Puma RX - Bryce Canyon N.P.

We had a fairly good season in light of it being a slow year for fire and aviation. One of the projects tackled this year by resource management was the Puma prescribed burn at Bryce Canyon National Park. The intent of the burn was to change the vegetation model to something that would not support a running crown fire... thus providing the visitors at Bryce Canyon a small (some day unseen) buffer, should a fire threaten the park from the West. It was a large undertaking, that took a lot of planning on the behalf of park fire management.


We became a large part of what was going to take place. Many days of preparation by ground crews led to a couple of good photo ops, as we burned both by ground and air. As time would permit I snapped these photographs of the events taking place...

Enjoy...


This picture captures a small glimpse of the vegetation model that needed to be modified, and the spectacular veiw from our staging area.

So following a day or two of black lining... in order to be able to hold the ignition that would take place from the air... we were off of Bryce Canyon airport, and the PSD operations were underway. This is a good picture of the PSD (Premo Mark III) in action... if you look closely between the step and the helicopter you'll notice a small white ping pong ball, full of its explosive combination of Potasium Premagnate and Ethylene Glycol (anti-freeze), making its way to the ground in anticipation of fire...

Jay Lusher (Grand Canyon) and Nicole Ludwig (Pilot), talked their way through the ignition paterns. It didn't take very long before we had several lines begining to form on the ground, as illistrated in the picture above... I believe Nicole was checking her work, as we waited to see if the fire would take.

... And the fire did take. With the assistance of ground lighters and the right conditions, we had fire! I love the contrast of this picture... the beautiful scenery of Bryce Canyon and equally beautiful scenery (at least in my eyes) of smoke rising from the ground fire we just started.

My dad used to tell me that there was a little bit of a "Pyro" in every firefighter... the fascination of watching fire and smelling the smoke runs in every career firefighters blood. So with that being said, it's no wonder that maybe we put a little too much fire down in some areas. This is evident by the intense heat pictured above... (Disclaimer - we accomplished what was expect and we did so without the fire escaping parameters or exceeding prescription)

I like this photo a lot... the picture of the helicopter leaving behind what it has started.

... There I am! Hanging out with the machine in the back of the helicopter. This is my favorite place to be... no presure to make good decisions as an Ignition Specialist in the front seat, and of course I couldn't fly the ship if I wanted to... I don't posses those types of skills! I am just the "On" and "Off" switch for the machine. Still a vital component to the whole operation, but in a way I am just hanging in my own little world back there...

At times it is good for the pilot to be able to achieve a veiw of where she is flying and what is going on down below... can't do that too well with a door on! She is of course belted into the front seat... we can't afford to have her fall out of the helicopter.

At the end of the day we arrive back at Bryce Canyon airport to admire the work of all involved, from afar... it was pretty impressive for a small prescribed burn.

It should be said that prescribed burning is an essential part of managing our public lands... I would much rather start a fire under controlled conditions with all the needed support in place, than to arrive on a wildfire with too little and be too late to catch it and keep it from destroying the land. We saw fires like this in Yellowstone many years back, and still today as I visit... the damage done by those fires is evident and long lasting. This is why prescribed fire and wildfire use is sooooo important. I know that there are many controversal cases where prescribed fire has gotten out of control and done damage that was not planned for or expected... but there are more success stories than there are disasters. I hope that our land managers will continue to use Fire Use and Prescribed Fire in order to allow mother nature to do what she has naturally done for thousands of years.

That beings said... it was a lot of fun to hang out of the helicopter and lighting up a few thousand acres doing PSD... a true highlight of my summer!

Always a pleasure, Cheers...

Cargo Let Down Training...

It's time to play catch up on the blog... currently the weather outside is cold and a slight drizzle has begun, signs of the impending end of the fire season for Zion Helitack. You may wonder if the ship is still here... the answer is yes! We are in a contract extension that looks like it will continue to the end of next week around the 12th of October. As I wait for word on a possible SAR in the park (lost party in the Subway), I though why not post some of what happened this season.

We started the year excited about the approval to gain Cargo Let Down as a tool for our program. It took a little bit of coordinating, but we finally got Jay Lusher (CLD Check Spotter from Grand Canyon) and Maria Mancano (AMD Check Pilot) to come spend a couple of days training the crew. Following are a couple of pictures of the training that took place.

Of course the first thing that must be done is the rigging of the helicopter... for the rookies, that we are, this takes a little bit of time... and as you can see the blades are turning which adds to the stress of doing things efficiently and yet proper and safe.

Following proper rigging there is a so called "song and dance" that occures over the intercom system, between the pilot and the spotter. During training both the Check Spotter and Check Pilot are also on board to help train the pilot and spotter in the proper verbage... following a short exchange the helicopter lifts... We elected to train in two methods of Cargo Let Down (CLD)... the 1st being shown here is an external CLD. This means that the cargo is rigged to the outside of the helicopter and flown in such manner until over the intended spot to receive the cargo.

Once above the location that has been chosen by both pilot and spotter, the pilot manuevers through small adjustments and the direction of the spotter to fine tune the placement of the cargo. In an external load... the spotter prepares the load to be released, however it is the pilot that releases the load by triggering the belly hook. Once the load has been released from the belly hook, it is up to the spotter to control the decent of the cargo to the ground. Following the cargo reaching the ground the let down line is also thrown to the ground and the helicopter can fly away having succesfully delivered the cargo.

Another method that we trained with is that of doing internal cargo let down. This is where the cargo to be delivered is internal in the helicopter.

You can see in the picture above that the spotter is directing the pilot into place above the end of the rainbow... and there is no visible cargo hanging from the bottom of the helicopter. They are preparing to do internal cargo let down.

Once the pilot is in place the spotter will move the cargo to the door and jettison it out of the helicopter. Then the spotter will move to the controled decent portion of the Cargo Let Down evolution.... hoping to place the cargo where intended.

It looks as though the spotter has nearly reached the ground where the end of the rainbow sits...

All in all... it was a lot of good training and we were given the thumbs up to use CLD as a tool for inserting cargo. It was a couple of years in the preparing and acquiring the go ahead to train for Cargo Let Down, so I am happy to say that Zion Helitack has successfully crossed another bridge in our journey...

Cheers,

Tanker 09 Crashes

I received a text last night from a very good friend of mine, she was very upset and the words on her text said it all..."Tanker 09 crashed tonight..." Several more texts and eventually phone calls followed. The news was confirmed that Tanker 09 had crashed outside of Reno NV. It has been a rough year... I don't know that the deaths which have occured this year are any more numerous than those of past years, however the impact of those involved has hit closer to home than it usually does.

I thought perhaps I would simply link another blog in order for you to get the story... they have said it more elequantly than I could and have many more of the facts...

http://wildfiretoday.blogspot.com/2008/09/air-tanker-crashes-at-reno.html

Tanker 09 had been here in Color Country just a day before... fighting the Toquerville Falls fire just north of St. George. I watched them make several drops on the fire, marvelling at the skill the pilots on board had... I remember seeing the crew when I got back to the Air Center that night. I didn't take the time to say much more than "Hi", as I rushed out the door... tired and ready for a meal. I wish that I would have stopped to tell them what a wonderful job they had done supporting our fire.

All too often the aviation resources that arrive on our fires, show up from seemingly knowhere just to return to that same place. I don't know that us firefighters spend enough time thinking about the risk that these pilots take on a regular basis. Don't get me wrong... it is a risky business that we are in and I am sure the pilots of these large aircraft are well aware of the risk they accept day after day... that doesn't mean that it is any less relevant that we should thank them!

I knew the pilot of Tanker 09... I had talked with him several times over the years, as we both sat eating a meal and watching a blurb or two on the news at the Air Center... These men were good men... with wives and families... looking back I wish that more time had been afforded me to know them and more about their lives. I wish that I had taken a moment longer to talk with them the night they came off the last fire we worked together... that is a moment I will not get back. My point is this, if you haven't thanked a fellow firefighter for the efforts they put in on the fireline lately... well, you should! Also, don't forget that those pilots flying the "heavy iron" above are part of the firefighting family... they too deserve a pat on the back once in a while and to hear the words, "job well done"!

My support goes out to the families of the crew for Tanker 09... today the crew will place our flag at half mast in their honor, and we will not soon forget the difference they made in our battles against wildfire. God bless them & may he now be with them and support those that these men have left behind...

S-61 Follow Up Commentary

explanation to come...but I am removing some of the content of this site... stay tuned!

S-61 Helicopter Crash On The Buckhorn Fire!

I must remove my commentary of the crash... this is at the request of someone in washington... stay tuned for a better explanation... I will post one soon!

ML

Another Rescue

For the second time this year we have had a medical emergency in the park that has required the assistance of the Grand Canyon Flight Crew and their "short-haul" capability. I thought I would share a couple of pictures.

The above photo is of the MD900... a NOTAR helicopter. NOTAR stands for No Tail Rotor. It is a very expensive and fairly rare helicopter, at least in the utility industry. Grand Canyon has a year round contract that is through the local company Papillion Helicopters. The MD900 was purchased special for the contract and is painted in the Park Service colors and with NPS painted on the helicopter.

Short haul is a technique where the helicopter can long line a paramedic (or other specially trained individual) into a location where landing would not be possible. The Paramedic can then conect the injured person or the litter to himself / herself and sling out with the victim. This can be seen in the picture above... the paramedic is extricating the victim using a rescue triangle.

They are then lowered to a crewmember or two who will "shag" the line... they basically help to catch the load and secure or support the victim, as seen above. Zion Helitack is not short haul qualified, however at the request of Grand Canyon Flight Crew... we will assist at the helispot to shag the line... That is one of our crewmembers in the black helping to shag.

Last year Grand Canyon Helitack did 1/3 of all their short hauls out of Zion N.P. Years previous have seen as many as half of the total short hauls that Grand Canyon does, being flown out of Zion National Park. It begs the question... are we to the point where Zion Helitack should look towards gaining the short haul qualification... hmmm.

For now... Zion Helitack will focus on Cargo Let Down and Rappel... Training starts on Tuesday!

Cheers,