A C-130 Hercules from the Air Force Reserve Command's 302nd Airlift Wing in Colorado Springs,Colo., equipped with a Modular Airborne Firefighting System, drops a line of fire retardant in West Texas, April 27, 2011. MAFFS-equipped planes are capable of dispensing 3,000 gallons of water or fire retardant in under five seconds. MAFFs aircraft have been sent to New Mexico to support the ongoing firefighting efforts in the southwestern U.S. U.S. Air Force photo - Staff Sgt. Eric Harris

Under the direction of the Joint Forces Air Component commander for Air Forces Northern here, two C-130 Hercules aircraft from the California Air National Guard’s 146th Airlift Wing, both equipped with Modular Airborne Firefighting Systems, or MAFFS, deployed to Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., June 15 to conduct fire containment missions in support of wildfire suppression efforts in the southwestern U.S.

The aircraft are being deployed at the request of National Interagency Fire Center officials in Boise, Idaho. Members of the 302nd Air Expeditionary Group will provide command and control of the aircraft from Boise. This year, the 302nd AEG, which is composed largely of personnel from the 302nd Airlift Wing at Peterson AFB, Colo., has supported firefighting efforts in Texas and Mexico.

Fire containment missions, which are assigned by NIFC officials or the respective wildland fire manager, are scheduled to begin June 16.

The MAFFS is a self-contained aerial firefighting system that can discharge 3,000 gallons of water or fire retardant in less than five seconds, covering an area one-quarter of a mile long by 60 feet wide. Once the load is discharged, a MAFFS can be refilled in less than 12 minutes.

The MAFFSs are owned by the USDA Forest Service, one of several federal and state government agencies and organizations with roles and responsibilities in wildland fire suppression that comprise the NIFC in Boise, Idaho. Department of Defense aircrews are flying at the request of NIFC officials.

The Department of Defense, through the commander of U.S. Northern Command, provides support to the NIFC in conducting wildland firefighting operations within the continental U.S., Alaska, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands as approved by the secretary of Defense.

AFNORTH is the air component for U.S. Northern Command and when tasked, provides support to local, state, tribal, regional and federal emergency service agencies.

Air Force
by Tom Saunders
Air Forces Northern Public Affairs

Photo taken by Ron Sander. Credit: US Forest Service, Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest

Sunrise in Western Arizona finds the Wallow wildfire still growing and only 5% contained. The morning situation report from the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) show that the fire grew by over 50,000 acres in the last 24 hours, to a total burned area of 386,453 acres. 67 structures have been lost including 22 homes in the community of Greer.

The fire is being fought by 3,137 people, using 221 fire engines and 14 helicopters. Costs for this fire to date have reached $19 million. According to the website for the Wallow fire, bulldozers are being used to construct fire lines along the north and northeastern edges of the fire. Controlled burns are planned for tonight.

Two other large wildfires are also burning in Arizona.

The Horseshoe Two fire is 40% contained. It has burned at least 128,000 acres in and around the Coronado National Forest. It is burning south of the Wallow fire also along the New Mexico border.

The Murphy Complex fires are burning to the northwest of Nogales, Mexico. The fire is burning on both sides of the international border. It is 75% contained and has burned 68,000 acres. This fire is also burning in portions of the Coronado National Forest.

NIFC has recorded 31,115 wildfires in the United States in 2011 through June 10. This is less than the ten year average of 33,387 fires. Total acreage burned, however, is two and a half times greater with 3,959,427 acres burned this year compared to the ten year average of 1,523,983 acres. The combination of the current wildfires and those earlier this year in Texas (1.6 million acres) accounts for much of the increased burned acreage.

Exceptional and extreme drought conditions reach from the region of the Arizona fires east to the Atlantic coast in Georgia.

• Arizona: 18.4%, the southeastern counties
• New Mexico: 67.9%, the southern 2/3 of the state
• Texas: 85.4%, all but the northeastern corner of the state
• Louisiana: 70%, all but the northeastern corner of the state. Mitigated in part by Mississippi River flooding
• Mississippi: 7.9%, the southeastern panhandle
• Alabama: the panhandle and the southeastern counties
• Florida: 32.5%, the panhandle, eastern Everglades and Atlantic coast from Vero Beach to Homestead
• Georgia: 54.9%, almost the entire southern half of the state

15.7% of the contiguous U.S. is in either exceptional or extreme drought conditions. Last year it was 0.5%. In 2009, that figure was 1.9% and in 2008 2.4%. The last time the U.S. experienced drought conditions this severe was the winter of 2003-2004.

A C-130 assigned to the 145th Airlift Wing, North Carolina Air National Guard, drops 3,000 gallons of water using Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System during the MAFFS 2008 annual certifying event. The upgraded MAFFS II that firefighting units will receive this fall can carry 400 more gallons and shoot fluid with greater pressure. TECH. SGT. BRIAN E. CHRISTIANSEN / AIR NATIONAL GUARD

The four Department of Defense C-130 aircraft equipped with U.S.D.A. Forest Service, Modular Airborne FireFighting Systems, who were under the command and control of U.S. Northern Command, completed their support to the firefighting efforts in Texas.

Four C-130s, two from the Air Force Reserve’s 302nd Airlift Wing, Colo., and the California Air National Guard’s 146th AW, will redeploy from Dyess AFB, TX after assisting the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) control the fires in Texas.

The mission ended Thursday night [May 5 2011], DoD aircraft completed the following in support of the State of Texas:

– 81 sorties

– 243,000 gallons of retardant

More information -
Air Force Attacks Texas Wildfires
Air Force Aids California Firefighting
Air Force Training is Making South Carolina a Little Greener

The fires are still burning in some places. More fires may come. The immediate danger and the massive, wind-driven firestorm that swept Los Angeles for nearly two days is over. People are going home, some to devastation and some to relative normalcy.

Some of my thoughts:

The Santa Ana River is some sort of parkland that knifes into the heart of Yorba Linda. It allowed the fire to spread deeper into the city than it would have otherwise. Parks are nice, but perhaps some wide and well-maintained firebreaks are in order.

Many of the homes that burned had the required fire resistant roofs. The heat was so intense that radiant heat was starting fires inside the houses, through windows. And, while the roofs were resistant, the underside of the eaves were not. Kinda like putting sunscreen only only your front and not your back, too.

You folks in the fire area ought to make sure your local firefighters do not want for goodies for the next several months. Working in 90 degree heat and 70 mph winds in fire gear, which adds 30-50 pounds, is nearly superhuman. A great many of you owe your homes to these men and women and you should treat them very nice.

Here are a few of the latest stories:

Residents of Sylmar mobile home park line up to survey fire-ravaged community

Hundreds of evacuees from Oakridge Mobile Home Park began lining up at Sylmar High School evacuation center before 9 a.m. today to board police vans for a first look at their fire-ravaged community.

Police are restricting access to the park because it is still considered a crime scene, closed to the public after the Sayre fire destroyed 477 of its 608 homes.

Water pressure hampered Yorba Linda fire fight

Orange County Fire Capt. Bill Lockhart said the fire crew he was working with Saturday afternoon in Yorba Linda had difficulties with water pressure.

On Fairmont Boulevard about 5 p.m. Saturday, he said, “We had a ‘dry hydrant’, where we hooked up to it and nothing came out.” So the crew moved along to the next available hydrant, which worked. “It delayed things a bit, but we were able to make it happen,” he said.

Wildfire victims grapple with the devastation

Orange County officials today said 113 homes were burned in Yorba Linda by the Freeway Complex fire.

“You can look and see how it burned, there are four or five houses in a row that were destroyed and the house next to them is untouched,” Calfire spokesman Justin Scribner said. “That’s the problem with wind-driven fire, it’s unpredictable.”

Investigators Look For Causes Behind SoCal Fires

Authorities say they haven’t determined how two weekend wildfires began in Southern California. But they say another blaze in the Santa Barbara-area was caused by someone./blockquote>

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Table of contents for Los Angeles Fires Nov 2008

1. Los Angeles Fire Resources
2. Los Angeles Fires 11-16-2008 am
3. Los Angeles Fires 11-17-2008 am
4. Los Angeles Fires Wrap Up
5. Iraqi Soldiers send aid to California fire victims

Here’s the latest poop from Twitter Search:

Air quality map of region. Wait for it to load. MAP Pay attention to people with health issues

LA FD blog

Evacuations lifted in Yorba Linda and Anaheim MAP

OC register reports that #ocfire is 19% contained – finally some progress, it had been at 0% all day

Orange County fires map

Made it to airport. Hwy 57 open through Diamond Bar. Lots of smoke. On way to Bay Area.

A spokesman for the LAFD said it appeared the fire was burning away from Diamond Bar as winds shifted back to the southwest.

Drove through the middle of the Sayre Fire Area (I-5) on the way home today. All of the LA/OC area is blanketed in smoke haze.