Spotting fires

By NICHOLAS LEDDEN

Fire-spotting team an essential part of finding, fighting fires

The Daily Inter Lake

Fire spotter Ted Richardson and pilot Shawn Zimmerman spent an average of six hours a day in the cockpit of their plane throughout July.

In August, it may have been longer.

As the main fire-spotting team for the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation's Northwest Land Office, the two are often the first people to see a new wildfire.

Based out of the Kalispell City Airport, Richardson and Zimmerman are responsible for patrolling the skies over Flathead, Lake, Lincoln, and Sanders counties.

Being a fire spotter requires an extensive knowledge of fire behavior and how a host of firefighting agencies are organized.

"We interact extensively with the other agencies," Richardson said. "And that's all the way from the Forest Service to the tribe to the local volunteer firefighters."

Richardson has an intimate knowledge of wildfire. Before he started work as an airborne fire spotter in 2003, he worked for the U.S. Forest Service fighting fires for 30 years, he said.

"There aren't any routine fires," Richardson said. "Each one has its own irregularities.

"When you do your size-up, you have to go through your protocol."

Richardson records the fire's latitude and longitude, flame length, wind, terrain, and access to ground units.

But gauging the fire is just the beginning.

Richardson also is responsible for recommending what's needed for an initial attack and guiding the first crews safely and accurately to the fire site.

"He's the first one to pick up the fire. He's the one telling everybody what the situation is and how to go about initial attacking it," said Jesse Best, the Northwest Land Office's aviation operations supervisor.

Richardson and Zimmerman then stay on station to provide an aerial picture for the firefighters on the ground. And their aerial direction serves a valuable safety function.

"I'm that set of eyes that they need to protect them so that they don't get into trouble," Richardson said.

Fire spotters advise ground crews of developing weather conditions, upcoming terrain features and changing fire behavior.

"There are so many variables there that we could write a book on it," Richardson said.

In effect, a fire spotter is like an airborne maestro conducting an ever-evolving symphony of ground attack and resource allocation.

Richardson and Zimmerman spend the vast majority of their time on two types of patrol missions. The first is the patrol flight to spot new starts. These generally take place in the afternoon during peak burning time and occur daily when the fire danger is high or extreme.

The second is reconnaissance after a storm to look for fire starts caused by lightning. These usually take place in the morning.

"At the DNRC, we try to maintain the goal of fast, efficient, initial attack," Best said. "Detection flights are a large part of that."

During a fire season such as this year's, that means a lot of time logged in the department's single-engine Cessna.

"We didn't have that much down time," said Zimmerman, describing his schedule this summer. "We were just so busy it just flew by."

Spotters and pilots are allowed to fly only 40 hours a week. Zimmerman and Richardson assume fire spotting duties Monday through Friday, but spotter Fred Holmes and pilots Dick Brady and Bill Paullin take over on weekends. Best also has done his share of spotting.

"We have to keep the plane going seven days a week," said Zimmerman, who has been flying for the state since 2002.

After fire season ends, time is much easier to come by for both fire spotters and their pilots. Zimmerman is a flight instructor and Richardson is retired.

Department of Natural Resources and Conservation fire-spotting operations similar to Kalispell's also are run out Missoula and Helena. The U.S. Forest Service and Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes have their own fire spotting programs.

While there are many necessary skills and variables that go into being a fire spotter, the essence of the job is simple: In the words of Zimmerman, "Catch 'em small and put 'em out."

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com