This GoPro video of an engine crew fighting fire in Australia on February 9, 2014 is fascinating. It shows the Mt. Macedon 1 crew of the Country Fire Authority (CFA) suppressing a fire near Gisborne, Victoria using a remote controlled front-mounted nozzle and firefighters on the back of the truck using two additional nozzles. An Erickson Air-Crane helicopter is also seen making several water drops. You might notice how fast the driver can back the truck up after their path on a dirt road is suddenly blocked by flames.
The crew shot about two hours of video and edited it down to six minutes of highlights.
The fire burned about 2,500 hectares (6,200 acres) and five homes at Riddells Creek and Gisborne South in what the CFA said was the biggest fire in the area in 30 years.
Like it says at the end of the video — they had a busy day.
Before you comment on the tactics, remember our comment policy, and consider that your view of the fire is like looking through a soda straw.
Fire near Wallan, 60 km north of Melbourne. New South Wales RFS photo.
Police investigating 14 suspicious fires in Victoria
Police and fire investigators in Victoria, Australia are looking carefully at 14 fires that occurred over the last week for which arson is suspected. In over 400 fires since Thursday of last week, homes, animals, and crops have been destroyed or killed. A radio and print ad campaign will urge residents to report any suspicious activity to Crime Stoppers.
Wild meteorology terms go mainstream
Melissa Mahony has written an op-ed for livescience.com in which she examines some interesting and sometimes complex scientific weather terms that have crept into the mainstream over the last year or so. Ms. Mahony goes into a little detail about each one, but here is the list… how many are you familiar with?
Doc Hastings, of “Cantwell-Hastings Bill”, to retire
Rep. Doc Hastings
One of the two federal legislators who deserve most of the blame for passing the infamous Cantwell-Hastings Bill, which did irreparable harm to the process of learning lessons after wildfire accidents, is retiring.
The bill was sponsored by Senator Maria Cantwell and U.S. Representative Doc Hastings, and became Public Law 107-203 in 2002. It includes this passage:
In the case of each fatality of an officer or employee of the Forest Service that occurs due to wildfire entrapment or burnover, the Inspector General of the Department of Agriculture shall conduct an investigation of the fatality. The investigation shall not rely on, and shall be completely independent of, any investigation of the fatality that is conducted by the Forest Service.
The Cantwell-Hastings bill, signed into law in 2002, was a knee-jerk reaction to the fatalities on the Thirtymile fire the previous year. The Department of Agriculture’s Inspector General’s office had no experience or training in the suppression or investigation of wildland fires. They are much more likely to be investigating violations at a chicken ranch than evaluating fire behavior and tactical decisions at a wildfire. The goal of the Inspector General investigation would be to determine if any crimes were committed, so that a firefighter could be charged and possibly sent to prison.
After the bill was passed, a firefighter on the Thirtymile Fire was charged with 11 felonies, including four counts of manslaughter. Now firefighters have to lawyer-up after an accident and they sometimes do everything they can to avoid talking to investigators. After the 19 fatalities on the Yarnell Hill fire, the U.S. Forest Service prohibited their employees from providing information to one of the investigation teams, a decision that may have been a result of the environment created by Cantwell-Hastings. Lessons are now much more difficult to learn.
There are many bushfires burning in Victoria and New South Wales. I am currently rebuilding my computer after wiping it and re-installing everything, so in the interests of time, below are some images sent by some folks down under recently. You should be able to get a sense of what some of the fires are like.
My State is on fire. 🙁 Over 70 fires burning. My thoughts go out to all affected and on the frontline #Victoria pic.twitter.com/iq2toHe1Wa
The United States has sent firefighters to Australia to assist with bushfires twice in the last five years.
U.S. firefighters in Victoria, Australia, February, 2009. Photo by Wol Worrell.
With the bushfire season in southeast Australia heating up much earlier than normal, some are wondering if the United States is going to send wildland firefighters down under to give them a hand. In the last eight years this has happened four times, in 2006, 2007, 2009, and 2010. At least two of those deployments were in January and February during their fire season that typically runs from December through February. With this very unusual October siege underway in New South Wales, which has been described as the worst wildfire conditions in more than 40 years, and with more than 200 homes destroyed, these conditions are an outlier, very different from the normal fire occurrence.
We checked with our sources in Boise and there are no immediate plans underway to send American firefighters to Australia. But the down under bushfire season has not even officially started — it could be an interesting summer below the equator.
In February, 2009, the United States sent 60 wildfire specialists to Victoria to assist with operations, planning and logistics. That included two thirteen-person teams specializing in rehabilitating burned areas, and one 20-person suppression team. I believe the “suppression team” was a thrown-together group of experienced firefighters formed into a crew, since no hotshot crews were on duty in February. More information about that deployment is HERE, HERE, and HERE.
In January, 2010, the United States again sent firefighters to Australia. That time it was approximately 17 people, with most of them being assigned within Victoria. Some details about that trip are HERE, HERE, and HERE.
The international assistance has worked in both directions. In July, 2008, 44 Australian and New Zealand firefighters came to the United States to assist with fires in California. The first deployment of firefighters from Australia to the U.S. was in 2000.
After investigating the deaths of two firefighters in a fire near Harriteville, Victoria, a report released Tuesday concluded the management, strategy, and tactics employed on the fire were appropriate. Firefighters Katie Peters, 19, of Tallandoon, and Steven Kadar, 34, of Corryong, died on February 13 when a tree fell on their vehicle while they were working on the fire. The report was written by Victorian Emergency Services Commissioner Michael Hallowes.
Locals had questioned the management of the fire after it was under control, only for it to spot and then burn for another 55 days. The report said the fire spotted over firelines, “from one remote, steep and densely vegetated inaccessible area to another”.
Fire in the Grampians. Taken at 1700 hours Friday Feb. 15 by Tom Goldstraw
Tom Goldstraw, one of our loyal readers in Australia, sent us these photos of a fire in the Grampians region of western Victoria. He reports that the fire was 170 hectares (427 acres) when he arrived and it had burned 35,000 hectares (86,000 acres) when they left. It was a tough trip, he said. Lighting ignited 12 fires, many of which were swept up in two large fires.
Thanks Tom!
Monday 18th Falling back to asset protection, D7 dozer retreating after multiple spot fires closed off all exit roads. ( we all fell back to a wool shed which would have been the most protected asset in the state D7 4 pigs and 10 heavy tankers)Monday 18th Sky crane filling with VicForests and DSE crews filling from quick fill, fire came out into the paddocks moments after this photo (Fire behaviour increasing rapidly and only 1130am)Sunday 17th, waiting for the fire to cool down and start dozer work and back burning operations from the private property interfaceMonday 18th, fire well into the private paddocks burning behind our safe area near the wool shed
