[PPRAANet] Waldo Canyon Fire info

[Paul Signorelli]

In case you missed my previous email here are some details about the Waldo Canyon fire:
It started 1 Year ago.  28-29 June 2012.
Paul   w0rw
-------
i live about 7 
miles away from the fire.

i was driving on Highway 24 a few hours after 
it started, pretty scary...It had
a big mushroom cloud at first.
The 
side of Highway 24 is now charred in a few places but the fire damage 
isn't
really too noticeable.
If the fire had jumped Highway 24 (Also 
known as the Ute Pass) it would have
gone up the north side of Pikes 
Peak.
When they could not stop the fire from Queens canyon, with the wind 
conditions,
it got over the top of the last ridge and down into 
COS.
The winds were from thunder storm outflow winds, not like the Santa 
Ana Winds
that last for weeks.

If you have never been around a 
fire like this, here is what happens:
The local fire departments were 
first to hike into the fire.
Waldo Canyon is a popular hiking trail that 
runs 3 miles back into the hills
from Highway 24 just west of Manitou 
Springs, CO.

When i went by the Canyon the USFS already had about 20 
trucks there at the
trail head.

The USFS sends a spotter plane in to 
direct all the fire fighting efforts.
This plane is called "Waldo Air 
Attack".
They set up at TFR (Temporary Flight Restriction) air perimeter 
and no other
aircraft are allowed to enter without approval.
The 
Incident Commander sets a map perimeter around the fire (Assigning sectors 
A
through Z, clockwise around the fire) and then assigns Division 
Chiefs
to each each sector.

"Air Attack" orbits the fire at around 
1000 feet above the fire and directs all
the other aircraft into the fire and 
relays ground support requests.
He is the air traffic controller for the 
fire zone.

The Waldo Fire had about 10 choppers flying around one 
day.

When they need slurry Bombers they send in another "Lead" 
plane.
The "Lead" plane orbits 500 feet below "Air Attack" and He (or She - 
Great job
Mary) becomes the flight controller for the Bombers.

The 
"Air Attack" assigns the slurry targets and the "Lead" plane will guide 
the
bombers into the target.
Many of the Bomber pilots have never seen 
the terrain so the "Lead" plane will
make a first pass run at the 
target.
This is called a "Show Me" pass and He sprays a little water or 
smoke so the
bomber can see the exact drop target.

This BLM Procedure 
is at
<http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/nifc/directives.Par.58885.File.dat/i\
mof&a2003008a1.pdf>

The 
"Air Attack" must clear all of the guys on the ground out of the target 
zone
and He keeps all of the choppers about 2 miles away.
He tells all 
aircraft what is happening so they don't have any collisions.
When the 
Bombers are returning to base for reloading, the "Lead" plane calls in
the 
bucket drops to reduce the smoke over the target so the
Bombers can see 
the target.
Most of the Bombers fly at 120 Knots during the drop and they 
accelerated
during the drop as they loose mass..

We had 4 MAFF's 
(Military C130's) assigned to the fire also. They are like big
spray paint 
canisters. They can make up to a quarter mile splash
and vary the spay 
width. They lost #7 in South Dakota.

The "Air Attack" has a pilot 
and a Fire Boss. The Fire Boss is directing the
Fire Suppression Operations 
and working 2 radios with 3 frequencies each..
He has to control all the 
choppers on VHF AM and all the aircraft on VHF FM.
He gets them assigned 
to a division and then switches the to a secondary air to
ground frequency or 
hands them off to the "Lead" plane for slurry drops.
"Air Attack" is 
usually orbiting over the fire zone for 12 hours in 3 or 4
shifts.
The 
"Lead" plane is a usually a single seat plane.

The guys on the ground 
work 12 hours on and 12 hours off. We had around 1500
fire fighters here but 
now moved on.

The community really 
appreciated the work of the fire fighters. Several
restaurants have signs 
reading "Free Hamburgers for Firefighters".

i did a little fire work in 
the past. 
See CQ Mag. June 2010, p.60-63.
i even spent the night in a 
'Spike Camp'.
You can see a live picture of the fire area from the top of 
Pikes Peak at
<http://www.cograilway.com/Summit/WeatheratSummitB.htm>

The 
Waldo Canyon Fire map and additional fire information and videos can be
found 
at:
<http://www.inciweb.org/> 
and
<http://springsgov.com/>

Paul  W0RW