It actually was a fire gaming problem using the Coleman Lake area as a play ground. I choose Coleman Lake because it’s close to you guys, offers a lot of fuel, and I wanted you to smell smoke; and capture the boss running around the place looking for spot fires. A wildland fireman has to visualize a fire running and spotting out of a forested area into a populated area. The goal is to catch fires while they are small.
As a retired old guy I work as an emergency dispatcher when needed. We had a drill yesterday covering the North State where each unit had to create a fire, dispatch local resources and order aircraft. When local resources could not fill an order the order was forwarded up the chain. While one dispatcher dispatched ground resources I generated the computer orders for local aircraft and additional aircraft the incident commander needed. When fires get going it takes a number of people in the dispatch system to do the job. In June of last year we had over a thousand lightning fires start in the North State. A very busy time. Anyway I benefitted from the training and learn a little bit more about the computer software we use.
Fire gaming like war games is used to strength the skill levels of fire fighters so that they can do their job when the fire bell rings. It is a sand box problem.
When a wildland fire is reported by a distant fire lookout tower, the report given the dispatch center is in degrees and estimated miles from the tower. In the old days the dispatcher had a large topo map on the wall with the lookout location on it. From a lookout location(s) the dispatcher would run a string out from the lookout at the given degrees and miles. If more than one lookout reported the crossing location becomes very accurate. Now days the information is entered into the CAD and the system comes up with a location. The large map is still on the wall.
The protocol for creating a Fire (incident) in the system requires the dispatcher to name a nearby city or community in the incident which will be automatically duplicated in aircraft orders. This assists the pilots. A heavy airtanker with 2000 gallons of retardant may be launch from Atlanta for a fire in the Coleman area. The city given is reference for the pilots. Airtanker can be launch from a number of locations. Most likely a heavy airtanker for Coleman would come out of a base near Atlanta. Other bases maybe hundreds of miles away. The pilot who has instruments to guide him including a gps to the fire. A big step from the first time I had an airtanker drop on me. It was a biplane dropping 75-gallons. I was excited when the little yellow biplane made its drop.
Back to the Nuvi, last June’s lightning bust resulted in a lot of fires, the majority was suppressed by local resources, but some got away because there were no resources or not enough to put on the fires. Firefighting resources started arriving from all over the country. I believe it was a management team from the Eastern Area (New York) that managed one of the large fires in a very steep canyon in the middle. This fire required a lot of travel. The main fire ended up around 26,000 acres, and they also managed a couple other fires in the 100 acres in range. One of the first items order by the team was twenty Garmin Nuvi. The model they order was in the 200 series. It was a smart order. While City Navigator does not show the topography, but it displays the primary logging roads, streets in developed areas that are threaten by the advancing fires, lakes which can be used as water sources, small airports, and the continental railroad track that represents millions of dollars per train. A mapping device to get the resources to the right spot is cost effective.
A friend recently purchased a Nuvi 260 which has been discontinued on sale for his wife. I think they will be happy with it. They make a few trips during the year. He does not admit it, but he is somewhat of a tech guy. I would not be surprised if he updates in a few years, to a his and her Nuvi.
