PORTLAND – Since beginning fire-watch patrol flights for the state on April 2, Maine Civil Air Patrol pilots have seen plenty of smoke in a fire season just getting under way.

Permitted burns account for most of the sightings, said Lt. Col. Jeff Weinstein of Yarmouth.

“We’ve been finding four reportable smokes a day per circuit route, but 80 to 90 percent of them are controlled burns known to the forest service, which is OK,” he said Weinstein.

On Saturday, Weinstein and other Civil Air Patrol officials and planes were undergoing joint Air Force and air patrol evaluations and search-and-rescue training at the Portland International Jetport.

But they were no less vigilant about their fire-watch patrols.

While waiting for a ground team to reach a simulated emergency locater beacon that Civil Air Patrol pilots found in the town of Oxford, Capt. David Barker of Readfield spotted smoke 15 miles north of the Western Maine town.

A quick check found people tending the fire, so Barker returned to the training sortie.

Fire danger levels determine when the Civil Air Patrol, which is the Air Force’s volunteer fire department, fly fire patrols, Weinstein said.

“When there is any kind of fire – whether it’s a grass burn or in the forest – we can spot it from way, way off,” Barker said Saturday afternoon as he flew a Cessna 182 along the Maine coast between Portland and Bath.

On a clear day, they can spot smoke from 25 to 30 miles away, Barker said.

Training has taught air patrol pilots that structure fires produce blacker smoke due to chemicals, shingles and fuel being burned, whereas grass and woods fires create white smoke.

“If we see smoke, we go over it and see if we can get in closer to assess whether or not people are there tending the fire,” Weinstein said. “I saw one fire line of about 5 to 6 acres and it was a good 500 feet in length, but it was a permitted burn and there were people and firetrucks there. One side of it was close to the woods and the flames were significantly high and I was just waiting for it to ‘whomp’ into the woods.” But it didn’t.

To accurately spot smoke, Civil Air Patrol pilots fly 140 to 145 mph at 1,500 feet above the ground, Weinstein said.

Once smoke is sighted, pilots radio the forest service command center in Augusta and provide the exact location. They’re asked to describe wind conditions, and to determine the burn area’s dimensions and the direction in which the fire is moving – whether uphill or downhill.

They also identify access routes to the fire and nearby water sources.

That information tells rangers whether they need a lot of manpower or only a few and a helicopter.

There wasn’t much smoke sighted from Oxford to Bath on Saturday.

“So, between TV and newspaper stories warning about fire danger, maybe people are being careful, which is good,” Weinstein said. “But our concern is for one of these things to get out of control and become a major forest fire that destroys buildings. That’s why we’re out there so persistently.”

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