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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Aug 29, 2009 22:16:03 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 30, 2009 11:53:52 GMT 12
Amazing photos. I read that Australia is once again also suffering from bush fires right now. It seems very early in the season for it there.
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Aug 30, 2009 22:47:16 GMT 12
From the Los Angeles Times10,000 homes are threatenedAcross the burning foothills, 1,000 are ordered to flee. Others watch, and dread the phone call to evacuate.By LOUIS SAHAGUN, ANN M SIMMONS and ESMERALDA BERMUDEZ | 12:53AM PDT - Sunday, August 30, 2009A plane drops fire retardant on a burning hillside above homes in Altadena. The Station fire has consumed more than 21,000 acres, propelled by temperatures that eclipsed 100 degrees farenheit and single-digit humidity. — Christine Cotter/Los Angeles Times/August 29,2009.The unstoppable Angeles National Forest fire threatened 10,000 homes Saturday night as it more than tripled in size and chewed through a rapidly widening swath of the Crescenta Valley, where flames closed in on backyards and at least 1,000 homes were ordered evacuated.
Sending an ominous plume of smoke above the Los Angeles Basin, the fire was fueled by unrelenting hot weather and dense brush that has not burned in 60 years.
It took off Saturday afternoon in all directions, forcing residents out of homes from Big Tujunga Canyon to Pasadena, and reached toward Mount Wilson.
Heavy smoke clung to the mountains and created a hot and massive convection column that limited the evening aerial fire fight.
Officials predicted that the blaze would continue its march toward homes and across hills through the night with flames that could reach as high as 80 feet.
Late Saturday, U.S. Forest Service officials said they were moving "several hundred firefighters" into the Acton area, where they expected the fire to reach this morning.
At midnight, crews were on alert for a wind shift.
The fire was headed toward Yerba Buena and Santa Clara ridges. El Dorado County Fire Capt. Larry Marinas said it was currently "probably bumping" against them, but all he could say for sure was that flames could reach those ridges "in 12 hours."
Forest Service officials said three civilians were burned and airlifted from rural Big Tujunga Canyon, where at least three to five homes were destroyed. One fire official, after surveying the canyon, estimated that the damage toll may be much worse.
No other homes had been lost by early evening as throngs of residents — belongings loaded in cars — descended from the hills.
"I wish I had good news for you," Les Curtis, a fire operations chief, said during a night briefing for firefighters. He shook his head and pointed to the map of the expanding fire zone. "How many of you have knots in your stomach?" he asked. More than a dozen raised their hands.
"Nothing can stop it," said Jost Vielmetter, 62, a Caltech scientist who watched the flames from the northern edge of Altadena.
By late Saturday afternoon, the fire had consumed more than 21,000 acres, propelled by temperatures that eclipsed 100 degrees, single-digit humidity and steep, rugged topography that made for a formidable foe despite low winds.
Firefighters can only expect a slight reprieve on the heat today as red-flag warnings extend until tonight. But more significant cooling and even a moist marine layer are expected Monday morning.
Fire officials estimate that about 10,000 homes are in danger if the fire continues burning unchecked.
At sundown, as scattered power outages hit the area, flames encircled the ridges near Briggs Terrace on the northeastern edge of La Crescenta. By 7:30 p.m., the northern end of Pickens Canyon, close to the neighborhood, exploded in flames.
"Oh, my God. This is what I've been dreading all day," said David Ferrera, 35, who grew up in the area.
It was the first time that he and his neighbors were seized with worry. At that point, clouds of glowing embers began floating up from the fire. Suddenly, so-called hotshots — firefighters with shovels and axes — rushed by on their way to battle.
Later, a wall of fire crept like lava along the mountainside toward Pickens Canyon homes. A tree would light up in a column of fire every few moments. On the streets, the air was still and quiet except for the crackle and roar of flames.
Firefighters climbed through backyards at the ends of the cul-de-sacs fronting the forest, laying their hoses and waiting to make a stand.
Captain Kevin Klar of the Los Angeles County Fire Department was in place on Bristow Drive. "As far as the area goes, I think we're going to be all right," he said.
More than 1,800 firefighters from throughout California and the West used an arsenal of weapons to fight the flames.
Ten helicopters dropping buckets of water and eight air tankers were enlisted in the daytime fight.
Officials also are deploying at least one DC-10, one of the largest and most expensive pieces of firefighting equipment in the world.
Elsewhere, firefighters were on the verge of containing the Morris fire north of Azusa and a separate blaze on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Firefighters also made progress on a fire near Hemet in the San Bernardino National Forest, which has burned nearly 2,300 acres and was 30% contained.
As flames bore down on canyon cul-de-sacs in the Crescenta Valley into the evening, residents watched raptly as firefighters — in the air and on the ground — valiantly kept the fire away from homes.U.S. Forest Service firefighters survey the flames of the Station fire along Angeles Crest Highway. — Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/August 29, 2009.On the northern edge of Altadena, a DC-10 unloading fire retardant at the base of a column of smoke received a standing ovation from residents in the 3900 block of Chapman Court, which had been under mandatory evacuation orders for an hour.
Among them was physician John Cooper, 52.
"I think the firefighters are doing an incredible job. I'm in awe. I'd like to line them all up and shake their hands one at a time — and we also have our fingers crossed," Cooper said, acknowledging the precarious nature of his address. "Live on the edge, and you take your chances."
Evacuated residents could only wait, watch and worry as flames licked the ridges near their homes. Some La Cañada Flintridge residents were evacuated Friday night, but on Saturday that mandatory evacuation order widened to parts of Altadena, La Crescenta, north Glendale and Big Tujunga Canyon. More evacuations were expected throughout the night.
All faced the same nerve-racking drill: the automated phone calls ordering them to leave, the choices about what to pack up, the negotiations with skittish pets refusing to be stuffed into portable kennels.
In Glendale, in the evacuation area north of Santa Carlotta Road, residents were packing up their cars and watering their lawns after being notified to leave.
Joanna Linkchorst, 42, dashed around her house videotaping her belongings, but appeared possessed of a preternatural calm. "For some reason I'm not concerned," she said. "There are far too many houses that would have to burn before it gets down here."
Although authorities stressed that people should not defy evacuation orders — it puts them as well as fire and police personnel at risk — some did anyway.
In Pickens Canyon, firefighter hotshots had taken up positions in front of about a dozen homes beneath the oak canopy. Every few minutes, patrol cars cruised by, urging holdouts to leave.
At 8:30 p.m., a law enforcement officer asked Bob Jamison and Gary Ireland, who were sprawled on lawn chairs watching the fire, to collect their belongings and leave the area.
"Everything's under control here," Jamison responded. "We got all the women, pets and important papers down the mountain."
Jay Porter, 47, and his two teenage sons stood on an Altadena ridgeline overlooking tinder-dry Millard Canyon as flames advanced to within 1,000 feet of his two-story Spanish-style home.
"I want to know what's going on here for as long as I possibly can," said Porter, who wasn't budging early Saturday evening. "Right now, I have more information than a lot of my neighbors."
He said, however, that he would relent overnight. He made reservations at a nearby Westin hotel that he said was offering "refugee specials" for evacuees — in his case, that includes two dogs and a cockatiel.
He watched as earthmovers in the distance rumbled over the ridge, toppling flammable chaparral and small trees in their paths. "Makes me happy," he said.
Ray Henmann, a 76-year-old graphic designer from Glendale whose home on Brookhill Street is in the evacuation area, said he had no plans to leave his home of 48 years.
The fire, he said, would have to come within a few streets of his home before he fled. "I'm not going to panic, I've lived too long to panic," Henmann said.
Across the region, there was no escaping the specter of what has been dubbed the Station fire. An ominous cloud of smoke wafted across the area and rose as high as 20,000 feet in the air, visible from the ocean and the San Fernando Valley, even the Antelope Valley. Otherwise fire-savvy Los Angeles residents were so startled by the sight that they inundated 911 emergency lines with calls about smoke. Authorities begged people to stop calling.
Donna Robinson, 60, of La Cañada Flintridge had been preparing to be evacuated since Wednesday, packing up documents, clothes and baby dish mementos of her adult children. She also packed up two dogs and three cats.
"I'm not even afraid now. I think it's good we're just out of the house. Now I feel it's not under my control," Robinson said Saturday morning as she sat with her husband, Paul, 57, outside the gym at La Cañada High, the evacuation center.
Others couldn't escape the worry. It showed on Sonia Castellon's face as she made her way into the evacuation center. "I was trying to keep calm, keep it together. But the moment you leave your home it's hard," the 46-year-old dentist said as she began to tear up.
• LA Times staff writers Raja Abdulrahim, Carla Hall, Rong-Gong Lin II, Maeve Reston and Amber Smith contributed to this report.www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fire30-2009aug30,0,5600478,full.story
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Aug 30, 2009 22:51:04 GMT 12
It's interesting to read in the above article they are using the DC-10 tanker again to fight fires in California. I was reading somewhere recently that one of the specialist fire-fighting companies in the USA is in the process of converting a Boeing 747 to an aerial fire-fighting tanker.
Meanwhile, further up the west coast of the USA in Oregon, at least one DC-7B tanker is still being used to fight forest fires as well as several DC-6 tankers.
Then of course, there are the two huge Martin Mars flying-boats operating from Sproat Lake on Vancouver Island.
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Aug 31, 2009 13:45:43 GMT 12
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Aug 31, 2009 14:52:04 GMT 12
747 Jet hedges past DC-10 to be biggest firefighting air tankerWestCoast911.com | Sunday, July 19, 2009Evergreen International Aviation's Boeing 747 Supertanker.The region’s aerial firefighting fleet has a new big shot. A Boeing 747 jumbo jet was certified with Cal Fire in early spring and officials hope to test the Supertanker on a wildfire this summer.”In the U.S., it’s currently the largest air tanker in terms of capacity,” said Cal Fire Deputy Director Chief of Fire Protection Ken Pimlott, who oversees the aviation division. “The only precursor was the DC-10. This is a very new tool.” The jet can hold a minimum of 18,000 gallons of fire retardant — 6,000 more than the DC-10 — and officials say it could be up to 20,000 gallons.
And if Cal Fire decides to use it on a wildfire, it will cost them. The jet must be leased for at least 10 days, with a $1.18 million price tag. “It’s not an aircraft you’re going to see flying just because there’s a fire,” Pimlott said. “We want to protect life and property. Having said that, we’re also very conscious of the cost of these tools.”
Evergreen International Aviation, who developed and owns the jet, said they have invested more than $50 million to create a new generation of firefighting aircraft. “We are the only firefighting aircraft that can land with a full load in the tanks,” project manager James Baynes wrote in an e-mail. “All others must disperse the load before landing because of the weight.” The Supertanker has a maximum take-off weight of 753,000 pounds, flies at 600 mph and can maintain higher altitudes on longer journeys. It currently calls Marana, Arizona, home but will be based in San Bernardino, Victorville or McClellan while fighting California fires. The jet’s standard mission will last three hours but 12 hours worth of fuel are carried on board. It will be especially useful on ridgelines and higher elevations of fires that ground crews cannot access as easily.
• Story by: SB Sun. westcoast911.com/wp/2009/07/19/747-jet-hedges-past-dc-10-to-be-biggest-firefighting-air-tanker
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Aug 31, 2009 16:16:33 GMT 12
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Post by flyjoe180 on Aug 31, 2009 16:57:23 GMT 12
Wow, those are some serious fire fighters.
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Sept 3, 2009 21:04:55 GMT 12
On tonight's TV One news, there was brief footage of one of the huge Martin Mars flying-boats owned by Coulson Air Tankers of British Columbia fighting the fires in California.
I wonder if Bob Dyck is involved? He is one of the Martin Mars pilots when he isn't in NZ flying ZK-PBY.
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Post by fletcherfu24 on Sept 3, 2009 22:44:01 GMT 12
Wonder what the turn around time is on those jets?,they must have to operate from airports some distance from the fire and no doubt it takes some time to fill one up with water.
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Post by Andy Wright on Sept 3, 2009 22:46:42 GMT 12
Wow, stunning photos. I've often wondered why we haven't got more 'serious' with tankers - beyond the Skycranes of course.
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Post by ox on Sept 4, 2009 15:59:10 GMT 12
Wow, stunning photos. I've often wondered why we haven't got more 'serious' with tankers - beyond the Skycranes of course. Australia's geography doesn't suit the large waterbombers. No large water sources for ones like the CL-215 to scoop and lack of suitable runways for the other big fixed wingers. The choppers can slurp out of dams/rivers/swimming pools and the Dromaders and the like can essentially operate out of a paddock. After Black Saturday I guess they will look at it again but haven't heard any mention of it in the Royal Commission yet. Forecasts are this fire season will be worse than last.
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Sept 4, 2009 22:44:57 GMT 12
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Sept 20, 2009 11:30:34 GMT 12
Pot goes up in smoke in LA wildfireAssociated Press | 8:36AM - Saturday, 19 September 2009DOUSING THE FLAMES: An air tanker drops fire retardants to fight wildfire burning in California. The fire destroyed an untold number of marijuana plantations in the Angeles National Forest, a growing hub for pot-growing operations in California. — REUTERS.The wildfire that has ravaged a national forest near Los Angeles has burned one plant species that authorities were happy to see go: marijuana, lots of it.
The fire destroyed an untold number of marijuana plantations in the Angeles National Forest, a growing hub for pot-growing operations in California.
Three marijuana cultivation areas identified just before the fire are believed to have burned, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Lt. Phil Abner said, and many more are assumed to have been destroyed.
Sheriff's officials don't know how many plants were in the three burned grow areas. Because marijuana is grown in a hodgepodge style and the plants are concealed by tall brush, it is hard to gauge from helicopters the size of each grove. Groves can host anything from several hundred to several thousand plants.
"I don't doubt that some burned that we hadn't identified," said Abner, who heads up a multi-agency force tasked each growing season with eradicating marijuana. "It could be one (growing area), it could be 50."
Cultivation of marijuana, often by Mexican drug cartels, is rife in California's national forests, and the steep, scrub-covered canyons only a short drive from Los Angeles are no exception. Even before the blaze, authorities had removed record amounts of pot with an estimated street value of more than US$2 (NZ$2.85) billion.
In the days the fire was burning most ferociously, several apparent pot plantation labourers were spotted spilling from the forest and walking down highways away from the flames, Abner said.
"With no clear explanation as to why they were," he said. "The educated speculation is they came out of the marijuana groves."
And it appears they are already starting to return to the forest.
On Saturday, a team of hotshot firefighters working near a popular and badly burned recreational area high in the rugged San Gabriel Mountains found singed water lines with new ones already lying alongside them. Fearing for their safety, the firefighters called the sheriff's department, whose deputies arrested a Mexican national found hiding out with a .22-caliber rifle, Abner said.
Before the fire, authorities this year had already yanked about 595,000 plants from the national forest and surrounding areas, an amount far exceeding previous years. With each plant thought to produce about US$4000 worth of marijuana, Abner estimated the street value of the haul to be about US$2.4 billion.
Across California, more than 4 million plants have been pulled by authorities this year, almost entirely from public lands, said Michelle Gregory, a spokeswoman with the state Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement.
Aside from the obvious dangers associated with having armed drug growers roaming the countryside, authorities are also concerned about marijuana plantations' environmental impact.
Barrels of pesticides and herbicides can spill into the groundwater system, especially after a wildfire, and growers leave trash, gasoline and other camping equipment lying around while they spend weeks tending their crop, said Lt. Joe Nunez of the sheriff's narcotics bureau.
They've also been blamed for starting fires.
Marijuana growers with possible ties to Mexican drug cartels caused an 88,650-acre (36,000-hectare) wildfire in Santa Barbara County last month, investigators said. That blaze was sparked by a cooking device left by suspected drug traffickers at an encampment.
The current fire is not thought to have been started by marijuana cultivation, and investigators are looking for an arsonist thought to have set the blaze next to a mountain highway. Because two firefighters were killed when their truck crashed down a ravine as they fled flames, the probe is a homicide investigation.
The fire has charred 250 square miles (647sqkm) of national forest and more than 80 homes, but could be fully contained any day.
Abner said the marijuana-growing areas are manned almost invariably by Mexican immigrants, some of whom have been tricked into tending the plants. He said some claimed to have been standing outside a Home Depot in Los Angeles, looking for day labour, when a van pulled up and asked them if they knew anything about gardening.
"The next thing they know they are up there for five weeks," Abner said, afraid or unable to come down from the hillside and return to the city. "They often can't tell you who hired them.... They just tell you they have been paid to put water on the weeds."www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/2882341/Pot-goes-up-in-smoke-in-LA-wildfire
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Sept 24, 2009 17:31:17 GMT 12
From the Los Angeles TimesFall and fire season off to a blazing startSanta Ana winds drive five wildfires, including one in Ventura County that burns 8,600 acres and threatens homes. Others erupt in Temecula, Norco, Riverside and Redlands.By CATHERINE SAILLANT, RUBEN VIVES and KIMI YOSHINO | Wednesday, September 22, 2009Ventura County firefighters battle a blaze along Grimes Canyon Road that began south of Fillmore and marched rapidly to the outskirts of Moorpark. — Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times/September 22, 2009.Fire season got off to an ominous start Tuesday as Santa Ana winds fueled five brush fires across Southern California, including a 8,600-acre blaze that forced hundreds of residents to flee their homes in Ventura County.
The blazes erupted like clockwork on the first day of autumn, which typically marks the beginning of Santa Ana winds. Firefighters braced for a tough week ahead with more unusually strong winds and extreme heat forecast through the end of the week.
"We're in triple-digit temperatures and single-digit humidities ... and it's beginning with a bang here," said climatologist William Patzert of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "There's not much good news."
In Ventura County, more than 600 firefighters mobilized to combat the fast-moving Moorpark wildfire, which started just south of Fillmore near Guiberson Road and ate through miles of rugged hillsides and agricultural land until reaching the outskirts of Moorpark.
The fire was pushed south by wind gusts of more than 50 mph, at a pace that surprised firefighters.
At 2:30 p.m., the fire had burned 1,500 acres; an hour later, 6,000.
"It's dangerous because it moves so quickly you can really get caught off guard," said Ventura County Fire Captain Ron Oatman. "Some of [the flames] are knee-high or less and you think you can walk out there, but it can just move so quick it can really outrun somebody, especially with that wind."A plane drops fire retardant near Redland homes threatened by a wildfire. — Irfan Kahn/Los Angeles Times/September 22, 2009.Firefighters watch a growing wildfire behind homes off Vandermolen Drive in Norco. — Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times/September 22, 2009.Kathy Bragg of Norco hoses down the side of her house as an oncoming wildfire burns at the end of Vandermolen Drive in Norco. — Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times/September 22, 2009.The rapid spread of the fire left residents scrambling to get out of its path.
"It scares the daylights out of you because you don't know what it's going to do," said Doug King, who watched the fire sweep across the brown hills above his avocado orchards. "All you know is when the winds start blowing, there's going to be trouble."
King, who was patrolling his ranch on an all-terrain vehicle, said he's been lucky because he has never lost any property to wildfires over the years. "It's a nice place to live except for fires," he said.
A few miles away, rancher Brett Everts raced to evacuate what livestock he could. He was walking one of his quarter horses about a mile up the road to another ranch, where it was safer. He said he had already evacuated eight horses and two cats.
"I still have 100 head of cattle in the pasture," he said. "But I can't do anything about that. They'll be OK. They just move away from the heat."
By evening, the fire was 10% contained. Firefighters were "cautiously optimistic" that they could gain ground and take advantage of winds that were dying down as the sun set. "We take every inch we can take," said Ventura County Fire Department spokesman Bill Nash.
But they remained uncertain what the morning would bring, with more Santa Anas in the forecast. The fire, Nash warned, is not out of fuel. "If the winds come up, if we get some kind of change, it can take right off and run again," he said.Fire that jumped California Route 23 burns across hillside above a ranch house along Grimes Canyon Road in Fillmore. — Spencer Weiner/Los Angeles Times/September 22, 2009.A DC-10 drops fire retardant on the hillside by Grimes Canyon Road. — Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times/September 22, 2009.A Ventura County Fire Department helicopter douses a hot spot in the north end of Moorpark. — Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times/September 22, 2009.Fire officials said they believe that some outbuildings and agricultural structures were destroyed but that they would not know whether homes had burned until they could survey the fire zone.
The Ventura County Sheriff's Department said the fire appeared to have been started by spontaneous combustion of manure from a local ranch. Officials did not disclose exactly where the fire started, but spontaneous manure fires are fairly common in farm areas, often occurring during extreme heat.
The Ventura County fire was the largest of several blazes that threatened homes and jangled nerves. Late Tuesday, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared the county a disaster area.
A fire started about 11 a.m. in Temecula near Jefferson Avenue, burning five acres in an open field. Crews quickly contained the blaze.
In Norco, a fire that began about noon near the Riverside-Norco border and spread toward Hidden Valley Golf Club had consumed 175 acres and was 50% contained.
Another small fire broke out in Riverside in the Santa Ana River bed near Van Buren Boulevard about 1:20 p.m. Firefighters used air drops to quell the spread of flames. By 6 p.m., it was 17% contained.
And in Redlands, flames licked houses on Sunset Drive, threatening several evacuated structures, in a 17-acre blaze that began shortly after 2 p.m. Two homes were damaged but none lost, said Carl Baker, a spokesman for the city of Redlands. One firefighter suffered a heat injury battling the blaze, which was about 50% contained by 5:45 p.m.A ring of fire burns on the hillside above Bardsdale United Methodist Church in Fillmore. — Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times/September 22, 2009.Firefighters protect a home on Grimes Canyon Road in Fillmore as flames race across the hillside above it. — Spencer Weiner/Los Angeles Times/September 22, 2009.A fire helicopter makes a drop Wednesday on the east side of Balcom Canyon Road as firefighters make a stand east of South Mountain in Ventura County in an attempt to keep the fire from threatening Santa Paula. — Brian Vander Brug/Los Angeles Times/September 23, 2009.The National Weather Service issued a red-flag warning late Tuesday for mountain and canyon areas across Southern California. That warning has been extended through Thursday evening, prompting U.S. Forest Service officials to push back their containment date for the massive Station fire until the warning expires.
That fire in the Mount Wilson area of the Angeles National forest has destroyed about 160,557 acres and is 94% contained, said Jay Nichols, a Forest Service spokesman.
Patzert, the JPL climatologist, said the high temperatures follow an unusually cool summer. But after four years of below-normal rainfall and no real rain in the region for seven months, the situation, Patzert said, is "incendiary."
"I hate to use that word, but it's so dry and it's so hot," Patzert said. "I call them desiccating winds. They just suck the moisture out of vegetation and soil — what little there is. This could be a smoky fall."• LA Times staff writers Richard Winton, Rong-Gong Lin II, Andrew Blankstein and Robert Faturechi contributed to this report.www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-wildfire23-2009sep23,0,2432879.story
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Post by yak2 on Sept 24, 2009 19:16:47 GMT 12
Australia's geography doesn't suit the large waterbombers. No large water sources for ones like the CL-215 to scoop and lack of suitable runways for the other big fixed wingers. The choppers can slurp out of dams/rivers/swimming pools and the Dromaders and the like can essentially operate out of a paddock. After Black Saturday I guess they will look at it again but haven't heard any mention of it in the Royal Commission yet. Forecasts are this fire season will be worse than last. A couple of seasons ago a Canadair CL215 was demonstrated operating off Port Phillip Bay (salt water), so that is an option given the lack of lakes and low dams at the mo. I like the idea of the 747/DC10 super tankers supplementing the Skycranes. Most large population centres have at least one airport within range capable of handling aircraft of that size. In Victoria, Avalon is centrally located to cover the state without disrupting commercial operations at Tullamarine. Be interesting to see what comes out of the inquiry. Also an opportunity to finally redeploy the ex RAN Trackers. What a machine
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Sept 30, 2013 2:10:07 GMT 12
From the Los Angeles Times....Fighting fires with aging tankers from another eraMany of the tankers used by the Forest Service are retired military aircraft that are costly to maintain and dangerous to fly. Wings break off, engines catch fire and parts must be scrounged.By W. J. HENNIGAN - Reporting from Fresno | Sunday, September 29, 2013Tom Dux, a pilot with Neptune Aviation Services Incorporation of Missoula, Montana, walks on the wing of his Lockheed P-2V tanker No.7 in a preflight check as the wildfire tankers stage at General William J. Fox Airfield in Lancaster. The Neptune Aviation Services planes were called in to battle the Powerhouse fire that swept into the Angeles National Forest in the Lake Hughes and Lake Elizabeth area. — Photo: Al Seib/Los Angeles Times.THE BLAZE near Yosemite National Park had incinerated scores of acres and was spreading fast. It was time, federal officials decided, to attack it from the air with all the resources at their command.
As the nation's armada of air tankers began landing at a staging area near here, it was clear that this was a fleet from another era.
The planes showed their age. Propellers coughed to a stop and smoke spewed from their piston engines. Many of these restored tankers were built during the Eisenhower administration.
The Forest Service fleet, which drops retardant to give firefighters on the ground crucial time to put out raging wildfires, is too old, industry and government officials say. Because there are so few planes, critics contend, the fleet is no longer capable of doing all it should to contain fires. Over the last decade, the service reduced its fleet from 47 to just 12, all operated by businesses under federal contract.
Critics also say the planes are dangerous. Since 2001, tanker crashes have killed 22 aviators. Six died last year.
"It's pathetic," said Tony Kern, former Forest Service chief of aviation. "We have brave aviators using ancient technologies and as a result they're losing their lives. It's a horrifying fact that won't change unless government action is taken."
Since 2001, tanker crashes have killed 22 aviators. Six died last year.• Wildfire air tanker crashes, 1993-2013Demands that the Forest Service replace these planes have come from former pilots, government officials, firefighter advocacy groups and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Half-century-old aircraft are difficult to keep flight-ready, and these tankers take an extra beating from the turbulence, updrafts and hot ash they encounter on firefighting missions.
Wings break off. Engines catch fire. And, in those conditions, stressed pilots make mistakes.
A few of the tankers started out as airliners. Nearly all the rest are retired military aircraft that were refurbished after being culled from the Pentagon's boneyard of discarded planes in Arizona.
Maintenance is a challenge. Engine parts are scrounged from warehouses. In one instance, a propeller was pulled from storage at a museum. If parts can't be found, technicians machine their own from blueprints drawn up around 1950.
At the air attack base near Yosemite in August, the challenges the Forest Service faces were apparent. After one of the tankers rumbled in for a landing, mechanics scurried to replace a blown engine.
It happens so often that the crew hauls a trailer full of spare parts from fire to fire.Aircraft mechanic Eric Stavish reads an original Lockheed P-2V airplane blueprint at Neptune Aviation Services Incorporation. When spare parts for the nearly 60-year-old firefighting planes can't be found, the company makes them from scratch. — Photo: Don Bartletti/Los Angeles Times.NOTHING can match the speed and power of a large tanker, the Forest Service says.
An all-out air attack to slow a fire includes helicopters and smaller single-engine tankers. But their capacity to carry retardant is much less than the Forest Service's larger tankers, which can drop 2,000 to 10,000 gallons ahead of the fire.
"That's the best way to get a lot of retardant delivered," said Jeanne Pincha-Tulley, a fire commander who oversees planning for some of California's largest fires. "When you're trying to hold a ridge and you see it coming, it definitely settles your stomach a bit."
California, with 23 smaller air tankers, is one of four states that have their own fleets to supplement the Forest Service's armada.
These days, firefighters know they can't count on aerial support; there are too few planes. Half the times a Forest Service air tanker was requested last year, the answer was no: They were all fighting fires elsewhere.
Christian Holm, 55, is a former wildland firefighter who became a tanker pilot in 1998. At the time, he was stationed at an air attack base for four months a year and would swarm a fire with as many as 10 other planes. Now he works nearly year round.
"A lot of times, I'm the only guy out there," he said.
The Forest Service quickly suppresses more than 95% of wildfires. The ones that escape immediate containment, like the Rim fire in Yosemite, take longer to put out, and costs can skyrocket.
The agency has exceeded its $1-billion annual budget for fighting wildfires seven times since 2002. Aviation accounts for about a fourth of that budget. Most of the aviation expenditure goes for helicopters; about $50 million a year is spent on deploying the large tankers.
Nearly all of the nation's firefighting aircraft are owned and operated by private companies, and the bill starts mounting when an incident commander calls aircraft to a fire.
Aviation companies have to keep bids low to win government contracts, and old military aircraft come cheap. Neptune Aviation Services Incorporated of Missoula, Montana, has a Forest Service contract to operate eight large air tankers, the most of any company. It flies Lockheed P-2Vs, an aircraft first built in 1946 to hunt for Soviet submarines.
Walking into the company's engine room is like walking into a World War II aircraft hangar. Mechanics sort through oil-smeared parts as they refurbish hulking piston-powered engines and hefty propellers.
"We have had Navy officials walk through here, and they're absolutely shocked that we keep these things flying," said Gavin Mouse, 43, overhaul specialist with Neptune.
The company is now modifying the BAe-146, a regional airliner produced in Britain in the 1980s. Neptune officials say it makes a great tanker, but it's more expensive to operate. The daily rate for keeping one of the military planes available is about $14,500, with an average flight rate of $8,000 per hour. The airliner runs about $25,000 daily, plus $10,000 an hour in flight.
"We're doing the best we can, realizing we can't do it on the cheap," said Tom Harbour, the Forest Service's director of fire and aviation management. "When you look forward, by golly, do we have a problem. We need more aircraft and much more capability."
There are few federal standards regulating the safety of these planes. The Federal Aviation Administration sets standards for aircraft airworthiness and flight crew competency. But once the aircraft begins to fight forest fires, the FAA does not have authority or responsibility to enforce its rules.
Contractors hire outside engineering firms to set safety guidelines for the planes.
"That's problematic," said Michael Barr, a former accident investigation officer who now teaches aviation safety at USC. "It's a little like shooting an arrow from a bow, then drawing the target around the arrow."A P-2V drops retardant on the Madre fire in the Angeles National Forest above Azusa. — Photo: Irfan Kahn/Los Angeles Times.ELEVEN STUDIES since 1995 have concluded that the Forest Service needs to replace its tankers.
In 2009, the service sought $2.5 billion to buy 18 to 28 aircraft. The funding was denied by its parent agency, the Department of Agriculture.
The department's inspector general acknowledged that the Forest Service needed new planes but said the proposal was poorly prepared and did not include enough data. The Government Accountability Office reached similar conclusions last month.
Walt Darran, chairman of the advocacy group Associated Aerial Firefighters and a former tanker pilot, said the problems stem from a lack of leadership.
"The Forest Service only changes the way it does business after a high-profile death," he said. "Any improvements that have been made in this industry have been bought with blood."
In 2002, a 46-year-old Lockheed C-130 tanker dropping retardant on a fire near Lake Tahoe broke apart when its wings folded up like a bird's. The crash killed the three crew members. A camera crew captured the accident and the footage was shown on the nightly news across the nation.Another fire plane, this one 57 years old, broke apart during a Colorado fire one month later, and an investigative panel was convened to examine the industry.
The panel's 60-page report released in 2002 said that the Forest Service's safety standard was unacceptable and that its oversight was lacking. It recommended that the agency foster a closer relationship with the aviation industry to improve the safety of its fleet. By 2004, the Forest Service had removed 33 tankers from its fleet.
The Forest Service says it is trying to modernize. It issued contracts to seven companies this year; most of those planes are not yet ready to enter service. Although the contracts call them "next-generation" planes, they aren't so new.
One of them was pulled from an aviation museum in San Bernardino, where it had been on display for 10 years.• Fighting fires with aging tankers (photograph gallery)www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-wildfire-tankers-20130929-dto,0,6987217.htmlstory
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 30, 2013 10:20:38 GMT 12
BAe is currently refitting some BAe146 airliners to do firefighting in Canada, to replace the ageing older types.
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Oct 10, 2014 11:35:42 GMT 12
from the Los Angeles Times....California's air tanker fleet grounded after deadly Yosemite crashBy JOSEPH SERNA | 6:30AM PDT - Wednesday, October 08, 2014Smoke rises from a plane crash near Chinquapin, California on October 7th. The S-2T air tanker was fighting a wildfire near Yosemite National Park. — Photo: Donald Talend/Associated Press.ALL of California's 22 S-2T air tankers have been grounded after one of the aircraft crashed while fighting a wildfire in Yosemite National Park, killing the sole pilot.
Most of the tankers haven't been in use recently, as the large wildfires that raced across the central and northern parts of the state this summer have largely been brought under control. But the fleet will remain grounded until deemed safe by officials, Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said Wednesday.
California is one of a handful of states to maintain a fleet of firefighting planes. The S-2T tankers, which can carry up to 1,200 gallons of retardant, are essentially old Navy aircraft that were retrofitted “from nose to tail”, including with turbine prop engines that were added in the 1990s, he said.
The tanker that crashed Tuesday was among a handful of aircraft fighting the 130-acre Dog Rock fire, which broke out that afternoon on El Portal Road between the Yosemite's boundary and the Arch Rock entrance station, officials said.
Debris from the crash was scattered on Highway 140, which was closed because of the blaze.
“This is obviously a very tragic situation, this pilot was one of our family,” Berlant said.
The pilot’s family has requested his name not be released until all immediate family has been notified, officials said.
Berlant said the pilot worked for DynCorp International, which also maintains Cal Fire's planes.An S2-T air tanker drops retardant on a fire at Camp Pendleton in 2011. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection owns 23 of the planes, one of which crashed on Tuesday at Yosemite National Park. — Photo: Don Bartletti/Los Angeles Times.In a statement Wednesday, DynCorp said it “extends its deepest sympathies to the pilot’s family and loved ones in this difficult time.”
Citing “respect for the privacy” and the family's request, DynCorp also said it would not be releasing any personal information on the pilot.
The cause of the crash was under investigation, but it was clear and not too windy at the time the crash, Berlant said.Map shows location of Dog Rock fire, where an air tanker crashed on Tuesday, killing the pilot.A California Highway Patrol officer who witnessed the explosion told the Associated Press that the air tanker appeared to hit a canyon wall while attempting to make a drop.
“I heard a large explosion, I looked up on the steep canyon wall and saw aircraft debris was actually raining down the side of the mountain after the impact,” said CHP Sergeant Chris Michael, who was stopping traffic along the highway when the plane went down.
“It hit the steep side of the canyon wall,” he added. “It appeared from the direction he was going, he was trying to make a drop down the side of the canyon when he hit the canyon wall.”
By Tuesday night, rescuers had climbed to the wreckage, which was perched on a 2,500-foot escarpment near El Portal.
Michael said pieces of the aircraft landed on the highway and came close to hitting fire crews on the ground nearby.
“It most definitely did disintegrate on impact,” he said. “It was nothing. I didn't see anything but small pieces.”• Staff writers Adolfo Flores and Julie Cart contributed to this report.www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-yosemite-crash-air-tankers-grounded-20141008-story.html
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Oct 10, 2014 11:36:11 GMT 12
from the Los Angeles Times....Daughter of pilot killed in Yosemite fire crash says he ‘died a hero’By VERNOICA ROCHA | 11:20AM PDT - Thursday, October 09, 2014Geoffrey “Craig” Hunt was killed Tuesday when his plane crashed while battling a wildfire in Yosemite National Park. — Photo: California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.THE daughter of a veteran firefighting pilot said he “died a hero” when his air tanker crashed Tuesday while battling a wildfire near Yosemite National Park.
Geoffrey Craig Hunt was flying one of four planes being used in the initial attack on the Dog Rock fire, which as of Thursday was just 10% contained at 245 acres, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
The 62-year-old San Jose resident, who went by Craig, had been fighting wildfires throughout the state for 13 years.
“My dad died a hero,” Hunt's daughter, Sarah Hunt Lauterbach, said in a statement. “There was not a day that went by that I didn't talk to my dad. He was my best friend.”
An honor guard of California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection officials and park rangers lined each side of Highway 140 on Wednesday as her father's body was moved from the crash site.
Hunt — a contract pilot with DynCorp International, which operates Cal Fire's fleet of air tankers — was flying a Cal Fire S-2T fixed-wing tanker when he crashed on Tuesday afternoon.
Because of the fire's location — on the outskirts of Yosemite in El Portal — visitors and firefighters alike saw the crash.
Witnesses said the plane hit the side of the valley's granite wall and burst into flames, engulfing the ridge in fire.Flowers are seen at a plaque honoring ground and air firefighters at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Aviation Management facility at McClellan Air Park in Sacramento. Air tanker pilot Geoffrey “Craig” Hunt was killed on Tuesday while fighting the Dog Rock Fire. — Photo: Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press.Flags fly at half-mast at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Aviation Management facility at McClellan Air Park in Sacramento to honor air tanker Geoffrey “Craig” Hunt, who died fighting the Dog Rock Fire in Yosemite National Park. — Photo: Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press.Yosemite National Park Rangers transfer the body of a Cal Fire pilot who was killed in an airplane crash in Yosemite National Park. — Photo: Alfred Golub/Associated Press.Cal Fire Chief Ken Pimlott said in statement that the agency continues to mourn “the tragic loss of Craig.” A Cal Fire air tanker last crashed in 2006.
“We know wildland firefighting is an inherently dangerous job, but Craig made the ultimate sacrifice,” Pimlott said.
Hunt is survived by his wife, Sally, whom he married in 1975, and two daughters.
While not fighting fires, Hunt worked as a chemistry teacher at UC Santa Cruz.
He served as a U.S. Navy P3 Pilot for nine years and was in the Naval Reserves for 20 years.• Los Angeles Times staff writer Diana Marcum contributed to this post.www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-daughter-tanker-pilot-yosemite-fire-20141009-story.html
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