Fire season TFR’s
I know we’re in the middle of fire season, but this bring up a topic for GA pilots. The other day my home built Stratux paired up with my iPad and ForeFlight alerted me to a fast mover crawling up my six, at the same altitude, 5 miles out, 3 miles......1 mile[emoji51]. Actually, anything is a fast mover compared to the C-150 heavy........ So I push it over and bank left.
Several miles ahead of me (10 miles approx) I saw a tiny wisp of smoke rising up from the foothills. I have no doubt that the fast mover was probably a CDF fire bomber headed in on the smoke. So this raises the question regarding seasonal TFR’s. My ForeFlight did not indicate any data regarding a temporary TFR for fire activity. Last thing any of us would want to be is a hindrance to fire operations but to also avoid being a bug on the nose of 250 knot bomber too. I was listening to the approach frequencies and was hearing nothing regarding tanker activity. I understand that with a fire like last year’s Camp Fire, an area wide TFR’s is obvious.
Camp Fire File Photo( not the little wisp of smoke I saw)
What about the small spot fires that pop up occasionally? Anyone want to chime in on this topic? Just looking at pointers to keep is safe out there during these times, and keep us out of the grease for inadvertently busting a temporary TFR. For those that don’t live here, welcome to CA fire season.