Postal Customer PRSRT STD U.S. Postage Escondido, CA 92026 PAID Permit No. 273 Escondido, CA Fire Safety News ECRWSS Serving the communities of Castle Creek, Champagne Village, Deer Springs, West Lilac, Hidden Meadows, Jesmond Dene, Rimrock, and the Welk Resort Volume 5, No. 2 www.DeerSpringsFireSafeCouncil.com Summer, 2008 LAUNCH ALL AIRCRAFT ! CAL FIRE RAMONA AIR ATTACK BASE DURING THE WITCH CREEK FIRE, OCTOBER 2007 The following fire scenario is fictional but could all too easily become a The single digit humidity, high winds, and extremely dry or dead vegetation create reality in our Fire District. It came very close to happening on May 16, 2008 on the ideal conditions for a rapidly moving fire that will threaten lives and property, eastern side of Moosa Canyon. When it does happen, we can all be thankful for the most prominently along the Moosa Canyon Ridge. experience, training, preparation, and discipline of CAL FIRE Air Operations, the CAL FIRE HeliTack Crew Members and the Sheriff’s Office ASTREA Helicop- Within seconds, CAL FIRE Monte Vista dispatches a full response of fire engines, ter pilots who partner with the CAL FIRE personnel in the air and on the ground. water tankers, ground attack crew, and bulldozers. It also orders “LAUNCH These brave men and women put their lives on the line, day in and day out, to save ALL AIRCRAFT” from the San Diego Region. This order sets in to motion a lives and property within our District, the County, and the great State of California. sequence of events that has been anticipated, trained, practiced and performed over We are fortunate to have these resources available to us combined with their strong the course of many years by CAL FIRE Air Operations. The order to launch all spirit, commitment and leadership throughout the CAL FIRE organization. While aircraft is heard at the CAL FIRE Ramona Air Attack Base and at the “HeliTack” the fire scenario is fictional, the names, places, equipment and procedures are real. helicopter bases in El Cajon and Fallbrook. The good news is that the CAL FIRE This article is based upon a full day spent with Battalion Chief Ray Chaney of and Sheriff’s Office (S/O) personnel on duty have already prepared for such an order. CAL FIRE who graciously explained the procedures in great detail. SEE AIRCRAFT PAGE 2 2:00 PM - DURING A NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RED FLAG WARNING EVENT Attention - Jesmond Dene and North Broadway Residents With winds blowing out of the northeast at 25 mph gusting to 35mph, a Deer Springs Fire Safe Council Lookout reports a vegetation fire to 9-1-1.The fire is A neighborhood meeting has been scheduled for Saturday, July 26th at burning within the Deer Springs Fire Protection District in Moosa Canyon. Just 10:00 AM to be held at the Moose Lodge, 25721 Jesmond Dene Rd. to the west, the communities of Hidden Meadows, Jesmond Dene and San Mar- cos are potentially in its path. This report is immediately transmitted to the CAL Topics to be discussed include: Defensible Space, Fire Safe Landscap- FIRE headquarters in El Cajon, also known as Monte Vista. As the residents of ing, Structure Safety, and Evacuation. Fire Safe DVD’s will be provided! Hidden Meadows begin coming out of their homes looking to the East, the smoke plume or header has already risen to over 1,000 feet. Additional calls are made to the Program Coordinator of the Deer Springs Fire Safe Council’s Reverse 9-1-1 It is important that you attend. This information could protect your prop- System who begins accumulating information for release to its subscribers. This erty, your lives, and your loved ones. vegetation fire is spreading rapidly to the west-southwest with over 5 acres burned. Page 2 - AIRCRAFT scene. Already on board are 30 gallons of fire retardant foam additive that will be injected in to the water at a 5% concentration. This will act to knock down the flames faster than water alone. The extensive training and cooperation between CalFire and the San Diego Sheriff’s Office will soon be utilized to its fullest extent. Copter 10 radios to Monte Vista “Copter 10 is airborne on a heading of 150 degrees, 8 souls on board, 2 hours of fuel”. Copter 12 radios “Copter 12 is airborne on a heading of 350 degrees, 8 souls on board, 2 hours of fuel”. Both are converging on the fire from opposite ends of the County. In Ramona, the pilots staff their planes as Chief Chaney climbs up and in to the BRONCO’s rear seat. As the starters are engaged, the two turboprop engines come to life and the pilot begins to taxi the aircraft to the runway. As Chief Chaney watches the two air tankers start their engines, the radio crackles, trans- mitting to the Ramona Airport Control Tower “Air Attack 330 taxing to active for fire emergency dispatch”. The control tower redirects all other local air traffic in the vicinity of the Ramona airport and gives 330 a priority departure. Within 4 minutes of the initial dispatch from Monte Vista, 330 is airborne and is given directions by Ramona CALFIRE Base Operators to “turn to a heading of 291 degrees – fly direct to the Deer Spring District, 16 miles distance to intercept the fire”. As 330 climbs to the altitude of 3,000 feet, Chief Chaney sees the smoke plume and header rising to over 1,200 feet above the District. From his experience, he knows that this fire, with the prevailing conditions, has a potential COPTER 12 AND CREW AT GILLESPIE FIELD to move quickly and threaten the large population and structures west of Moosa Canyon. His top priority is to get this fire under control quickly and safely. The highly trained contract pilots of the two twin engine Grumman S-2T AIR- EARLIER IN THE MORNING TANKERS start their engines as Air Attack 330 rolls to the taxi way. These air- craft have been rebuilt by CAL FIRE with larger and more powerful turbocharged By 8:30 AM, the pilots and crew at the Gillespie Field CAL FIRE HeliTack engines, structural enhancements and larger retardant tanks. Originally, they were base have finished their briefings and have begun the preflight checks of the two commissioned by the US Navy as Grumman S2E/G Trackers, which were carrier- Bell SUPER HUEY 205A Helicopters, Copter 10 and Copter 12. The Sheriff’s based anti-submarine aircraft. The more powerful engines enable the aircraft to get Department has rebuilt these used helicopters to current modern day standards. to the fire and return to base faster than the previous models and allow the pilots Bigger and more powerful engines and transmissions have been installed along to position their drops with more accuracy closer to the terrain. They’re “state- with larger main and tail rotors. These copters are capable of carrying heavier of-the-art” fire fighting aircraft and they routinely carry only one pilot.The pilot payloads and can be safely flown in the challenging topography of San Diego of AIRTANKER 70 radios the tower for priority handling. The tower controllers County. They’re fully fueled and are ready to respond to any emergency. Due to clear AIRTANKER 70 for immediate take-off as it turns on to the active runway the weather conditions, the highly trained firefighting HeliTack crews are called picking up speed. It rotates and has “wheels up” within 6 minutes of the dispatch. on duty, six for each helicopter. At 9:30 AM, Copter 10 is staffed with its pilot in The pilot of AIRTANKER 70 is given the same heading and distance as Air At- the right seat, S/O Sergeant Gene Palos, CAL FIRE’s Captain Steve Shoemaker in tack 330 to intercept the fire. The smoke plume is even larger and higher than it the left seat, and the six HeliTack crew in the rear tandem seats. After a final pre- was when Air Attack 330 took off. AIRTANKER 71 follows the same procedure flight check and review of the load calculations by Captain Shoemaker, Sgt. Palos and is airborne 60 seconds later. Both will be on scene of the fire within minutes starts its engine and receives clearance to depart Gillespie Field for Fallbrook and in the controlled airspace of Chief Chaney. Airport. Today, Copter 10 will be stationed in the North County for enhanced fire coverage. At the same time, S/O pilot Sergeant Dave Douglas starts the engine SEE AIRCRAFT PAGE 5 of Copter 12 and performs a routine run-up to assure it’s ready for an emergency dispatch. Everything checks out fine. The CAL FIRE/Sheriff’s Office helicopters are well prepared for what will prove to be a challenging day. On the ground, fifteen miles to the north/northeast in Ramona, CAL FIRE contract pilots of the two turbine Grumman twin-engine S2-T AIRTANKERS (Tanker 70 and 71) and the North American BRONCO OV-10A observation aircraft (Air At- tack 330) have all been preflight checked and fueled. In addition, the S2-T’s have been loaded with 1200 gallons of the red-colored fire retardant called Phos-Chek, adding an additional 12,000 pounds to their gross weight. Following the morning briefing, the pilots wait for dispatch orders in the ready room, as all aircraft are ready to go. In charge of CAL FIRE Air Operations in Ramona is Battalion Chief Ray Chaney, who also rides back seat in the BRONCO coordinating and directing all aircraft near and around a fire incident as the Air Tactical Group Supervisor or ATGS.