Situation: It is 1230hrs, and your district has had a multiple start day. You are given the task…

Situation: It is 1230hrs, and your district has had a multiple
start day. You are given the task of dealing with the fire depicted
below (The Blue Ridge fire.) Because of the high fire activity, no
complete hand crews will be available to you until tomorrow
morning. (That’s the bad news.)

You have a small airport (22 statute miles away from the fire.)
capable of handling both light fixed wing and up to 5 medium size
helicopters. You have also operated SEATs there in the past. (There
is room for 3 SEATs at this airport.*) The closest large air tanker
base is 500 miles to the north however, all the large air tankers
are committed to other fires. You have just flown over the fire in
a reconnaissance aircraft (Cessna 182) and developed the map below.
(The stream to the south of the fire is a Blue ribbon trout
habitat. The slope rises dramatically from the fire to the
ridgeline to the north, and then descends gradual-ly north of the
ridge towards the lake. The lake is a favorite recreation spot for
backpackers and fisher-men. It is quite deep and spring fed. The
entire area is continuous grasses and brush. The winds are light
(5mph) and out of the southwest. Oh, by the way, there are no roads
in the area.

Now the good news, such as it is. You have several fire and
aviation assets that are under “Call when needed” contractual
agreements, in the area. They are as follows:

1.Hughes MD500E, with bucket and long line capability, (Response
time to local airport is 15 minutes.)

2.Bell Long Ranger 206, with bucket and long line capability.
(At same location as the MD500E, same company owns both aircraft.
Same response time.)

3.Cessna 182 at your local airport (This is the aircraft you
used for the recon mission.)

4.(2) AT802s on Exclusive Use contract with the BLM (not your
agency) at the local airport.( These two SEATs take up two of the
three available spaces as referenced above.)

5.A Cessna 340 (ATGS type 1 equipped.)

6.Hughes UH1, with bucket and long line capability. (This is an
ex-military helicopter and there-fore has a “restricted” use
airworthiness certificate.)

7.(6) Heli-tack qualified personnel on your district. Only two
(2) heli-tack personnel are helicopter manager qualified. (Response
time= ½ hour from call-up.)(10) Ground firefighters available on
the district. (One of the ten is a qualified crew boss.)(Response
time=45 minutes from call-up.) (This ground crew is capable of
building line at a rate of 300’ per hour.)One (1) ATGS qualified
person on the district. (He is ½ hour from the airport.)

8.A use agreement is in place with the airport authority, for
use of the airport for both fixed wing and helicopter
use.

You are the unit aviation manager on the district, and your
boss, the Fire Management Officer (FMO), wants this fire off his
plate as quickly as possible. It is your show.

Explain how you are going to accomplish the fire
suppression of this incident. Identify which aviation assets you
are going to use, and explain your thought process in making those
choices. Identify procedures used to acquire all assets. What is
your overall strategic plan, and how do the aviation assets chosen
fit into that plan?