2010 Strategic Fire Plan for California

With all of the serious stuff lately, I thought it would be good to bring in some humor to bring a smile to your face.

O.K. – Here it is: Iron Baby

Firefighter Ron Reed of the San Bernardino County Fire Department is battling cancer and desperately needs your help!

Ron, a Fire Engineer is a 23 year veteran of the fire service who proudly serves the citizens of San Bernardino County in the mountain communities. Ron was one of the many firefighters who courageously battled the catastrophic Grass Valley Fire in Lake Arrowhead that destroyed over 140 homes, and has battled countless other fires across the County saving lives and property. Today, Ron is courageously battling for his life in the fight against cancer. In February of 2008 Ron was diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma and underwent surgery. Unfortunately, the cancer has spread and due to the type and progression of his cancer his treatment options are limited. Doctors have told Ron and his family that there is no effective treatment for renal cell carcinoma. With a dim prognosis, Ron’s doctors and the insurance company are offering a drug treatment protocol called: Interferon & Interleukin 2. Both of these drugs have a less than 1% chance of extending his life only a few months, and carry severe side effects. But, with your help there is still hope in the many alternative treatments available to Ron. With very high remission/cure rates, these treatments are very expensive, and they are unfortunately not covered by his health insurance. The Reed family has exhausted all of their personal financial resources in this battle. San Bernardino County Firefighter’s have established The Ron Reed Fund. This fund will help Ron get the best treatment possible. But, time is of the essence, Ron must receive treatment quickly!

Please help by joining your firefighters in Ron’s battle. Donate whatever you can by going to the website, www.ronreedfund.com. There you can find Ron’s story, family pictures, and a host of information on fundraising efforts. Ron lives in Apple Valley, California with his wife Laura, daughters Raylynn & Abigail (9 year old twins), and Karle who is 7 years old. Laura works as a stay at home mom and home schools the girls. Please help Ron and his family by joining in the fight!

Message from: San Bernardino County Firefighters Association

We were contacted by Royal Burnett (retired CDF) about a paper that he’d recently written about fire whirls and vortices on wildfires. He was wanting to have his paper shown on Rambling Chief. We replied that we would be happy to show his work on our website and are awaiting his reply.

Earlier this evening, we were forwarded a copy of his paper (from another source) and it has some great descriptions of firewhirls and vortices on wildfires. He describes four different types of vortices and describes the conditions under which they are formed. In the paper, Royal Burnett also provides color photos of each type of whirl he is detailing.

I enjoyed reading the paper and it’s views that there may actually be more than three types of vortices occurring on wildland fires as previously thought. In particular, the author describes differences in his many years of observations than what are presented in the S-490 Advanced Fire Behavior Course (Extreme Fire Behavior Module).

Update (06/04/10, 19:00): We received an email back from Royal with his paper attached. Here it is in Sribd format (Click on Share, Print, or Full Screen):

Fire Whirls

After reading the paper, please watch the video about firewhirls and vortices that is a part of the S-490 curriculum. It will probably help some readers understand some of the concepts that Royal has put forward. Once again, thanks to Royal for sharing his paper.