[californiadisasters] Aerial Firefighting with Night Vision Goggles – Part 1

Technology can ease water drops, rescues and other operations

By Mike Archer, For Firehouse.Com

As wildfires become more prevalent and ferocious, many in the fire service are looking for better ways to battle wildland blazes. One factor that is almost universally accepted is that the vast majority of fires diminish in severity overnight, when temperatures decline, humidity increases, and winds die down. As a result, a few fire agencies have embraced Night Vision Goggle (NVG) use by their aerial firefighters. This series of articles will examine where this innovation stands now and what might be coming in the future.

<SNIP>

But USFS wasn't the only agency conducting experiments. Los Angeles County Fire Department, in conjunction with San Dimas, jumped in as well. "On June 16, 1974, the first night water drops were made on a wildfire on the Angeles National Forest with Los Angeles County Fire Department's Bell 204B helicopter, equipped with a fixed tank," Hulbert continued. "In 1976, the USFS had its first NVG helicopter, a Bell 212 stationed at Rose Valley Helibase on the Los Padres National Forest, and in 1977, a second Bell 212 NVG ship was stationed at Tanbark Heliport on the Angeles National Forest."

There were a few problems, however, with the first deployments. "Generation 2 NVGs were in use and they had limited functionality; narrow 40° field of view, visual acuity equal to 20-50 vision, 'full face' design that prevented looking at flight instruments, susceptibility to 'blooming' (loss of visual image) when confronted with sudden high lighting or reflected glare on the windscreens," said Hulbert.

Tragedy Strikes

Not long after these programs were implemented, a mid-air collision nearly stopped them in their tracks. "In 1977, an L.A. County Fire helicopter and the USFS Rose Valley helicopter collided while inbound to a heliport on the Angeles National Forest," recalls Hulbert. "Both helicopters were operating with NVGs, and one pilot perished while others were critically injured."

Although L.A. County Fire suspended their program, USFS did not at first. "From 1978 through 1983, USFS operated the two NVG ships," explained Hulbert. "However, due to costs and limited use, they discontinued the NVG program in 2005."

Rebirth

With the dawn of a new century, Los Angeles County Fire treaded carefully back into NVG use. "They started back up in 2001 with limited use and returned to a working NVG program in 2005," said Hulbert. Other city/county fire agencies have also pursued NVG as we'll see later on in the article.

Nevertheless, USFS did not, and still imposes restrictions on night-flying helicopters over areas administered by that agency. Although there was a tremendous uproar in Southern California after 2009's deadly Station Fire, in which two Los Angeles County Fire Department firefighters were killed, the USFS is still restricting their involvement with NVG to paper studies and probably won't be venturing into that arena again any time soon.

CAL FIRE, California's state firefighting agency, also looks unlikely to pursue NVG flights in the foreseeable future despite an attempt by Governor Schwarzenegger in 2008 to fund 11 NVG-equipped Blackhawk helicopters for use by CAL FIRE. With current funding cutbacks in the amount of $30 million for that agency, the chances of equipping any aircraft in the state inventory with goggles that cost over $11,000 per set (not to mention the cost of training personnel to use them) is fairly unlikely.

<SNIP>

Practitioners

Currently, three fire agencies in Southern California use NVG: Los Angeles County Fire Department, San Diego Fire-Rescue Department, and Orange County Fire Authority. These agencies use Generation 3 aviator goggles (typically designated as AN/AVS 9 – nicknamed "Anvis 9") and will be examined in more detail in the second installment of this series.

View entire article here: http://www.firehouse.com/topic/firefighter-safety/aerial-firefighting-night-vision-goggles-part-1

--
Check out http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters/
Read our blog at http://eclecticarcania.blogspot.com/
Visit me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/derkimster

__._,_.___

Be sure to check out our Links Section at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters/links
Please join our Discussion Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters_discussion/ for topical but extended discussions started here or for less topical but nonetheless relevant messages.

Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___