PAS #8

Update:

PAS #8 will be flying home tomorrow, Sept 16, via commercial airlines, and arrive at approximately 9:00 pm.

They will overnight in Harrisburg and be released to their districts Sunday morning.

Fuel Loads

Let’s talk about fuels and fuel loads today.

A wildfire’s potential to spread is based on the type and amount of fuel it has access to. Fuel can be pretty much anything: trees, underbrush, grassy fields, homes, etc. Fuel loads are the amount of flammable material surrounding the fire and are measured by the amount of fuel per unit area, usually in tons per acre.

Light fuel loads (above) will cause a fire to burn and spread slowly, with low intensity.

Heavy fuel loads (above) will make the fire burn more intensely, causing it to spread faster. The faster the fire heats up the materials around it, the quicker they will ignite.

Dryness of fuels can also affect a fire’s behavior: when fuel is very dry it is consumed much quicker.

There are a few fuel characteristics that decide how a fire is affected:

·         Size and shape

·         Arrangement

·         Moisture content

Flashy fuels, such as dry grass, pine needles, dry leaves, etc. burn faster than large logs or stumps. Different fuels take longer to ignite than others – ignition time is the ratio of the fuel’s total surface area to its volume. The smaller, flashy fuels, have surface areas that aren’t much larger than their volume – resulting in a quicker ignition. Whereas a tree’s surface area is much smaller than its volume, which means it will need more time to ignite.

The heat and smoke from a fire approaching the fuel causes the fuel’s moisture to evaporate - drying out the material faster. Oxygen can reach more spaced out fuels easier, and as a result they will burn faster than the tightly packed fuels. Tightly packed fuels absorb some of the fire’s heat because they retain more moisture than the loosely packed fuels.

If you would like to learn more about how wildfires are affected by fuels, topography and weather you can click here to read more.

Incident Management Team

Update:

The Type 3 Incident Management Team assigned to Fort Dix, New Jersey returned home last night from their assignment. 

We have some personnel on another IMT team with PEMA in Florida.

Operational Leadership Academy

UPDATE:

With the Planning Level being at 5 in the west, and the threat of more hurricanes hitting our coasts  the Division has decided to cancel OLA until next year. The Division has been asking the districts to free up their people to respond to the many incidents across the country and it would not be right for us to hold back people for a training.  OLA is important, but not as important as the impact that we could have on the victims of the fires and storms across the nation.  

Incident Management Team

Good morning everyone! Time for another update:

Late Tuesday night we received a call to put an IMT together to run a receiving and distribution center out of Fort Dix NJ.  The center would be the hub for all commodities going to Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, as the hurricane moves through. 

With most of our IMT personnel being deployed to other parts of the country, we were able to pull together 7 IMT personnel from DCNR teams and 3 from PEMA.

The members of the IMT arrived Wednesday and tied in with the FEMA representatives there. 

One member sent in this photo for an update:

IMT at Lakehurst Naval Air Station running a FEMA distribution center.

As of Sunday 9/10/2017 the team processed a total of 64 trailers:36 in and 28 out.   

PAS #7

Update:

PAS #7 arrived back in Pennsylvania last night around 1700 on a Sierra Pacific NICC jet. The heavy rain and thunderstorms at the Harrisburg International Airport made for a slightly delayed flight. The crew members from PA were able to leave for their home districts shortly after arriving at the Mobilization Unit.

The engines also began their trek home from Montana yesterday, so we will be seeing them soon.

Crew Member Photos

A member of the Engine Crews sent in some pretty neat pictures to share!

These are from a burn out that Engines 601 and 604 were helping with on the Sartin Draw Fire in Montana.

This picture was taken as the engines were headed to the line on their last shift. A group of Mule deer, always a nice sight!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A crew member from PAS 8 sent this awesome photo today!