CFPA NEWS OCTOBER17 - California Fire Pilots … a kind word, incredible memory to remember each...

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T H E C A L I F O R N I A F I R E P I L O T S A S S O C I A T I O N N E W S L E T T E R

SANTA ROSA – SONOMACOUNTY FIRE

AERIAL FIREFIGHTING EUROPE 2017

CFPANEWS

We all thought fire season in the

North was coming to an end, and

then…

2 O’clock in the morning, I wake up

smelling smoke and a CalFire en-

gine stops in the driveway.

CalFire Firefighter: “Hello! Anybody

in the house?… Evacuate right now

Sir!”

When a fire starts at night and wind

blows at 100 mph ++, there’s not

much you can do. Start your car and

go! Chaos and disaster on the

ground. People fighting for their

life, their house, a couple miles

from Downtown Santa Rosa!

Of course we flew the next days, weeks, fighting what we could fight. Timing out in

difficult flying conditions. Two crazy weeks. Let’s not forget the Redwood/Potter val-

ley fire, which destroyed homes too.

Multiple aircraft flying in poor visibility conditions in the same airspace imply strict

discipline of routing to and from the fires, rally at Initial Points before following the

Leadplane. Considering the conditions, I was happy and proud to see that these

weeks went really good and no close calls happened. There was about 45 Helicop-

ters and 20 Airplanes flying around these fires. All did a great job and more impor-

tantly, all came back every night. My hat to all the firefighters, Dozer operators on

the ground working tirelessly to help people and then fight when they could.

Only two years after the Valley fire (and all the other ones: Rocky, Wragg, Jerusalem,

etc.), these fires in Santa Rosa, Napa, Redwood Valley are the most devastating in

the State’s history.

Note that the Tubbs Fire has almost the same footprint as the Hanley fire in 1964.

Clouds and rain bring fall. Finally. 2017 fire season comes to an end. I have more

questions than answers.

After a great career, Jim Barnes is retiring. A founding father of CFPA and AAF. A

champion of this successful program based on the Turbine S-2, Initial attack tactic

and tactical spread of reload bases. Jim will be missed by all. A legendary Tanker

pilot, a fantastic instructor and a mentor. Have a great retirement Jim. You deserve

it, you earned it my friend.

Jerome T85

Editor : Jerome Laval ([email protected])

Deputy editor: Frédéric Marsaly

Editorial Staff : Cyril Defever,Franck Mée

Designer : Philippe Laurent([email protected])

Contributors to this issue :

Alex Dubath, Sauveur Schintu, Brian Madsen, Jerry Dodrill, Peter Hewson, Tara Carpenter.

If you wish to contribute to ourNewsletters with articles, stories,photos, videos, or just want tosuggest interesting links, pleasedo. Send us your work in textformat (txt, doc, docx, rtf) andphotos as jpeg files. (And please,no PDF !)

Photos: size 2400 px on thelongest side with your name in thefilename for credit.

And please, feel free to print the Newsletterand share it around!

COVER : Jerry Dodrill, Fred Marsaly

2 - CFPA NEWS -OCTOBER 2017


Please see the attachedletter of recognition fromGovernor Brown. I am ex-tremely proud of each andevery one of you not onlyfor your response to theOctober 2017 Fire Siege,but also for your dedica-tion and commitment toour mission and the publicwe serve every day.

CAL FIRE leads the wayin emergency responseand resource protectionand is highly regarded forour professionalism aswell as our technical andoperational skills.

Whether you are onduty in a fire station, lead-ing an incident manage-ment team, providingongoing administrativesupport, evaluating water-shed impacts or structuralloss from devastatingfires, or fulfilling one ofthe many other programresponsibilities, each ofyou is playing a criticalrole toward our success.

Thank you for your ded-ication. You are all trulyappreciated.

Chief Ken PimlottDirector CAL FIRE

Ladies and Gents,

Yesterday, October 15th, 2017was Jimmy Barnes’ last day asan aerial fire fighter. Jim Barnesis one of the true greats in thetanker industry. His tanker ca-reer was over 36 years of acci-dent free flying and he trainedmany new tanker captains in-cluding myself. He is endowedwith great sense of humor,sharp wit, and is one of the

most eloquent writers I know.His contributions to Cal Fire airprogram are immense and hewill be dearly missed.Farewell and following seasJimmy!

Chuck Lees

The first time I met Mr. Barneswas here at Ukiah. It was burn-ing then as it is now. We wereboth Air Attack pilots flying

Cessna Mix Masters hanging outat the edges of serious conver-sations about fire. A few yearslater we worked together as me-chanics on S2s and DC6s at Sis-Q Flying Service. Jim struck meas a sort of gentle bull-in-a-china-shop. In the break roomhe'd splash coffee in a cup withcream and sugar then stick hisfinger in it and stir. A slick of 60weight oil would spread on thesurface of the coffee while he


JIM BARNES RETIRES

Last day on duty at a Tanker Base (Grass Valley),Jim Barnes and Air Tactical pilot Jeff Sheftal.


carried on a narrative,worthy of a Seinfeldepisode, about theconvicts from camprun-away we workedwith or Sis-Q miss-management.When the CDF tankerprogram hit bottomchecks bounced andpeople died. I wentto the feds. Jim wentto Marsh and flew thefirst turbine S2. Hecame back andhelped make Cal Firethe great job it istoday.Over time I learnedwe shared a sense ofprivilege. We workedamong people whohad lived large. Atour job we worked ina forest of individualswe looked up to. Wegot to enjoy theshade of their conversations atfire busts like movie sets thengo out and have a shot ofwhiskey. They weren't all Red-woods. Some were scraggy Dig-ger-Pine and you needed to bewary if you hung with them. Youcould end up in a bar fightfelled by one of their dead-falllimbs. With Jim gone from ourskies I think you'll find there isless shade in the forest.

Dean O. Talley

Well said Dean. I'll miss the bigguy tremendously.

Bill Buckley

Congratulations Jimmy Barnesand thank you for setting mestrait on so many things and forall the shade.Be well and see you soon.

Erik Hakenen

Jim,Your relentless work to bringthis program where it is nowwere unbelievable. From thepromotion of the Turbine S-2Tand tactical spread of reloadBases and always favoring theinitial attack concept.

You flew many fireseasons and helpedsupporting the FireFighters on theground with all yourRetardant drops.As a Tanker instructoryou have participatedin training all the pilotswho are flying now in-cluding myself.Always a kind word,incredible memory toremember each one’skids and wife namesand always askingabout them. Alwayshelping the new firefighter to feel wel-come on the Base,consistent profes-sional attitude andtremendous respectfor ATGS and Basemanagers who are, asyou always say: “thetrue champions of this

program". We'll try to carry on your legacyas one of original AAF (Associ-ated Aerial Firefighters) andCFPA (California Fire Pilots Asso-ciation) founder and activemember but things without JimBarnes will be different, forsure.Thank you for all you've done!“Tanker pilots, where do youfind such men?!” Jim Barnes“We make a living by what weget, but we make a life by whatwe give”. Winston Churchill

Jerome

JIM BARNES RETIRES

FOR SALE5 $ eachPlease contact Jerome Laval :

[email protected]


CONGRATS JOHN SCHAURES

11/14: Initial AttackTanker Pilot JohnSchaures receives hisCard from Chief BrownCongrats! Well done!


SAFETY


The Aerial Fire Fighting (AFF)Europe event took place mid-October, in the new French firebomber base in Nîmes. Thebrand new conference room wasa joy to use: able to hold around200 people, its excellentacoustics and perfect sound-proofing allowed a clear hearingof the speakers, even when theyturned away from the micro-phone to point at the screen.

More than 20 presentationswere held, obviously abouttankers, helicopters and firefight-ing, but also about interoperabil-ity, research aircraft, cooperation,simulation and training, and evenusing unmanned aircraft. Speak-ers were pilots and managers,but also engineers or scientists.As usual, all these were very in-teresting and informative; we’dgive a special nod to the first twoones, giving a huge insight onthe evolution of wildfires around

the world, their impact on publichealth, and the way the high tem-peratures and prolongeddroughts due to climate changefeed fires, which release smokeand greenhouse-effect gasesand, in turn, feed climatechange… Unusual topics for aconvention dedicated to aerialfire fighting, but a welcome peekat the big picture!

Presentations came in seriesof 3, with generous separations

allowing attendees to visit the ex-hibition settled in the closest avi-ation hangar. Around 40 booths,for as many companies or admin-istrations, were presenting theirlatest products and services.Dyncorp, Airbus, BAe Systems,Neptune aviation, Global Super-tanker, Air Spray, Viking, Conair,Air Tractor Europe, Coulson, Bab-cock, Simplex Aerospace, Erick-son Inc, SEI Industries (BambiBucket), Heli Union, Kaman

SPECIAL REPORT

AERIAL FIREFIGHTING EUROPE 2017

Nîmes-Garons is the new French fire bombers home base. (Fred Marsaly)

The large AFF exhibition found a perfect place in former Frenchnaval aviation, now SécuritéCivile hangars, at Nîmes-Garons.(Franck Mée)


Aerosystems, Rotex Helicopters,Columbia Helicopters, SabenaTechnics, Lockheed Martin andsome UAV operators such as AzurDrones, Dronotec, Drone Hopper,were present to make this AFFEurope 2017 one of the most im-portant AFF events so far.

Some flight demonstrationswere scheduled at 10h30 am onday 2. It was, though, a cloudymorning with fog banks wander-ing around the airfield. Terminalforecasts were optimistic for theearly afternoon, so the organiza-tion simply took an early start atthe last presentations, effectivelypostponing the flight demonstra-tions to around 1 pm. It was nota problem, though: as the Nîmes-Garons runway is a 18-36, withthe Sécurité Civile base installedon the South West side, from aspectator’s and a photographer’spoint of view, lighting was actu-ally better than it would havebeen on a clear early morning.

Sadly, in the previous days,Portugal had been severely hit byanother series of deadly fires

(around 45 fatalities, followingthe 68 killed earlier this summer).Therefore, the French Canadairswere tasked to intervene –though they finally didn’t leaveduring the event due to icingflight conditions across the Pyre-nees mountains. Yet, nobody

wanted to see these planes flyingfor the show instead of fightinglive fires and the flight combiningItalian, Croatian, Spanish andFrench CL 415s with S-2FT Turbo-Firecat was canceled.

The aerial demonstrationsstarted with an unusual presenta-

SPECIAL REPORT

The large new conference room is well-suited for this kind of events.(Fred Marsaly)

The Aerones massive multiro-tor is able to lift a fire hose toheights ladders can't reach.(Franck Mée)

An AS350B3 demon-strated its versatility infire fighting operations.(Sauveur Schintu)


tion: two unmanned aircraft wereshown. The first was a flyingwing from Boreal and AzurDrones, able to do some recon-naissance, surveillance and map-ping duty, using infrared andvisible-light cameras ; it could forexample monitor a fire all nightlong to know exactly where tosend firebombers at sunrise. Thesecond one, a massive 28-enginemultirotor powerful enough to lift

a man’s weight, showed its abil-ity to take a fire hose higher thana firemen ladder – its manufac-turer, Latvia-based Aerones,claims it can reliably deploy up to200 m of hose!

A French AS350 B3 Écureuilfrom Chamonix-Mont-Blanc Héli-coptères (CMBH) proceeded to aimpressive flight, taking anddropping water, carrying loadsfor firemen as well as firementhemselves in just a few minutes,showing how fast this kind ofasset may switch from one mis-sion to another, with only mini-

mal support on the ground.AS350 B3s are the main helicop-ter type involved in firefighting inFrance. A Bell 212, registered inLuxembourg but recently oper-ated by Heli Protection for a sum-mer firefighting contract in theSouth East of France, demon-strated its abilities with an under-belly tank. Interestingly, it did notrefill from the same huge groundtank the Écureuil threw its bucketin: the Bell pumped out of a smallinflatable children pool, showingit could actually draw water froma much thinner recipient thanBambi Buckets.

SPECIAL REPORT

The amazing CMBH's AS350B3 with her stunning livery ! (Alex Dubath)

This Heliprotection-operated Bell 212 was contracted for firefightingin the Alpes-Maritimes department this summer. (Sauveur Schintu)

CFPA Newsletter team at work ! (Cyril Defever)


But the most awaited demon-stration was the Kaman K-Maxone. The aircraft came fromSwitzerland, were Rotex uses 3helicopters of this model for tim-ber transportation in mountain-ous area and air crane missions.While its incredible twin counter-rotating inter-meshing rotors and

its 6’000 lbs cargo hook capacityobviously drew attention, the K-Max also struck the audiencewith its low noise.

The demonstrations also fea-tured more conventional aircraft:a Spanish AT-802F, in service inthe Herault department this sum-mer, and a Fire Boss made a few

drops. As the fire season inSouthern France was not yetover, spectators could also seetwo Turbo-Firecats from theSécurité Civile fill up and take off:these were not part of the show,but aircraft on alert actually goingto work!

SPECIAL REPORT

Rotex, from Switzerland, demonstrated the abilities of their KMaxwith a Bambi Bucket. (Alex Dubath)

The Kaman K-Max might look weird, but its performance is actually impressive. (Franck Mée)

This Spanish AT-802F owned byAvialsa is contracted in France during Fire season and covers theMontpellier area. (Franck Mée)

A spanish Fire Boss made several drops. He scooped water 5 minutesaway from the Base in the Rhône River. (Sauveur Shintu)


After a one-day break, theyounger Search & Rescue eventtook place the same week at thesame place, making the brandnew Sécurité Civile base theplace to be in mid-October foranyone interested in aerial safetyoperations.

The next AFF event will takeplace in Sacramento in March2018 and the AFF Europe will beback in Nîmes in March 2019.Save the dates!

Fred Marsaly & Franck Mée

SPECIAL REPORT

Italian, Spanish, Croatian andFrench water bombers were

schedulded for a combined demon-stration, which was finally cancelled.

(Fred Marsaly)

For the SAR Event, UK Coastguard brought one of their new S-92s and French company Heli Union an EC-225, both heavy and powerful helicopters.(Fred Marsaly)

The French Sécurité Civile baseapron by night. (Cyril Defever)

PHOTO REPORTS


HERCS BACK AT ROHNERVILLE

The first Hercules to land at KFOT since TBM, Inc Tanker 64 in 2001.Photos: Brian Madsen

PHOTO REPORTS


TANKER 133 AT SANTA ROSA

Tanker 133 operating from Sonoma AAB in october. Photos: Jerome Laval

PHOTO REPORTS


SUNSET

T96 at Rohnerville. (Peter Hewson)

Cal Fire Tracker at dusk. (Tara Carpenter)

OV-10 Bronco AA120 at Rohnerville AAB. (Peter Hewson)

Cruising back to base for a load and hold,after a long day.

PHOTO REPORTS


CAL FIRE AIRCRAFT AT MCCLELLAN:PHOTOS: JEROME LAVAL

OV-10 Broncos and S2F-3AT Trackers atthe main Cal Fire Base McClellan(MCC).Impressive fleet and excellent choice ofairplanes for the job.

PHOTO REPORTS


PHOTO REPORTS


DYNCORP AND CAL FIRE PROJECT XPHOTOS: JEROME LAVAL

Have a look at Tanker 79 being built. A dedicated hangar at MacClellan(MCC) and Dyncorp set a Team of14 engineers and mechanics building the replacement of Tanker 81.

PHOTO REPORTS


Tanker 79 should be done and ready for the next step soon. CalFire and Dyncorp tookthe challenge of rebuilding a Grumman S-2 and it looks like they're about to achieve it.

PHOTO REPORTS


SANTA ROSA - SONOMA COUNTY FIRES PHOTOS: JERRY DODRILL

PHOTO REPORTS


CFPA NEWS OCTOBER17 - California Fire Pilots … a kind word, incredible memory to remember each...

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