Wisconsin: Natural resource agency is grounding its airplanes after wildfire LODD.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Wisconsin: Natural resource agency is grounding its airplanes after wildfire LODD.

Wisconsin’s natural resource agency is temporarily grounding its 10 airplanes and 11 pilots, after a crash killed a pilot who was tracking a wildfire.

Gov. Jim Doyle called Heath Van Handel, 36, of Appleton a courageous, experienced pilot.

Witnesses said his plane was circling the fire at a low altitude, when it took a steep dive to the ground.

It happened Wednesday in Wood County, 12 miles southwest of Marshfield.

Department of Natural Resources secretary Matt Frank said his agency will work with state and federal departments to go over maintenance records and see if they can learn anything.

He said his people were still dealing with the shock of the crash.

Officials said a person who was burning debris started the fire and it burned about two acres.

Van Handel is a former commercial pilot and flight instructor. His 42-year-old craft was temporarily stationed at Necedah during the wild-fire season.

It’s normally kept in Oshkosh, and it was said to have had its required maintenance.

Frank promised the DNR’s fire-fighting efforts would not be hampered by the grounding of the planes. He said he would seek help from neighboring states if it’s needed.

Van Handel was the first DNR pilot killed on duty.

In 1998, a crash near Tomah killed two DNR staffers an a pilot from the state administration department.

Source: newrichmond-news.com- Link

No comments:

How fires get their names

Every year in California thousands of wildfires start throughout the state. In most cases, the dispatch center sending the initial resources to a wildland fire will designate a name for the fire, but the first on scene engine or fire official can also name the incident. Fires are usually named for the area in which they start – a geographical location, local landmark, street, lake, mountain, peak, etc. Quickly naming the fire provides responding fire resources with an additional locater, and allows fire officials to track and prioritize incidents by name. For example during the Southern California Fire Siege of 2003, the largest wildland fire in California history, the Cedar Fire in San Diego County, was named after the Cedar Creek Falls area where it started. The destructive Old Fire, which burned during the same time period in San Bernardino County, was named after the road along which it started - Old Waterman Canyon Road.

CAL FIRE is the largest fire department in California and the second largest fire department in the United States. CDF - CAL FIRE Firefighters answer the call more than 300,000 times a year. CAL FIRE Firefighters make up the fire department for 30 of our 58 counties in California and more than 100 local communities. We serve as the incident command during many of California’s most serious disasters. CAL FIRE Firefighters respond to many various types and forms of calls ranging from structural fires, to auto accidents, to earthquakes, to floods, to the spilling of hazardous materials, to every conceivable disaster; CAL FIRE answer's the calls. CAL FIRE is the largest fire department in California and the second largest fire department in the United States . CAL FIRE firefighters protect 33 million acres of State Responsibility Area (SRA). We have over 4,000 members within CAL FIRE and CAL FIRE is associated with the California Professional Firefighters (CPF) and the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF).

CFN - CALIFORNIA FIRE NEWS - CAL FIRE NEWS

Friday, April 10, 2009