Mahopac Brush Fire 10-20-08

[nhfd241 4]

Is the brush fire Mahopac at right now a rekindle of the one they had this morning?

[fitzjr11 17]

rekindle

[brian19fd 22]

Yes, it is a rekindle...

From this morning:

Units- Mahopac FD 18-1-2, 1-3, 2-1, 2-3, 4-2, 6-2; Mahopac Falls FD 19-3-1; Kent FD 16-3-1

Approx. 18-20 acres burnt- Most of the fire was K/D within the first 2 hours of the call by MVFD. Additional tones for MVFD, along with MFVFD mutual aide was hit around 0700 for hot spots around the mountain. Kent FD was later requested due to limited manpower. Most of the major hot spots were extinguished and scene appeared to be secure, when FD units cleared around 11:30

Rekindle was dispatched around 17:08 from Carmel Police reporting large brush fire at same location from this morning.

Units: Mahopac: 18-1-2,1-3, 2-3, 4-1, 4-2, 6-2, 7-2; Mahopac Falls: 19-1-3, 3-1 & addiontial manpower transported via 1-3 vehicle; Kent 16-3-1, 6-1; Somers FD 1 eng relocate to MVFD Stat 1 on standby; PCBOES CC 4; NYS Forrest Ranger; Carmel Police

Beginning of the call started as 2 major hot spots on opposite ends of the mountain. Crews attempting to reach 2 locations, due to terrain hard to access.

As of 20:37, crews were still opperating in the Field, attempting to gain control and hit main hotspots...

21:05, crews working the outside of the fire ring, making sure it doesn't jump the Fire Line, and last of the major hotspots being hit...

23:14- CC4 reports most of the Fire Lines are complete around the houses in the area of the fire, to protet them during the night. Most of the hotspots are now extinguished after some minor flare ups... Hope to be wrapped up within the next half hour to hour...

B. Neary- PC417

Edited October 21, 2008 by brian19fd

[nhfd241 4]

hey thanks Brian19fd

[brian19fd 22]

Post Updated as of 23:20...

B. Neary- PC417

[CG206 29]

With a brush fire of this magnitude, would it be feasible to use a helicopter with a bambi bucket to hit those areas considering we are going into the night time hours??

[brian19fd 22]

With a brush fire of this magnitude, would it be feasible to use a helicopter with a bambi bucket to hit those areas considering we are going into the night time hours??

That was an option, but call was made to WPD Aviation, and they said Chopper is down today and tomm, due to no qualified pilot in the area...

[JM15 386]

No qualified pilot in the area?

[brian19fd 22]

No qualified pilot in the area?

Yeahpp- that is the answer we were given here at P-911... Idkk?!?

[RWC130 594]

Call NYPD!

They came up for the Somers Brush Fire,

they have a Bucket.

[JM15 386]

I was going to mention that RWC. NYPD aviation came up to Somers for a brush fire last year. Does anyone know what kind of capabilities the State Police have aviation wise?

[Mofire24 27]

I like how everyone tells everyone else how to fight their fire

[RWC130 594]

MoFire24,

LOL!!!!

I don't think anyone is on here telling a FD how to fight a fire.

I hope not?

Just a chat and some "suggestions" on available resources.

I have learned a lot on here about various FD, PD, EMS agencies.

The equipment they have and what might be available to you

upon request.

Having a close friend who is in NYPD Aviation I know (if available)

they are always willing to help!

I think Rockland County also has a Chopper,

I don't know if they have a Bucket.

Having a Chopper even if just for observation purposes may be of some

assistance to the I/C.

MAPHOAC, GIT-R-DONE!

[EJS1810 7]

It's 0045 and we are done! Again! Darn wind! BTW it was not the same location. It moved to the left. Good turnout tonight by everyoine. Very steep terrain and very rocky also. As for a rekindle, I perfer additional fire in same location.

[kvfd306 0]

for water drops i know the national guard does it because they handled the forest fire near the hudson that happened a few years back and all units cleared around midnight. We built a fire line around the area and wet down the hot spots. kent responded with 16-6-1 and 16-3-1

[firesleuth 0]

With a brush fire of this magnitude, would it be feasible to use a helicopter with a bambi bucket to hit those areas considering we are going into the night time hours??

An additional consideration about using a helicopter was the proximity of homes in the area. I was told that there was concern about approach and dump so close to any houses.

[RH31379 0]

The helicopter was requested as stated above and then looked at from two prospectives, either water or survalience. Apparently things get very complicated when you wanna start dropping water in the vicinity of homes. We decided to what for the arrival of the ranger and then look at all the options he offered. in the interm manpower was requested to the scene with rakes and indian tanks, 2 lines we stretched and then split to 3 foresty lines best guess of a min 500-700' each .The ranger walked the perimeter came back offered is plan everyone (45 firefighters) was pulled out of the woods got some food regroupped and sent back in 3 teams of 10-12 to cut the fireline. An excellent effort was made and greatly appreciated the terrain was extremely rough to say the least and no injuries occured at either morning or evening. The rangers are heading back today to take a widden the fireline as needed.

[smwells 7]

I would think the proximity to houses would be a reason to use the helicopter to minimize any potential fire damage, especially if they are on the 2nd or 3rd visit to this same area for rekindle.

As mentioned the Rangers would be the experts on how best to approach, good job by all to contain the fire.

Edited October 21, 2008 by smwells

[helicopper 1,050]

That was an option, but call was made to WPD Aviation, and they said Chopper is down today and tomm, due to no qualified pilot in the area...

That's not exactly the case. It was our regular day off but we could have been recalled for a mission. However, we've neither trained nor been qualified for night bambi-bucket operations. There are so many concerns associated with bambi-bucket ops that work in darkness makes the risk analysis heavily weighted against the mission. Out west they train for it and do it all the time. We've been called for fires three or four times in a year so we can't maintain proficiency with that volume of work.

The NY State Police were also called and they had someone working with Putnam to determine what, if anything, would be done during the night. They would be "first-due" to Putnam in most cases anyway. They did say that they'd go out for recon/surveillance if requested.

The NYPD does do bambi-bucket missions as well but I'm not sure if they would do them at night either - especially in unfamiliar terrain.

Yes, the National Guard does have assets that can do fire suppression but I don't believe that any are in our area.

I would think the proximity to houses would be a reason to use the helicopter to minimize any potential fire damage, especially if they are on the 2nd or 3rd visit to this same area for rekindle.

As mentioned the Rangers would be the experts on how best to approach, good job by all to contain the fire.

The proximity to houses may be a reason not to use the helicopter. If you have a house, you probably have a road, if you have a road, you can probably get close with fire apparatus negating the value of doing water drops in someone's backyard. The big picture has to be considered and if you can put an engine with 1000 gallons of water in the driveway of a house on the periphery of the fire you're far better off than having us drop 180 gallons.

Calling in the Rangers is a very smart idea because this is their area of expertise. Just like they'd call for you for a structure fire.

[brian19fd 22]

That's not exactly the case. It was our regular day off but we could have been recalled for a mission. However, we've neither trained nor been qualified for night bambi-bucket operations. There are so many concerns associated with bambi-bucket ops that work in darkness makes the risk analysis heavily weighted against the mission. Out west they train for it and do it all the time. We've been called for fires three or four times in a year so we can't maintain proficiency with that volume of work.

The NY State Police were also called and they had someone working with Putnam to determine what, if anything, would be done during the night. They would be "first-due" to Putnam in most cases anyway. They did say that they'd go out for recon/surveillance if requested.

The NYPD does do bambi-bucket missions as well but I'm not sure if they would do them at night either - especially in unfamiliar terrain.

Yes, the National Guard does have assets that can do fire suppression but I don't believe that any are in our area.

The proximity to houses may be a reason not to use the helicopter. If you have a house, you probably have a road, if you have a road, you can probably get close with fire apparatus negating the value of doing water drops in someone's backyard. The big picture has to be considered and if you can put an engine with 1000 gallons of water in the driveway of a house on the periphery of the fire you're far better off than having us drop 180 gallons.

Calling in the Rangers is a very smart idea because this is their area of expertise. Just like they'd call for you for a structure fire.

Thank you Chris for that info- Im sure acouple of us from P-911 will be in touch so we can get familiar with the aviation unit and the Cans & Can Nots of it for later usage down the road...

[JM15 386]

Thanks Chris that was exactly the info that I was looking for.