies needed to shape the agency’s future aerial firefighting strategy, igniting concern from a California lawmaker as wildfire season intensifies across the Inland area.
The Forest Service’s director of fire and aviation, Tom Harbour, acknowledged Friday that some of the review work initially scheduled to be complete in January won’t be finished until next year. Harbour attributed the delays to the complexity and high stakes — both in terms of cost and human lives — involved with modernizing the federal aerial firefighting fleet and accompanying policies.
He stressed that plenty of resources are on hand to battle flames in Inland Southern California, where several blazes have ignited in recent days, including a wildfire Friday in the Cajon Pass that shut down Interstate 15.
“This fall in SoCal, we’ve got more than enough stuff to cover the fire needs,” Harbour said.
For example, he said, three CL 215 firefighting planes known as “Scoopers,” able to drop hundreds of gallons of water at a time on flames in remote areas, were brought to the San Bernardino National Forest during a recent blaze.
But Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who first raised concerns about the delays in February, said she remains unsatisfied with the agency’s progress and said she plans to seek answers from Harbour’s boss.
“Fire season has begun in California, and millions of acres are at high risk of wildfire,” said Feinstein, D-Calif. “I intend to meet with Forest Service chief Tom Tidwell to understand why they have again failed to meet this deadline and enact a strategy to protect Californians from wildfires in the coming years.”
Tuesday afternoon the life of Trampus Haskvitz was celebrated at Hot Springs, South Dakota. Trampus was killed in the line of duty on the Coal Canyon fire northeast of Edgemont, SD on August 11 when he became trapped between a spot fire and the main fire.
The services were held at the Mueller Center in front of a standing room only crowd. There were an estimated 1,300 people in the main auditorium plus an additional 400 who watched it on video in another room.
Speakers during the service included South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard, Joe Lowe director of the South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression Division, Trampus’ brother Ben, and Chaplin Morris Nelson.
While Trampus was a firefighter with the state of South Dakota, the Coal Canyon fire is primarily on U. S. Forest Service land and is listed as a USFS-responsibility fire. The USFS sent a sizeable delegation of high-ranking personnel, including Tom Harbour the Director of Fire and Aviation, and various regional officials, including, I believe, a couple of Regional Foresters.
The Rapid City Fire Department assisted with the planning of the services and also supplied the Honor Guard.
After the services in the Mueller Center, a procession of over 130 fire department vehicles escorted Trampus to the cemetery. Unlike most fire department funerals, most of the trucks were brush engines, rather than structure rigs.
They buried a hero here Tuesday, on a summer day that began with smoke from the fire that killed him hanging in the air above this Southern Hills town.
Trampus Haskvitz, 23, a Buffalo Gap native remembered for his strong heart, gentle spirit and fearless approach to life, died last Thursday fighting the Coal Canyon Fire in the rugged canyon lands near Edgemont.
And smoke from that waning blaze, which was 95 percent contained on Tuesday, created a hazy beginning to a day that drew hundreds of firefighters to say goodbye.
Chaplain Morris Nelson noted the poignant presence of that smoke during a memorial service for Haskvitz at the Mueller Center Auditorium.
“Trampus died last Thursday fighting the fire you can still smell,” Nelson said to about 1,500 people in the packed auditorium.
The crowd included Rapid City Mayor Sam Kooiker, who sat with officers from the city fire department and police department, which just last week buried two of its officers slain in a North Rapid gunfight that draped the city in sadness.
The death of Haskvitz heaped tragedy upon tragedy. And Chaplain Nelson urged those who knew and loved him to remember Haskvitz and his sacrifice whenever they saw or smelled a fire.
Nelson was joined by a fire commander, a governor, a teacher and a brother in offering eulogies to Haskvitz, a college football player who honed that athleticism in seasonal firefighting work for the state Wildland Fire Suppression Division.
…
In his eulogy, Gov. Dennis Daugaard turned to the John Donne poem “No Man is an Island” and its powerful message of interconnectedness, particularly “any man’s death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind.”
The ending of the poem, “never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee” was especially personal, because the memorial service ended with a traditional firefighter’s “last alarm.”
On a shining fire bell near Haskvitz’ casket, an honor squad member from the Rapid City Fire Department rang a sequence of three rings three times, concluding the service as many wept.
The video below shows the first 15 minutes of the 18-minute procession as it passed by my location (YouTube has a 15-minute limit). The fire trucks begin showing up at 2:10 minutes into the video.
Here are some photos I took on Tuesday.
Firefighters entering the services.Engines staged before the services.
P-3 Orion, making a low drop on a fire near Cedar City, Utah, in 2006. From zionhelitack.blogspot.com
The U. S. Forest Service has cancelled their contract for six large air tankers. Due to Aero Union “failing to meet its contractual obligations” their P-3 air tankers are no longer available for wildfires. In April, 2011 the company had eight P-3 air tankers that were grounded for a few days because of “issues found during aircraft inspection on one of the P-3s”. Since then it appears that two of their eight P-3’s were removed from the contract, leaving the six that today’s announcement said are now off contract as well. The air tankers that are now out of service are T-17, T-21, T-22, T-23, T-27 and T-00.
This leaves 11 large air tankers remaining on exclusive use contracts, all P2V’s. With all of the eggs now in the same basket, if a problem is found that grounds all P2V’s, we are down to zero air tankers under federal exclusive use contracts. Contrast that with the 44 that were on contract in 2002. Nine of the eleven remaining P2V’s are operated by Neptune out of Missoula, MT. Minden Air out of Minden, NV has two P2V’s under contract.
The USFS has refused to put the very large air tankers (VLAT) under exclusive use contracts, and only offered call when needed (CWN) contracts, with no minimum hour or day guarantee, for the DC-10’s and the 747, operated by 10 Tanker Air Carrier and Evergreen. 10 Tanker reluctantly signed the CWN contract with the USFS, but Evergreen did not. As we wrote only yesterday, both companies have told Wildfire Today that they will have difficulty continuing to operate their very large air tankers if they are only occasionally used on fires. They are large, complex, single-purpose aircraft and can’t be diverted like helicopters can, to other uses such as law enforcement or news. CalFire’s CWN contract for the DC-10’s specifies a 5-day minimum.
To summarize, the USFS now has only 11 large air tankers under exclusive use contracts, 33 fewer than we had in 2002. The two DC-10’s are under a CWN contract.
We have ranted on several occasions about the sad state of the aging air tanker fleet. It has been nine years since two very old military surplus air tankers literally fell apart in mid air in 2002, killing five crew members, prompting the permanent grounding of about 57% of the ancient large air tankers. You would think that the US Forest Service and the other federal land management agencies would have immediately taken steps to reconstitute the large air tanker fleet. Well they did take steps, but not enough to lead to any action other than commissioning study after study. The issue has been studied to death. It is long past time to make a damn decision and do something. SOMETHING!
The last study that was commissioned was due in January, 2011, but the Rand Corporation did not deliver it on time. Now it is expected in August, and we’ll see if it spurs action, or if like the others, it collects dust on a shelf.
Most firefighters, and especially higher level fire managers, are genetically programmed to evaluate facts and to be decisive. This appalling situation leads me to believe that firefighters are not a significant part of this decision making process.
Analysis Paralysis is the total inability to reach a decision. Found often in the business and corporate setting. Usually a condition caused by nit picking managers and owners. The primary source is management/owner requests for more information, reports, studies, statistics, evaluations, opinion, and research on a subject. All of this requested research and study is accompanied by endless, mindless, discussions in multiple meetings regarding the subject and the compiled information. The end result is no decision is made because the efforts placed to garner information and hold endless meetings and discussions are viewed as progress on the subject matter.
Hey did management ever decide if we were going to get extra donuts on donut day? Are you kidding me? They spent $2,000 on a cost analysis, accounting is still crunching cost figures and they have been discussing it for 9 months. It is in the company’s usual state of total analysis paralysis.
At the Aerial Firefighting Conference held in Washington, DC last May, Frank Gladics, professional staff member with the U.S. Senate energy and natural resources committee, addressed the report that some in the USFS would like to replace the aging fleet of large air tankers with 20 to 30 C-130Js at a cost of $80 to $85 million each. Gladics said funding is not available for such a massive purchase, and…
We need a more diverse fleet. . . . Go back and look at alternate aircraft, including water-scooping aircraft. Our forests, the resources and communities can’t wait another 10 years while you wait for the existing fleet to become inoperable in hopes Congress will be forced to buy you that Ferrari you want.
US Forest Service Cancels Airtanker Contract with Aero Union
California company did not meet agency’s safety standards
WASHINGTON, July 29, 2011–The U.S. Forest Service announced today that it has terminated its contract with Aero Union of Sacramento, Calif., because the company failed to meet its contractual obligations. The company was providing six airtankers under exclusive-use contracts to the Forest Service.
“Our main priority is protecting and saving lives, and we can’t in good conscience maintain an aviation contract where we feel lives may be put at risk due to inadequate safety practices” said Tom Harbour, director of the Forest Service’s Fire and Aviation Management program. “This contract termination notwithstanding, we possess the aircraft support needed for this year’s fire season.”
The Forest Service has access to additional aviation assets to meet operational needs. Two other private companies provide 11 large airtankers under exclusive-use contracts. In addition, there are two very large airtankers available through a “call when needed” contract, as well as eight military firefighting aircraft.
The five-year contract the Forest Service signed with Aero Union in 2008 required participation in a continued airworthiness program, which included a Fatigue and Damage Tolerance Evaluation and structural inspection program. In April 2011, Aero Union informed the Forest Service that the Federal Aviation Administration found the company was not in compliance with its mandated structural inspection program requirements.
More information about the aging air tanker fleet on Wildfire Today:
DC-10 dropping on the Wallow fire near Greer, AZ, June 11, 2011. Photo, Kari Greer, USFS
From reading the report that came out of the Aerial Firefighting Conference held in Washington, DC May 25-26, it must have been a very interesting gathering. Organized by Tangent Link, it assembled many of the movers and shakers in the field that work in the United States.
Discussion topics on the agenda included:
How do we calculate and what are the real costs in tackling wild land fires in the USA?
Should there be a new Federal lead agency in prioritizing and resolving wild land fire assets, resources and funding?
Is there a need for more research and development activities in finding better solutions for combating ‘Mega’ wild land fires?
Which aircraft are in development that could be used to combat these fires?
Would the use of Military technologies enable for a more direct and responsive approach to combating fires, including night time operations?
Technical advances and solutions in development
What is the correct mix of aerial assets in combating fires and should there be a centralized aerial firefighting squadron?
What is the best approach in training aerial firefighting teams in new tactics and technologies?
Confirmed Speakers included:
Tom Harbour – Director of USDA Forest Service Fire & Aviation Management
Ray Chaney – Battalion Chief, CAL FIRE – Aerial Firefighting Airborne Sensor Down Linking
Frank M. Gladics, Minority Professional Staff, U.S. Senate Energy & Natural Resource Committee, USA – The Budgetary and Political Realities of replacing the existing fleet of large fixed-wing tankers
Norman Christensen, Professor of Ecology, Duke University, North Carolina: Fire Management- Past, Present & Future
William Derr, Special Agent in Charge of California Region, US Forest Service (Retd): The Elements of Success & Measurement in Aerial Fire Fighting
Rick Hatton – CEO, 10 Tanker Air Carrier – Raising the Bar in Fixed Wing Air tanker Operations
Mark Bickham, National Program Manager (Ret’d) Bureau of Land Management, USA – Single Engine Air Tankers
