Firefighting info?

[hoop]

OK, so I'm in Oklahoma, and there were a couple of big wild fires yesterday. Since there have been so many fires lately, the US Forestry Service (I think) has stationed some tankers at Ardmore. One of the grass fires in Stephens county got about a mile from my folks house. The old man said that the tankers were dropping retardant, and a couple helos with buckets. My question is: Is there any sort of database or web based info accessible to the public on the missions that the firefighters do? I was just wondering if there was some sort of write-up on amount of retardant dropped, time it took, etc....or is it not even worth keeping records of ? Thanks in advance.....

 

[moving2vegas]

General info is best told through the daily situation report. The info you want... tankers working specific fires, gallons dropped, mission times.... are all recorded by the base manager at the specific base working the fire. Press will occasionally call looking for those numbers but it's generally not given to the general public, although it's not private either. It's basically used as financial accounting measure to keep track of expenses and as an annual summary.


http://www.nifc.gov/news/sitreprt.pdf

 

[avbug]

Reports of daily activities are made, but following retardant drops and quantities is a local issue, only reported on the economic OAS forms.

You can view:

http://www.nifc.gov/fireinfo/nfn.html

movingtovegas beat me to it.

 

[hoop]

Thanks guys! Exactly what I was looking for.

 

[Lostdog65]

Or you can try www.airtanker.com if you want to know about the pilots themselves...get on the AAP message board to see what it's like in the tanker world. Some of the best pilots I've ever met drove airtankers or leadplanes. Small world with some veeerrrryy interesting characters....professionals through and through but just a little off bubble sometimes!! (J/K)

Eric

 

[avbug]

I never really liked the bubble, anyway.

AAP has dwindled significantly in recent times...evidenced by the latest meeting in Reno this past few days.

The message board there has become very slow in recent times as members moved away from AAP, though the organization is taking great pains to inject more activity by encouraging operators other than large air tankers to become involved.

The message board is password protected.

 

[Cargo69]

Tanker pilots

what are the mins to get on with a tanker outfit?

 

[Cargo69]

never mind found it

 

[avbug]

Forget about the OAS/OAM mins...you won't find work with those minimums.

No large air tanker positions are available. Single Engine Air Tanker positions will require at least a thousand hours of ag time to start. Most all positions require or strongly favor an A&P certificate, and if you want to get hired right now, five years or more of fire experience is probably the minimum to be competitive.

The government is scaling back funding across the board by a third this year for fire, largely due to high expenditures in Iraq, and over Katrina (more Katrina than DoD expenditures). That's not just air assets, but engines, ground troops, everything.

 

[DC4boy]

Hi guy's.

If your interested in becoming an airtanker pilot, step one would be joining the Associated Airtanker Pilots. The AAP is not a labor organization or union, the objective is to promote a fair and safe work environment, and give the pilots a colective voice in the industry.

Annualy, the AAP meets in Reno. This is a good place to meet pilots and perhaps get a foot in the door.

Neptune, inc., currenty has two FO positions open on the P-2 (-5, -7). Not too sure the minimum's.

If you'd like more info about AAP, go to www.airtanker.com, or feel free to contact me.

Brad Baker
AAP Board Member
[email protected]