Fire

[Metals406]

May I ask some of you guys, to give me a hint (maybe even a kick) where to find firefighting outlines, manuals, training handbooks etc.? Or even mail them? I can´t quite orientee myself in that little to none I can find. I´d like to educate myself as how you deal with fires over there. We have little to none, usualy very small, but when sth goes wrong, it´s f**ed up rough, broken terrain, things can get ugly realy fast there and the experience is abysmall overall...
Not that we don´t get our share of lightning strikes, idiot smokers etc, but mostly there is a village every 2-5 miles and almost every has a volunteer fire crews and dept., with engines and all-so they are there pretty fast and not much of the forest gets burn. So quite little where to gain experience...

If you really want the experience, fly over from Europe during our summer months and fight fire. You'd have to get hooked up with a contractor, but that's really not that hard. Lots of them even break in newbies.

There is no book, class, video, or training that can replace being out on the line.

Every fire is different, presenting it's own various challenges -- I have yet to say, "Oh, this one is just like the last one".

Different terrain, wind, atmospheric conditions, fuels, etc keep it all new and dangerous.

Best of luck. :0)

 

[Frank Savage]

Thank you, I think I have some brain food now

Yep, being on the line would be best, but I´m afraid that this is not gonna happen soon...

 

[catbuster]

Oh, this one is just like the last ."

Using that phrase could make the fire you use it on your last.

 

[HuskStihl]

Using that phrase could make the fore you use it on your last.

It's spelled "fahr"

 

[madhatte]

Making generalizations about fires is not a good thing. Kind of like the discussions about falling amongst the inexperienced. Like trees, fire doesn't read the book--a twist of a gologit quote.

I heard it as "Fire will give you the lesson right after it gives you the test".

 

[catbuster]

I've been moved to an engine company as of late (hoses are disgusting... Way too much work, but that's a complaint for another day). But tonight I filled in back on the squad wagon. And it felt just like home...

Well, here's to hoping I don't forget NIMS tomorrow when I teach large-scale disaster management tonight....

Forecasters are projecting warm and wet this winter, so what's normally peak wildfire season in Kentucky should be dampened quite a bit.

 

[atpchas]

Here's an interesting article about a new satellite that provides better resolution fire information. Check out the image comparison feature and the short video at the end.
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=87111

 

[madhatte]

I notice that the article refers to resolution in meters. It's not clear whether that's square meters, or the square of that many meters. 1KM^2 is 3 orders of magnitude different than 1000 m^2I am curious about this specifically because only the largest fires on our ownership ever show up on MODIS, and they are typically on the order of 100-500 ac. I"m almost curious enough to call somebody at NASA and ask for advice.

 

[atpchas]

I notice that the article refers to resolution in meters. It's not clear whether that's square meters, or the square of that many meters. 1KM^2 is 3 orders of magnitude different than 1000 m^2I am curious about this specifically because only the largest fires on our ownership ever show up on MODIS, and they are typically on the order of 100-500 ac. I"m almost curious enough to call somebody at NASA and ask for advice.

I'm pretty sure the measurement is linear. Resolution is usually defined by close (a linear measure) two lines can be and still be distinguished as two lines, not one. I was curious about this:"The MODIS thermal band detects hot spots with a resolution of 1,000 meters per pixel; VIIRS detects hot spots at a resolution of 375 meters per pixel." versus "This is because MODIS has better resolution than VIIRS when looking at land surfaces that are not on fire. (250 meters per pixel for MODIS versus 375 meters per pixel for VIIRS)."
I guess temperature degrades the MODIS resolution.

 

[madhatte]

Yeah, I figured; I work with a lot of LiDAR and resolution there is defined the same but the NASA language is not so clear.

 

[Jacob J.]

This is the same vendor contact sheet from last year for USFS- I haven't seen a new one in the system yet.

 

[TBS]

Pictures the Rough fire from beginning to end. California's largest fire in 2015. This fire was started by lightning and was initially contained on july 31 but during the night after the helitack crew left the fire rolling debris spread the fire past the containment line and grew to 151,623 acres.

 

[Drptrch]

Rough Fire above McKensie heli-pad

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Metals406]

This is the same vendor contact sheet from last year for USFS- I haven't seen a new one in the system yet.

JJ, is the form good for any zone? Might forward this to someone in AZ.

 

[Metals406]

Rough Fire above McKensie heli-pad

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's cooking good.

 

[2dogs]

I received my notification from Cal Fire regarding annual hired equipment vendor training. If you want to be a faller or any other contractor then this training is mandatory. fire.ca.gov

 

[Michaelmj11]

I received my notification from Cal Fire regarding annual hired equipment vendor training. If you want to be a faller or any other contractor then this training is mandatory. fire.ca.gov

I was in the process of doing a Google search about how to become involved in this sort of stuff, as an individual. Would you guys mind sharing more about it?

 

[Metals406]

I was in the process of doing a Google search about how to become involved in this sort of stuff, as an individual. Would you guys mind sharing more about it?

Contact a local contractor (lists are online, usually .pdf). You can also work for a state or fed office as a seasonal employee.

Some are willing to train, other occupations on fires require 'civilian' experience.

You can also get more info by contacting your local USFS office.

 

[catbuster]

I received my notification from Cal Fire regarding annual hired equipment vendor training. If you want to be a faller or any other contractor then this training is mandatory. fire.ca.gov

Yippy cay yay. Kind of glad I'm not contracting with Cal Fire this year. Last year I co-opped to send two dozers/tenders and six guys out there. It was a lot less profitable than I expected for as much work as they had.

 

[Gologit]

I received my notification from Cal Fire regarding annual hired equipment vendor training. If you want to be a faller or any other contractor then this training is mandatory. fire.ca.gov

I took my class today at College of The Redwoods. Basically it was the same old stuff as last year but the donuts, cookies, and coffee kept everybody awake.
The fire shelter test was fun. We had a choice of doing it on the classroom floor or outside on the wet grass. We chose the grass. Somebody should have made a video of that. They timed us this year so there was lots of hurrying, slipping, sliding, falling down, and dripping wet shelters by the time we got through. I don't think they'll let us do that again.