Air Units fight several Black Hills fires
BY PAUL M. ROSS, JR.
With the summer heat curing fuels, several wildfires broke out in South Dakota’s Black Hills area in July, meaning long hours for pilots and groundpounders alike. The South Sundance and Ricco fires on the Black Hills National Forest as well as the Old Hill City Fire outside Keystone, S.D., in South Dakota Division of Forestry’s jurisdiction, challenged firefighters in late July with long-range spotting and extreme fire behavior. Several helicopters, including Erickson Air-Crane’s Helitanker 736 and an A Star B3 from Evergreen Helicopters, performed water drops to assist engine and hand crews when rugged terrain limited their access to portions of the blazes. One P-3 Orion, Tanker 27 from Chico, Calif.-based Aero Union Corporation, provided additional aerial suppression.
AP Photo/ Johnny Sundby
South Dakota Wildland Fire Coordinator Joe Lowe said personnel numbers on the South Sundance Complex topped 200 by July 24, and officials were calling for more resources.
“Due to the very rugged terrain in the area, we’re still relying heavily on both air and ground crews,” Lowe says. “The air crews are putting retardant on the [Cement] Fire to slow the progress of the fire, but every air drop has to be backed by ground personnel.
Photo/ Johnny Sundby
A tanker dumps a load of retardant on the Ricco Fire, which
destroyed two homes and scorched about 3,500 acres in the
Piedmont area of the Black Hills. The fire spread quickly
because of triple-digit temperatures, wind gusts and over
20 mph and low relative humidity.
“This is truly an interagency effort,” Lowe continues. “Cooperation is prevalent with local volunteer firefighters, and state and federal personnel [are] working well together.”
Source: The Rapid City Journal.
Helo Bucket Used as Battering Ram; Safety Questions Arise
According to a U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Aviation Safety Alert circulated in June by National Aviation Safety and Training Manager Ron Hanks, a helicopter used its water-dropping bucket as a “wrecking ball” to assist a helitack crew with a burning snag on a late-spring wildfire. The safety alert outlined the circumstances of the event and reminded firefighters of the importance of identifying all potential hazards during operational risk assessments.
In this case, the USFS says firefighters on a fireline faced a burning snag with visible widow makers (large loose branches overhead) on a steep slope amid active burning. After considering the situation, fire personnel elected to use the helicopter to help eliminate the loose branches, and the pilot concurred; prior water drops had been unsuccessful in extinguishing the tree.
According to the USFS bulletin, several fire personnel stated they had seen this operation performed before on other remote wildfires. After the bucket bumped the snag a few times, enough widow makers had fallen to allow fallers to safely cut down the tree. No damage or injuries to the helicopter or personnel occurred.
Several points arose following review of the operation, including the fact that no regulation or policy prohibits the use of a bucket or any other external load on a helicopter to batter trees, nor is there a prohibition against fire engines pushing over trees.
But the bulletin reminded readers that a lack of policy does not mean such an idea is acceptable or safe. During a prior season, one helicopter snagged its bucket in nearby trees. As a result, the long line attaching the bucket to the helicopter snapped, wrapped around the tail rotor and brought down the ship. The pilot survived, but the aircraft was a total loss.
Last year, the main rotor blades of a Bell 206 struck a treetop while the pilot attempted to perform a precision water bucket drop on the base of a burning pine tree. While lowering the bucket along the tree trunk, the pilot lost situational awareness and struck the tree, causing aircraft damage.
The safety alert recommends the following when making risk-mitigation decisions in such cases:
- Use aerial firefighting equipment within its intended design application;
- Keep buckets above the tree canopy line;
- Plan long line operations with main rotor clearance well above the treetops; and
- Avoid using helicopters for mop-up operations.
The bulletin also reminded wildland firefighters that more than 70 percent of USFS helicopter accidents involve external load operations, which should prompt crews performing risk assessments to ask, “What can go wrong here?” And when considering options, firefighters should generally choose the most conservative approach to accomplishing the mission.
Juveniles Shoot at SEATs During Fire
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) reported that single-engine airtankers (SEATS) were the targets of gunfire while fighting the Saddle Fire near Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., on July 15. A SAFECOM aviation safety bulletin following the incident stated one air-attack plane, three SEATs and one light helicopter responded to the fire. The aircraft worked the fire (five total drops from three SEATs) and returned to St. George, Utah.
Shortly after the aircraft had been released from the incident, the Hildale/Colorado City Marshall told the Saddle Fire incident commander that a local resident had witnessed juveniles taking “pot shots” at the SEATs as they were flying near the fire. The Marshall stated the juveniles were in custody, saying they were reportedly shooting from a long distance toward the aircraft.
Officials notified the BLM’s Arizona and Utah state offices, the national office and the FAA of the incident. All aircraft were held on the ground until the pilots and mechanics were able to thoroughly inspect the equipment. No damage was found on any of the aircraft. Arizona and Utah BLM law enforcement investigated the incident.
Minden Air Developing Jet Airtanker
Longtime airtanker contractor Minden Air Corporation of Minden, Nev., continues work on converting a passenger jet into a firefighting airtanker. Wildland Firefighter spoke with Minden’s Operations Manager Tim Christy, who outlined the company’s plans for converting a four-engine British Aerospace BAE 146-200 into an aerial firefighting platform. “We looked at trying to find an aircraft that would fit future Forest Service plans, and [we] think we have found it,” Christy explains. “The 146 has been around since the early 1980s, and [it] was designed for the commuter airlines market, [which deals] with short hops and shorter runways. So this aircraft can operate from the same tanker bases and airports as current airtankers.
The first British Aerospace BAE-146 regional jetliner acquired
by Minden Air of Minden, Nev., is currentely being converted
to an air-attack aircraft.
“More modern aircraft engineering disciplines are inherent in this plane, and we like the idea of four engines for [an] added safety margin,” Christy adds. “It’s a very well-built aircraft, with more than 400 produced; simulators are available as well, which is important for pilot training.”
Christy says Minden has experienced positive results when test flying the 146 loaded with weight similar to that of a full retardant load. “Our chief pilot liked the performance during the load simulation,” Christy says. “The internal tank will be a constant-flow system with [a] 3,000-gallon or better capacity.” The new airtanker boasts a 500-mph cruising speed, which will result in faster response times to fires, but it can also slow to around 144 mph during retardant drop sequences.
“We feel the airplane will sell itself,” Christy says. “British Aerospace has provided a lot of support so far, and we have met with the Federal Aviation Administration and mapped a course with them for the conversion.”
Updates On Aviation Folks
Former U.S. Marine Chuck Turner enjoys fighting fires and flying to work. Turner’s position as a senior firefighter with Tucson Helitack provides plenty of challenges, particularly when fires break out in the desert heat of southern Arizona. “I like getting to be first-in on initial attack wildfires, thanks to the aircraft,” says Turner. “And of course, rappelling from the helicopter is always fun, particularly [when] getting into the beautiful backcountry mountain areas down here.”
The University of Wyoming alumnus began fighting wildfires in 1985 on a hand crew in Fort McDowell, Ariz., and also worked for Rural Metro Fire in Mesa, Ariz. He enhanced his firefighting background with stints as a hotshot on the Diamond Mountain Hotshots and as a firefighter for the Ravendale BLM in northern California, where he staffed an engine and rotated with Ravendale Helitack. He signed on with Tucson Helitack on the Coronado National Forest in 2001.
Turner is a strong advocate of short-haul rescue on wildfires as well as other alternative means of extraction for firefighters facing potential burnover/ entrapment situations. “We all need a means of emergency extraction in the event of imminent burnover on a fire,” he says. “My partner and I carry webbing to make a seat harness and our plan, in the worst-case scenario, is to hook onto the remote hook (at the end of the helicopter’s long line) with a carabiner. We have briefed this scenario with our pilot.
“I also believe there should be a push for short-haul rescue of injured firefighters, given the remote locations, challenging access and long transport times to medical care by ground,” Turner continues. “A short-haul rescue would have really helped a firefighter injured last season on a fire we fought on Mount Graham, outside Safford, Ariz. Instead, he faced a four-hour evacuation on the ground to get treatment.”
Send your fire aviation news via phone or e-mail to Paul M. Ross, Jr., Wildland Firefighter Magazine, at 208/861-1340 or prossjr@yahoo.com.
Paul M. Ross, Jr. is a firefighter/EMT/helitack squad leader and professional writer with 14 years of experience in both Western U.S. wildland firefighting and urban fire-rescue. He lives in St. Louis, Mo., where he is a firefighter/EMT for the Eureka Fire Protection District. Contact him at prossjr@yahoo.com.
