East Bay Regional Parks copter Eagle program has been in daily fire suppression service for many yrs.
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Considering the two CAL FIRE ships closest to that area are C106 and C104, something in the area is better than nothing. I’d say it will be effective on 80% of the fires it’s dispatched to. I’d call that a win for the public.
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And if it blows something over the line trapping a crew or causing a spot - who benefits from that?
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What I do know is this. You show me a firefighter that has never made mistake, I’ll show you somebody who probably never tried hard enough. Sometimes finding the wrong in something prevents us from seeing the right. If there were things that can improve, that’s for us as individuals to approach. Minimal communication and chest forward approach is what enables us to take things head-on and be great problem solvers. It’s also what limits us from having simple human conversations that articulate concerns.
Maybe that copter did blow things over the line. Maybe the fire that blew over the line came at you. If that was the case, that sucks. I’m truly sorry you had to experience that. My point is this, as a person that has been put in bad situations, some my fault, other times not, it is still my responsibility to convey information so that we can all improve and become better. The whole point of this is not to draw lines, but never forget our ultimate goal is to protect and safeguard the citizens of our communities and state; and still return home to our loved ones. Both of those require us to address our concerns, but do so without our egos blocking our ability to listen.
Just so you are aware, what I heard you say was, there was an experience you had that made your job more difficult and heightened your sense of awareness; and maybe even made the situation uncomfortable for you or others around you. Which may have, in turn made you feel extremely uncomfortable when working around the copter in question. If that’s the case. I think you are right to feel that way. Just don’t let it inhibit you from constructively addressing the concern. I hope you are ok…
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That was a horrible drop! He scattered fire everywhere. I hope the piilot sees this video and learns from it. You are right, sometimes nothing is better than a poor something.
So, by that logic, we should ground T944 forever because it made a very low, very bad drop on the Ranch Fire that caused the death of an Utah BC and injured 3 others.
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Everyone makes mistakes and they are to be learned from. Just because someone makes a mistake means we have to turn them away from the tasks? There’s a learning curve to everything and we can’t expect people to just naturally be good at the task at hand. California is not in a place to remove resources from incidents when we are seeing large fires almost all year.
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I hope you take time out of your day to get a cup of coffee with him and let him know exactly how the situation felt for you. That’s how we get better.
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Lame response… personal responsibility has a place in this job…
Thanks for the advice… Not sure if you really heard me…
Let the experts do the expert stuff- this is not a model airplane club…
And you have one to yourself to tell him…
Not error concerns here.
I thought this was a discussion about helicopters making poor drops… I guess I thought I was “erroring” it in the right spot…
as a helitack crew supervisor (retired), I have ,along with crew, been taken off hill tops and had low drops that spread the fire. and most of those pilots were the best of the best. shit happens. you just recover and move on but you do not ground the aircraft or pilot for a bad drop. the pilots out there will vouch that the air that all these pilots have to deal with is usually at the edge of the envelope along with the turf the also have to deal with. one bad drop does not mean the pilot or aircraft needs to be removed. there is always a learning curve for fighting fire: whether on the ground or in the air. this ship is an positive asset along with the pilot. tread lightly with judgement.
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These pilots like all of us, are doing the best they can. Sometimes things aren’t always going as planned. I am sure this pilot feels as bad about this drop as some on this thread. Especially if he endangered anybody.
Something tells me, he didn’t wake up and say, “I’m gonna make a low drop today and try to throw embers all of the place”. We all can be better for each other. I’m glad nobody was injured…we now get the opportunity to discuss it. People that I have worked with, never got that chance.
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Let’s end this…anyone with any time at all on Wildland Fires has seen rotor wash or fixed wing vortex cause a Fire brand or create ember cast. It happens end of story!
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Folks, enough second guessing. This is a horrible fire season for all of us. The pilot did the best he could. We don’t know if maybe a crew on the ground needed help. Either way, let’s only post supportive comments so we continuously show our support for the “boots on the ground and in the air” trying their best in dangerous fire conditions.
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