Fire season - Southern Hemisphere

[SPman]

Well, as the Northern Hemisphere fire season (hopefully) tapers off, here in Australia, we're ramping into it with a vengeance and it's early. In the last week, here in Western Australia, we've had a flurry of "smaller"fires (one quite close to our place), and a major in the Southwest, with 4 fatalities. In South Australia near Adelaide there's another fire with a 45Km front - 2 dead so far with 2 more missing! It's not looking good for the rest of the year and it's not even summer yet! We could do with a few of your big birds over here...I believe there's a C130 or two coming to help out the myriad of small planes and Helos.....looks like we're going to need them.
At least my fire pump works this year, and the pool is good for 2 hrs of water............

 

[Daveroo]

the Coulson T-132,a L-382Q and their T-131 a C-130Q,has been tanked with a 4000gallon tank,its on its way or will be, Tanker Ten's DC-10 is supposed to be there already,and one of Conairs RJ85's will be there soon if its not there now.so you should have 3 large tankers and one VLAT (the DC-10).

heres some info..basically where i got my info..lol...www.fireavaition.com

<header class="entry-header" style="color: rgb(55, 55, 55); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.375px;">[h=1]Victoria to again have two large air tankers under contract this summer[/h]Posted on November 17, 2015 by Bill Gabbert
</header>Tanker 161, an RJ85. Photo supplied by RJ85 Australia.

Emergency Management Victoria will have two large air tankers from North America under firefighting contract again during their down-under summer. Beginning December 1 they expect to have the same types of aircraft that they employed in the 2014/2015 bushfire season — one of Conair’s RJ85s, and Coulson’s Tanker 131, a C-130Q (known in Australia as Bomber 390).
The RJ85, N355AC, is en route now island hopping across the Pacific after departing Abbotsford, British Columbia at 2:04 p.m. MST on November 14. When heard from last, it left Guadalcanal Nov. 17 at 3:03 p.m. MST on its final leg and was due in Australia Nov. 17 at 8:52 p.m. MST, a six-hour flight. Last year because of the limited range of the RJ85, they used fuel bladders for the multi-day trip.
Coulson’s Tanker 131 is getting a new 4,000 USG tank and Smart Controller upgrade and is expected to depart for Australia by the end of next week.
During the 2014/2015 fire season the two air tankers completed 81 drops of fire retardant on fires in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.
New South Wales already has two air tankers on duty, a DC-10 operated by 10 Tanker Air Carrier, and Coulson’s Tanker 132, an L-382G which is a civilian stretched version of a C-130.

 

[Daveroo]

<header class="entry-header" style="color: rgb(55, 55, 55); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.375px;">[h=1]North American air tankers to be under contract in NSW during Australia’s summer[/h]Posted on September 5, 2015 by Bill Gabbert
</header>T-132, or ‘Thor’, an L-382 Hercules contracted to the NSW Government to assist in fighting bushfires dispenses water during a demonstration over the Rickaby’s drop zone near RAAF Base Richmond. Australia Department of Defence photo by CPL David Said .

A year ago during Australia’s 2014-2015 summer two large air tankers from North America were under contract in Victoria, Australia, Coulson’s Tanker 131, a C-130Q, and Conair’s Tanker 162, an RJ-85. The two aircraft dropped more than a million liters of fire retardant across the state, completing 81 drops across Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. Victoria will have two large air tankers under contract again this summer, beginning in November unless they are needed earlier.
Australia’s Minister of Defence, ABC News, and ASD News reported that this year the New South Wales Rural Fire Service is “trialling” two air tankers, a DC-10 and Coulson’s Tanker 132 (an L-382G which is a civilian stretched version of a C-130).
T-132 is already in Australia and earlier this week performed a practice or demonstration water drop near Richmond air base in northwest Sydney where it will be based until early December. The aircraft is under contract with the RFS for two fire seasons.
Coulson says the L-382 has their latest Coulson SMART 4,400-gallon retardant tank system. The DC-10 carries 11,600 gallons (44,000 liters).
ABC reports that the DC-10 Very Large Air Tanker (VLAT) will be under contract with the RFS beginning in October. The agency has not announced which company will supply the DC-10, however there is only one that operates DC-10 air tankers.
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RAAF Base Richmond will be used to provide airfield support services to the air tankers in NWS from September 1 until January 20, 2016.
According to the Department of Defence:

Defence is providing a number of services including aircraft parking and security, access to fuel and refueling facilities, equipment storage, use of resources including water, aircrew office space, and meals and accommodation for up to 20 people, as required. Facilitating the aircraft at RAAF Base Richmond is intended to maximize aircraft utility and provide access to all areas of NSW in the event of a bushfire emergency.
​

Portions of Australia have the potential to face an above normal bushfire season.


Below is an an outlook for the 2015-2016 bushfire season in Australia, from the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC and the AFAC:
“Large areas of southern Australia, especially along the east and west coasts extending inland, face above normal fire potential for the 2015-2016 fire season, despite many fires in some parts of the country over the last 12 months. The above normal forecast is mostly due to a strengthening El Nino over the Pacific Ocean, currently tracking as one of the strongest on record, but is made more complex this year by the influence of warmer sea temperatures in the Indian Ocean.
There have also been significantly below average rainfalls over the last decade across almost all of eastern Australia, the west coast and Tasmania. Such underlying dry conditions mean that any surface moisture from recent rains will quickly decline once temperatures begin to warm. 2014 was Australia’s third warmest year since records began and, when combined with such long term rainfall deficiencies, an early start to the bushfire season is likely in many areas.
The Southern Australia Seasonal Bushfire Outlook is used by fire authorities to make strategic decisions on resource planning and prescribed fire management for the upcoming fire season.”

 

[wombat666]

Started early and started bad!
We've been prepping for a bad season for months now, our area is pretty well covered but never say never.
The water tanks are full and the 'bunker' is stocked.
If it gets nasty at least we are only a few klicks inland and any water bombing aircraft have Port Phillip at the front and Westernport behind us to fill their tanks.
Plan for the worst, hope for the best.

 

[Daveroo]

131 enroute

<header class="entry-header" style="color: rgb(55, 55, 55); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.375px;">[h=1]Tanker 131 en route to Australia[/h]Posted on November 27, 2015 by Bill Gabbert
http://fireaviation.com/2015/11/27/tanker-131-en-route-to-australia/#respond
</header>Tanker 131, a C-130Q. Photo November 23 in Edmonton by Matt Ralph.

Air Tanker 131 (N130FF), Coulson’s C-130Q, arrived in Hawaii on Thursday after completing the first leg of its trip to Victoria, Australia. It is under contract with Emergency Management Victoria for their summer bushfire season, along with Conair’s Tanker 162, an RJ85, (N355AC).
Two other air tankers are already down under working for New South Wales, T-910 (N612AX) a DC-10 operated by 10 Tanker Air Carrier, and Coulson’s Tanker 132, an L-382G (N405LC) which is a civilian stretched version of a C-130.
Tanker 131 just received a new retardant tank and a redesigned “Next Gen Smart Controller” to operate the retardant delivery system.
The new retardant tank for Tanker 131 is on the right. The original tank is on the left. Photo by Matt Ralph.

The newer tank holds about 500 gallons more than the original tank and should enable an average retardant load of 4,200 USG and a maximum capacity of about 4,500 USG, according to Britt Counson. Tanker 132, an L-382G, also has the new version of the tank system.

 

[SPman]

Started early and started bad!
We've been prepping for a bad season for months now, our area is pretty well covered but never say never.
The water tanks are full and the 'bunker' is stocked.
If it gets nasty at least we are only a few klicks inland and any water bombing aircraft have Port Phillip at the front and Westernport behind us to fill their tanks.
Plan for the worst, hope for the best.

A lot of bush on a slope.....not a good defendible location. We're on a gentle slope with a large clear paddock in front, but, the 25000 acre bush reserve across the road is prone to igniting........

 

[wombat666]

A lot of bush on a slope.....not a good defensible location. We're on a gentle slope with a large clear paddock in front, but, the 25000 acre bush reserve across the road is prone to igniting........

Looks worse than it is, but you're right, not ideal.
Quite a lot of scrub has been cleared out since those snaps were taken, and our location is a relatively good one, almost at the end of the Mornington Peninsula, Port Phillip Bay at our front and Westernport behind.
However, our bugout bags are packed and if things look nasty we plan on going early, no point in hanging around.
"Plan for the worst, hope for the best."