EridanMan wrote in
ups.com:

Anyone here familiar with Aerial Firefighting?

I've found fires to be an ever-present fact of life flying here in
California. I've personally spotted at least two young, fast-moving
brush fires, one of which was during on my solo long cross country.
My instinct when I see these fires is always to tell someone,
especially if the fire appears particularly young (small). Is this
correct? I want to help, but I fear 'bugging people' about it.

The situation in particular which got me thinking, I took off from
Columbia and headed out for an overflight of Yosemite. As we flew up
the valley, we noticed a tiny but quickly growing brush fire about 20
miles East of half dome, way up in the park.

I could not reach either Center or Fresno Approach, so I decided to
jump back on Columbia's (A firefighting base) CTAF and call out for
any Firefighting aircraft. I got one of the bomber pilots on
frequency, relayed the fire position, and he said they hadn't heard of
that one and they were on their way to check it out.

It felt good to help... or he was being nice, I'm not sure.

So my question is, as a private pilot, should I feel a 'duty' to call
in forest fires? Is it actually helpful? If so, what are/is the
best frequencies and procedures to use?

Any insight would be appreciated.

-Scott


I can only relate my experience with this.

Several years ago I was heading on V137 between ROM and AVE down to
DAG for an Angel Flight pick up to STS. It was a nice clear VFR day and I
was relaxing enjoying the flight when I noticed a burst of orange on the
ground in front of me. What looked like a large propane tank had exploded
and started a fire.

The fire was almost directly on V137 and I estimated about 10 miles in
front of me. As I already had flight following, I called ATC and asked
them to contact the CDF. I also said I would ident when over the fire for
a more precise fix. The response was a "thank you" and they called the
CDF.

While on the ground at DAG, I called FSS to check the my return route,
and at that time there was no TFR established.

About 3 hours after I had reported the fire, I was heading back from
DAG to STS and from AVE was following V107. At AVE, I could see the smoke
coming from the fire. I had to climb up to 10,500' to stay VFR. As I was
nearing the smoke, ATC announced the TFR. Then, to my surprise, Center
cleared me into the edge of the TFR, thanking me for reporting the fire.

In my case, the choice of frequency to use was easy, as I just used
the one I was receiving flight following on. Had I not been with flight
following, I would have used whatever center/approach/FSS frequency was
appropriate for my location to report what I had observed.

Reporting a fire one sees start is the right thing to do. I consider
it a civic duty, whether I'm flying an airplane, driving by in a car, or
see it out my window. The sooner fires are reported, the sooner the
appropriate agency can respond and fight it.

--
Marty Shapiro
Silicon Rallye Inc.

(remove SPAMNOT to email me)