08-03-2013, 12:44 PM (This post was last modified: 08-03-2013, 12:48 PM by Aaronw.)
The Aspen fire began on July 22, 2013 from a lighting strike. It is located east of Fresno, California near Huntington Lake on the Sierra National Forest. As of August 2, 2013 it has burned over 17,000 acres with more than 1900 personnel assigned to the incident, and suppression costs in excess of 14 million dollars.
I arrived on July 23 with Strike Team 3646C leading 5 engines from the Mendocino National Forest.
All photos taken by Aaron Woods.
The strike team had been covering the Inyo National Forest due to expected thunder storms and possible dry lightning. The attached engines did respond to multiple small lightning fires before being reassigned to the Aspen Fire. Due to work rest rules (maximum of 14 work days excluding travel to and from the incident) the strike team was released from the fire on August 1st, 2013. The fire continues to burn.
Strike Team 3646C travelling through Yosemite National Park enroute to the fire. (The Inyo National Forest is on the East side of the Sierras opposite the crest from the location of the fire. Hwy 120 and 41 through Yosemite is the most direct route. These kinds of things are a perk of the job ).
Fire on Division Zulu, the right flank of the fire. At this point the fire was only 2000 acres burning in the rugged terrain of the San Joaquin River drainage.
BAe 146, one of the new generation air tankers. It carries 3000 gallons of retardant at a speed of nearly 500 miles per hour allowing a faster turn around than the older prop driven tankers. Unlike the DC10 which must drop from a much higher altitude, the BAe 146 comes in low, 200-300 feet above ground level like the prop driven tankers.
08-03-2013, 01:04 PM (This post was last modified: 08-03-2013, 01:06 PM by Aaronw.)
One of Neptune Aviation's Lockheed P2V-7s and lead plane making a drop. The P2V-7 is a classic air tanker first adopted in the 1970s. A retired sub chaser the Neptune has been fighting forest fires for over 40 years.
Erickson Skycrane making a drop. Built for the military during the Vietnam war the (then) Sikorsky CH-54 later found use in the civilian world as a logger. In the late 1990s the Skycrane was adopted for wildland firefighting where it has found wide international use. Erickson was an early user of the aircraft, and they eventually bought the type certification from Sikorsky allowing them to build new airframes.
This is an Erickson owned Skycrane which uses a 2600 gallon tank. It can hover above a lake or river refilling from the large snorkel hanging below the aircraft.
It is not all hard work, like most large scale operations there is plenty of hurry up and wait. Here a crew is passing the time with an engine top game of cards in one of the staging areas.
A common issue with forest fires, narrow dirt roads. A water tender is passing a Type 3 engine from the North West Fire Department (Tucson, AZ).
There were at least two rainbow strike teams of engines from Arizona assigned to the fire. A "rainbow" strike team is one made up from multiple agencies (often with a variety of engine colors, red, green, yellow leading to the name).
Another engine from Arizona, Coronado National Forest Engine 551. Engine 551 is a Model 46, a type 3 engine with a 250 gpm pto pump and a 600 gallon tank.
Due to the wind patterns and atmospheric conditions that are holding the smoke close to the ground crews near the head are working in heavy smoke conditions. This is from Division F (Foxtrot) about 2:00 in the afternoon.
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