Responding to Colorado's Wildfire Problem - Type III Engine
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ค. 2023
- The 3 largest fires in Colorado history occurred within the last 3 years and consumed over half a million acres. The 5 most destructive fires occurred within the last decade, combined they destroyed over 2,500 homes. Because of the wildfire problem, local, State and Federal agencies are increasing their personnel and equipment to respond to these often rapidly expanding events.
I visited Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control to learn more about their Type III Engines, which are strategically stationed across the state. Engine 3111 is a 2014 International 7400 4×4 / KME with a 500 GPM Darley pump, 600-gallon water tank, and 20-gallon foam cell.
Never did it cross my mind that these men and women are actually sleeping at the fire they are fighting. A much more higher appreciation for these people. I understand basic firefighting is dangerous, but these people lack some of the most helpful tools and resources that you don't find in wildland areas and there's not much between them and fire.
Nice video Eric ! So much info provided about fighting wildland fires by this professional and nice to see all things on this engine👍 Regards from the Netherlands 🇳🇱
I'm happy you enjoyed it, thanks for watching!
Eric thank you for this video! This gentleman did one of the best apparatus overviews I have ever seen.
Thanks Eric type 3 or type 4 engines where the norm in ca on wildland fires when I came up but it’s awesome to see someone taking the time to point out what they do and why they are still around
DFPC has a handful of Type IV Engines around the Colorado, too. Many of those are leased to small, often volunteer fire districts. Thanks for watching.
Thank you Eric hope you have a good day today
Man, I just wrote my final paper in my college english class about wildland fires and wildland firefighting! Wish I had this video as a resource for it!
Did you write about how fire suppression of wildfire causes mega-fire and desertification?
So much great information, coupled with good personal antic-dotes based on his experiences. Nice work, Eric!!
Anecdote
If you find yourself in Boise ID, take a tour of Boise Mobile Equipment (BME). I used to work there. I'm guessing they would be happy to host you and maybe let you ride along in a show truck. Almost all of Cal Fire's type 3 engines are manufactured there.
Great suggestion, thanks!
Would love to see you come to Colorado Springs and check out the C-130s as they prep for fire season soon! Watching and hearing the water test is an amazing sight.
Best fire pack out there, I’ve had my mystery ranch pack for 2 seasons now, no regrets
Great video! Would love to see a video on how you chase severe weather!
Excellent interview 👌🏾
Australian Firefighter here, Sadly these are a norm in down under
Thanks Eric, as always, learned ALOT from this one.
I know vehicles can draft water but I never knew there was a dedicated tool for waterfalls. Niche but its better to have and not need it. Then not have it and need it.
Great video! That is a sweet grass rig...lol People don't realize the danger of 1 hour fuels, especially when you have a nice wet spring and into summer, it makes the grass grow nice and tall and lush, then it burns better. Throw in some low humidity 80+ days with some wind and a high Haines index and things get freaky in short order! Be safe, stay in the black, and keep an exit strategy!
Great walk around
It is wild to me that the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control only has 5 type IIIs. There are 5 type III's stationed within 5 miles of my home most of the year here in northern California, I'd guess 10-12 within 15 miles. Although 500,000 acres also isn't much, so I suppose it all evens out!
I think that more Fire Departments across the nation need to start adding these rigs to their fleets. Super versatile, can pack equipment.
Awesome video, this and the fleet Friday video on the South Metro brush trucks are probably some of my favorite!
Nice truck.
Great video Eric. Nice to see perspective from "boots on the ground."
More to come!
As a Colorado resident its sad to see people have no regard for our beautiful forests.
I never thought about how long they spent. Never new ther camped onsite. Much higher lever of respect than anything.
Interesting the many different fire fighters and apparatus out there. Seems these days the weather keeps changing all the time extreme hot to extreme cold in 24 hours at times. Makes you wonder who is in control of mother nature now days. Just had a pleasant start to today, then a Tornado warning with golf ball size hail, and then a few minutes later sweltering heat when the sun came out. Another great video and review of another agency fighting fires.
Epic video! To me CalFire Type III's look similar to Colorado's. Do you know if any of the rigs run ALS or paramedics besides EMT's?
The numbering E3111 reminds me of german numbering convention for the radio: You call "Florian Frankfurt 2/45/2" . Explanation:
Florian = Firefighter Unit (every so called type of BOS-Unit which is "Behörden und Organisationen mit Sicherheitsaufgaben" which can be roughly translated to "Authorities and Organisations with Security Tasks" has its own keyword. Florian are generaly Firefighters. Other examples would be "Sama" for "Arbeiter Samariter Bund" which is a nation wide EMS organisation, "Heros" is the THW ( "Technisches Hilfswerk" or Technical Help Organisation: They provide help for bigger scenarios. They can e.g. build bridges, have cranes, bulldozers etc. ) an so on and so forth.
Frankfurt is of course the city. Here can stand the city, county, district or similar names.
2 means the unit of the vehicle or you can say the fire station. So it's the location of the vehicle where it's stationed.
45 is a key of what kind of vehicle it is. In this case its a so called HLF (Hilfeleistungslöschfahrzeug) and it could be compared to your Engines type of vehicle. It has ladders, hydraulic rescue tools for e.g. car accidents, an own pump, water tank and hoses and some other little stuff for technical/medical first respond. But at this numbering position there could be also special numbers like 1 for District fire chief or 9 for district head of comms or 90 for the battalion chief or 91 for squad chief.
2 means the second of this vehicle type in the district.
So you can pretty much have all kind of number combinations:
1/45/1 Would be on fire station 1 the first HLF (Engine) in the city
1/45/2 Would be on fire station 1 the second HLF (Engine) in the city
2/45/3 Would be on fire station 2 the third HLF (Engine) in the city
3/45/4 Would be on fire station 3 the fourth HLF (Engine) in the city
3/45/5 Would be on fire station 4 the fifth HLF (Engine) in the city
For other countries it seems weird to have the last number. Who wants to know which vehicle of the city it is. If it is the 4th or the 8th!? It should come and put the damn fire out! But for us it's pretty normal to use these numbers and we don't think about it any more.
If you want to know more than read this document:
web.feuerwehr-bechtolsheim.de/funkrufnahmen-in-rheinland-pfalz/
Or in very poor Google- translated English:
web-feuerwehr--bechtolsheim-de.translate.goog/funkrufnahmen-in-rheinland-pfalz/?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp
Nice one, liked and shared 🧑🏻👍🏻🚒
Awesome, thank you!
@@WorkingFirePIO No problem 🧑🏻👍🏻
Can’t wait for the next South Metro TH-cam video.
Nice video! Did I hear that correctly? They only have five of these Type 3 engines spread throughout the entire State? A state that has massive Timber and huge amounts of wildland interface area to protect? I had to have heard that wrong. In California, there are literally hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of Type 3 engines throughout the state. Heck, many cities have more than five Type 3 engines. There have got to be more than five in the entire state of Colorado. Type 3's are indeed the beasts that go out in the backcountry and performed wonderfully.
What are the three portables he referenced each person carrying? I see an APX presumably for 7/800 and a BK for vhf, do they carry a 2nd BK as well?
Engine 3111 is equipped with 7/800 radios the CCNC radio system, also commonly referred to as the "state" system, the BK's and additional 7/800 radios on the FRCC radio system which is what most public safety agencies in Adams and Weld county use.
Would you be able to do a tour of the new firehawk helicopter Colorado is getting ready to deploy. Also it seems like 5 type 3s is not enough for Colorado fire and control
I've had an opportunity to walk around the new Firehawk and it's impressive. I will definitely request a video tour from DFPC once it's finished. There are many more DFPC Engines (mostly Type 4, Type 6 and some Tenders) operated by small fire districts around the state for initial attack. There's just way more private and federal land than there is State land in Colorado to justify a larger fleet.
@@WorkingFirePIO awesome can't wait and thank you for the clarification
Denver station 2 has this they say it’s also in glenwood
So crazy only 4 here in California I think Cal Fire have over 100 but I am not complaining I love the Colorado rigs
CalFire is a abnormality in how large it is and how all-encompassing. Other states tend to spread their resources through multiple agencies and lean more heavily on federal resources.
That number does seem surprising, there's just a lot more private and federal land in Colorado than state land.
@@WorkingFirePIO it also seems that this is a relatively new agency without a long history of being responsible for wildfire response; similar to how the Oregon State Fire Marshal’s Office is increasingly taking responsibility for wildfires in the state alongside the Oregon Department or Forestry and Federal agencies but doesn’t itself maintain a large fleet of apparatus and instead coordinates local & county resources
@@recon6725 Cal fire also provides municipal protection in addition to statewide wildfire suppression- If CO had a similar model, say the South Metro municipal T3s would be counted in the state total too. ( CA also has non CalFire municipal T3s)
Did I understand correctly that you remove your SCBA equipment and/or spare bottles to make room for personal equipment when responding to vegetation fires?
They don’t wear air tanks on wildfires
@@0xFF48 No, but they do wear breathing apparatus on structure fires and vehicle fires. Just because you get dispatched to a vegetation fire doesn't mean you won't be called upon for something else. Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. Just saying...
@@charliepress6629 I get that, but on the limited space on what's essentially a large pickup truck, you have to equip what you'll most likely need. Using that space for more food or water is probably more useful for them when they're called out for wild fire work.
How much water do they carry?
Seems they should carry a water trailer when going away from hydrants …
is there a way for me to go fight wildfire out passing the test because i cant pass the wildland test and im not good at reading or writing sum words but i went there wildland training in 2022
but did't go fight fire
You can take introduction to firefighting and fire weather online at your own pace from NWCG. They're labeled as S130 and S190.
This doesn’t have sprinklers all around? I’ve seen some european ones that have those. And they can just drive straight through fire.
How did I just now find out about this channel?
Welcome!
Forest management after NAFTA was signed caused this. Forest management would curtail a lot of this if they would allow logging again.
The Colorado State fire agency only has 5 type 3 in the whole state!?!? Type 3’s are the norm for Calfire, in California obviously.
Well most of Colorado’s lands are under BLM/Forest Service protection; CalFire is the abnormality in how large and well funded it is compared to the Feds.
What CalFire does in California is more the purview of county and municipal fire departments in Colorado as well (less concentrated in one agency)
There really is not state firefighting in Colorado. Those 5 engines are actually operated by local Fire Districts, the engines were provided by the state on a grant. Almost every Fire District in Colorado has different wildland fire apparatus, so there are probably more than 100 Type 3’s in the state as well as many other types.
"Then they ever have before" I hate statements like this because it's disingenuous. When did records start being kept on it?
Pissing off raccoons is never a good idea - I've dealt with them when they have rabies or are healthy and it's never fun . You did a great job on the video.
Allow me to expand on my statement, "Then they ever have before." Records for Colorado wildfires that I researched began in 1924 when forest health was far better. It wasn't until 1980 that a fire surpassed 10,000 acres. Two decades later the first fire to surpassed 20,000 acres and then, in 2002, the Hayman Fire grew to 137,760 acres. Since then, there have been 52 fires that grew larger than 10,000 acres and 5 fires that grew larger than 100,000 acres (6 if we include a fire that started in Wyoming and burned into Colorado.) In 2020 the Cameron Peak fire was the first ever to surpass 200,000 acres with nearly 50,000 acres consumed in just one day. The 10 largest wildfires in Colorado history occurred within the last 10 years and the 5 most destructive fires occurred within the last 11 years. Most notably, the largest fire and the most destructive fire (consuming the most structures) occurred within the last 3 years.
Look at those forest fires. Way to eliminate any gains in co2 reduction.
Very similar to Cal Fire
Wonderful video Eric:)
So are you not with the other dept anymore Eric? I’m confused…..
He said in another video he’s still PIO with South Metro.
I work full time for South Metro as a PIO, this is just a personal TH-cam channel where I'm sharing fire stories from different places in my off-duty time.
@@WorkingFirePIO love it thanks been on your other channel since forever ago lol
@@Pops_607 That’s awesome! I’m glad you found me on this one, too!
❤
Who dispatches them Eric? State?
The 5 Type III Engines are primarily dispatched to initial attack / all hazard responses by the local county where they're stationed.
These people are hardcore af
Try forest management...something they would never consider since it might work.
Has there been any upgrades to the personal shelter, to make survivability a higher chance
The "new generation" fire shelter that we use today came out in 2002. It has some improvements over the previous version, but it does function the same. I'm not sure if there are any survivability comparison statistics.
Nice truck. Similar specialist Australian truck at th-cam.com/video/6FZMYZ2zipA/w-d-xo.html .
Couple of comments:
1. I wonder if Colorado has a forestry management problem along side its wildfire problem. Poor forestry can contribute to wildfires as jurisdictions forget that forests need to be managed.
2. Warning lights: lots of small LEDs with bright reflective bezels not a good idea. Particularly in daytime, the auxiliary warning lights need to be big: at least 4x4 LEDs, if not larger. matte black bezels would help with their visibility. Then all of them need to be synchronized to flash together for far greater impact and visibility than random uncoordinated flashing. Compare th-cam.com/video/CwhlI-4OyaE/w-d-xo.html and th-cam.com/video/a6djg5IFWmw/w-d-xo.html
Fire Suppression is the problem not the solution.
Get rid of the def on those units. Big lability. Truck detunes in a critical situation as they say it’s minutes for a life.
Hi Sir
Colorado don't have a wildfire problem they have a tree museum problem. A bunch of old half dead trees that are a tinder box. Once those trees get so old the wood is no longer good. More of a fire hazard than anything else. Perhaps let loggers cut fire breaks every so many years and every so many miles to improve forest health too.
Hope it isnt a maxxforce powerplant
Look at that tummy. No PT tests for state firefighters I guess.
looks like Canton County Gave colorado a spare brush engine lol
put loggers back n the forest.
So, the earth IS flat after all. 😊
Can also confirm that birds are not real.
What a joke. I have lived in Larimer county, Colorado for over 40 years. One Fire that should have been put out earlier than the fire was eventually put out, was Cameron Peaks Fire. At one time in the life of the Fire it was stalled or slow moving at Joe Wright Reservoir/ Zimmerman Lake. The hand crews were 10 + miles away doing Structure protection instead of digging line up at the fire. Some of the crews were 20 miles away in Red Feather at the same time doing the same thing as the crews where doing in the canyon. The fire finally was put out, not till it was almost in fort collins over 60 miles away. More training?
Which dept are you stationed at?
How about managing your forests? A century of suppression has brought us here. As far as I can’t tell, this is a glorified ad for an admittedly pretty f&@(ing sweet piece of suppression apparatus.
Colorado is one small drop in the bucket when compared to ... oh say CANADA on fire! Causing MAJOR issues in many MAJOR cities. If you have time to talk about your engines and other equipment, you have time to put fires out. Low on man power? ... Pay them more. Then more men/women would be likely to train for positions.
Copying what Cal Fire has been doing for years,
no one is copying. in the fire service you take techniques and see what other departments do to better your department to serve your community more efficiently.
its a huuuge problem. everything was fine til mankind got involved.