There can never be enough forest fires...

[Gr.Viper]

Just like two years ago (and like the US this year) we're having a massive wildfire surge

http://www.rt.com/news/prime-time/wildfires-russia-greenpeace-predictions-113/

As the report says, so far the casualties were 8 dead out of 13 firefighters paradropped into a forest.

 

NASA is busy taking pictures

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=78305

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=78515

 

And, man, does this smoke go places:

Smoke lingering over much of British Columbia from Siberian wildfires has pushed ozone levels in parts of the province to never-before-seen numbers.

 

Smoke from dozens of forest fires in Siberia has been responsible for spectacular red sunrises and sunsets on the northwest coat of the United States and Canada's British Columbia, MSNBC.com reported on Wednesday.

Edited July 28, 2012 by Gr.Viper

[Lazarus1177]

These fires must be too big to be put out using small aircraft.R.I.P to the firemen .Doesn't the USAF have C-130s modified for fire fighting?

[RogerSmith]

why would you paradrop firefighters in the forest? How can 9 people outperform a couple of firefighting vehicles?

[jeanba]

why would you paradrop firefighters in the forest? How can 9 people outperform a couple of firefighting vehicles?

It is not a matter of "outperforming" but of "doing another job" (such as observation).

[Gr.Viper]

The problem with using aircraft in those areas is that they have to take off off the airfields covered with smoke veil, or grab water from rivers and lakes covered in steam or smoke.

 

Oh, and I got the numbers wrong. 8 killed out of 13.

 

Here's an article about smokejumpers

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/russian-smokejumpers/

Edited July 28, 2012 by Gr.Viper

[Lazarus1177]

why would you paradrop firefighters in the forest? How can 9 people outperform a couple of firefighting vehicles?

 

Firefighters are airdropped to look for people trapped in the area.Think of it as SAR(Search and Rescue).

[Gr.Viper]

Firefighters are airdropped to look for people trapped in the area.Think of it as SAR(Search and Rescue).

Mostly (at least here) they're inserted to combat small fires before they develop in the areas, which would take hours to reach using trucks and dozers. Also, if you're going to drive a bulldozer through a healthy forest, you might as well let it burn.

[UK_Widowmaker]

They should use airport fire trucks...they can outperform anything

[Lazarus1177]

Mostly (at least here) they're inserted to combat small fires before they develop in the areas, which would take hours to reach using trucks and dozers. Also, if you're going to drive a bulldozer through a healthy forest, you might as well let it burn.

Agreed.But,letting the forest burn could greatly harm the atmospheric environment.Also,air travel around the area may be affected.

[Lt. James Cater]

Where i'm at now was evacuated a few years ago due to a fire and when i was a Zion 10 years ago a sizable fire was so close we had to sleep in our clothes and with escape kits ready. Heading off to work in the morning was like walking through a thick fog.

 

The thing of some of these locations is that a fire at certain points can cut you off from anything other than pretty hairy trails that might have to be taken at a run and in the dark.