Fire Effects Monitor (FEMO)

Did you know that we have Wildland Fire Crew personnel who are qualified as Fire Effects Monitors? They are referred to as FEMOs and are quite useful on both wildland fires and prescribed fires. A FEMO collects information about an incident from their own personal observations at the incident itself. Some information they collect could be fire perimeter, the weather on site, the fire behavior, fuel conditions, smoke and other information needed to measure firefighter safety and whether established incident objectives and requirements are being achieved. While many may know FEMOs as people who sling weather, they can be utilized so much more! They can collect the appropriate samples of fuel, soil, and vegetation for a moisture analysis. This can be useful so that you know what your fuels are doing. They are trained to be able to recognize atmospheric conditions that affect fire behavior – this can give you a heads up to get people to safety if needed. Along with this, they can monitor and record fire behavior data throughout the operation. A FEMO can also plot a fire’s progression on a map and record estimates of things like rate of spread, flame length and general fire behavior. This would be useful to generate a plan of attack or to have alternate plans ready. They can also monitor ongoing ignitions (this includes burnout or backfiring) and note any fire behavior characteristics, as well as monitor and record smoke dispersion and air quality information. Don’t be afraid to utilize a FEMO for more than just the weather! They are very versatile personnel.

Load Options

 There are several load options when it comes to Aerial Firefighting and all have their own benefits: suppressant, long-term fire retardant, water enhancers, and water. A suppressant is an agent, like water or foam, that is used to extinguish the fire by applying it directly to the burning fuel. A retardant is a substance or chemical agent which reduces the flammability of combustibles. Water enhancers contain ingredients that alter the physical characteristics of water to increase its effectiveness. Water is just plain old high-quality H2O.

One of the more popular forms of suppressant is Class A Foam Suppression. With foam for wildfire suppressants, there are four types: foam solution, wet foam, fluid foam, and dry foam. There are three components to this: foam concentrate, water, and air. This extinguishes fire by cooling and smothering the flames. This increases the effectiveness and extends the useful life of water. It provides a short-term fire barrier and can help reduce suppression and mop-up time. It’s also relatively easy to use and can be seen from the air.

Class A Foam being used on a wildfire.

Long-term retardants contain retardant salts – which are typically agricultural fertilizers. This ingredient alters the way a fire burns, decreases the intensity, and slows the advance of the fire – even after the water evaporates. The main brand of fire retardant is Phos-Chek, there are three different types of Phos-Chek: dry concentrate, wet concentrate, and pretreatment. They may be colored with iron oxide (remains visible until weathering removes it), fugitive pigments (visible for several weeks until sunlight causes it to fade or weathering) or be uncolored. Retardant provides cooling, smothering, and insulating.

Phos-Chek being used on a wildfire.

Water enhancers rely primarily on the water it contains for firefighting. They contain polymers or other thickeners to improve performance by aiding in adherence to fuels, build up a thick protective wet layer and minimize drift during aerial applications. These products are a concentrate that is mixed with water and could be uncolored or colored. Some brands of water enhancers are Barricade, Thermo-Gel, Firewall, Blazetamer, Phos-Chek, EarthClean, and FireIce. We use FireIce HVO-F at both tanker bases in Pennsylvania.

BlazeTamer being used on a wildfire.

Before we move on to water, let’s talk about FireIce HVO-F. HVO-F is High Visibility Orange – Fugitive. This colorant makes it the most visible fire chemical used in aerial applications. It can also be used as both a suppressant and a retardant. There is also a certain type of polymer in FireIce HVO-F that gives it the effectiveness of 2 hours to almost 12 hours. The colorant also pulls double duty as an indicator of the usefulness of the product once it is on the ground. If it can no longer be seen from the air, then it is considered no longer effective. “FireIce HVO-F is environmentally friendly and is safe to use around sensitive aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems” (GelTech Solutions). The polymers and additives break down naturally over time and with UV exposure.

FireIce being used on a wildfire.

While water’s effectiveness is short-lived it is still an effective tool to use in firefighting. Here in Pennsylvania, we have Helicopters with Bambi Buckets which dip into a water source and then drop around fires. Fun fact: Bambi Buckets were used in 2011 to cool nuclear reactors in Japan after damage from a tsunami (CTV News).

Speaking of helicopters; there are some options when it comes to helicopters and their drops as well. You aren’t limited to just water. We can use FireIce with our helicopters here in Pennsylvania. For this application, we use FireIce 561, which has no colorant and is still a viable option for areas with sensitive ecosystems. For this, we mix the FireIce 561 the same way as the HVO-F and dispense it into a large dip tank for the helicopter to dip out of.

Aircraft Use

 

Within Pennsylvania, we use two different types of aircraft for fire suppression, and they are both very different animals. What we have sitting at the tanker bases are Single Engine Air Tankers (SEATs) and at remote helipads, we have three Helicopters (one is a Type 2, which can support larger missions and two are Type 3). While there is no specific, hard set time to use either aircraft over another, we do have some differences between the two for different objectives in a mission. Either can be used in situations when the fire is threatening structures and to help suppress the fire’s spread.

SEATs are used to drop retardant onto the fire to buy the resources time. They can also give the resources feedback as to what the fire is doing because they have a pretty good bird’s eye view. Tankers can drop 800 gallons of retardant at a time. They can drop more than Helicopters but must return to the base to get more retardant (usually we can get them turned around quick).

The other useful thing that air tankers can do is change the level of their drop, and split loads. There are four levels that the gate can open: Level 1 is for grass and light fuels, the gate doesn’t open far; level 2, then level 3, and level 4 is wide open for heavy timber/fuels. Splitting loads means that they close the gate when about half of the retardant is left in the hopper. This can be used to your advantage to hit different spots on the fire.

Helicopters are useful to combat hot-spotting, reconnoiter the fire, walk resources into a fire that they can’t find, or help them map the fire. They can also maneuver in areas that tankers cannot. The Type 3s can drop 90 gallons of water at a time, while the Type 2s can drop 350 gallons at a time and can load from a water source closer to the incident than an airport.