This was posted by the BLM three years ago but I have not seen a better fire aviation photo for 2023. If you have a contender, please contact us. Meanwhile, enjoy this!
WELL, it didn’t take long to get another contender, and I doubt anyone will beat this one. … See below … !
First up for our 12 Days of Employee Photography, the winning photo for the aviation category, taken by Mike McMillan during #FireYear2020, shows a CL415 dropping water on the 2020 Cedar Fire south of Elko, Nevada. Follow along as we showcase favorites from the first ever BLM Wildland Fire Employee Photo Contest. What a great way to say Happy Holidays!
Sorry scoopers, but you may have been outdone. This is from the ATGS on the Wallowa-Whitman — Todd Pease, Air Attack 616 out of La Grande in an Aero Commander 690b flown by Mike O’Brien. Pease says this photo was taken September 18, 2023 on the Fremont-Winema’s Morgan Fire northwest of Lakeview, Oregon. It’s Erickson’s T-104 — on a load-and-return out of Klamath Falls — putting down the last load of retardant for the day, in support of a Forest Service engine crew trying to hold the road.
On this day Tanker 104 was piloted by Capt. Del Hunt with SIC Ron Carpinella.
I asked Todd if that fire later burned over to the headlights on the road. He said it did, and it crossed the road later that night, but everyone was safe — and they were able to pick up the slop across that road the next day, with dozers and the air show.
The 09/21/23 map on inciweb is one of the few files still there. There used to be this federal regulation that said federal agencies had to keep their website stuff available and/or archived after they replaced it or timed it out, but interagency inciweb files tend to go *poof* not long after the fire’s controlled — even if it’s transitioned to local personnel and/or a BAER team.
Here’s another couple photos from Todd Pease, same fire earlier in the evening.
If you were on that engine crew, we’d like to hear from you.
AND — You think your photo can compete with that? Or at least run a strong second? Contact us and let us know!
We have a couple more here from Conair in Canada and we’ll post them pretty soon — stay tuned!
OH LOOKIT, photos from Canada’s Conair — flying internationally on wildland fires.
(NOTE: If you are the pilot or otherwise connected with these aircraft in these photos, please contact us with more details.)
Shannon De Wit with Conair tells us that this photo was taken in Osoyoos BC in early August where the fire had skirted the edge of town. It started in Washington State and then blew across the border in high winds — along with high temps and low RH — and airtankerS from both sides of the border responded. In this photo the Dash 8 is dropping retardant between homes and the fire, slowing the spread so ground crews can work on containment. This fire skirted neighborhoods, a golf course, and the industrial park.
This sunset photo, on the Cameron Bluff Fire, is a poignant capture of the maintenance that occurs every evening after a day of flying wildland fires, with maintenance crews often working late into the night. In this image, one of Conair’s aircraft had been working the Cameron Bluff Fire on Vancouver Island back in June of 2023.