19 Heavy Air Tankers Await Fires

Tuscon - - National wildland fire officials are confident the 19 heavy air tankers on contract are sufficient for fire-suppression work throughout the summer burning season.

The heavy air tankers — typically decades-old reconfigured military planes like the P-3 Orion and C-130 — carry roughly 2,400 gallons of water or fire retardant and are especially useful in assisting firefighters’ initial attack on new fire starts, officials said.

In 2004, the federal government abruptly canceled contracts for its 33 large air tankers, citing safety concerns after two of the aircraft crashed while fighting wildfires in 2002, killing five. Since then, the planes have faced more stringent safety inspections, resulting in the number of aircraft available slightly reduced, said Rose Davis, a Forest Service spokeswoman at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.

“Since we’ve had the airworthiness issues, we’ve been using about 20 a year,” Davis said. “The aviation resources exist to support the ground firefighters. They can’t do anything by themselves.”

The heavy air tankers are just one of the air-support options available for wildland firefighters.

The National Interagency Fire Center also has 35 of the larger Type 1 heli-tankers, and 87 smaller helicopters. Another 300 of the smaller helicopters are available in the private sector on an on-call basis, Davis said.

Also on contract are 12 high-capacity single-engine air tankers, which can carry up to 800 gallons of water or fire retardant. Another 80 single-engine planes are available on a call-when-needed basis.

“With our helicopters and our airplanes, the whole point is to be mobile. They’ll fly wherever they’re needed,” Davis said. “We’ll assign them a base, but that base is just there for the paperwork.”

The aircraft are frequently moved around the country, either assigned to a particular fire incident or shifted for greater readiness based on wildfire danger. The availability can change on a daily basis.

The Coronado National Forest, for example, had just one helicopter stationed in Tucson on Thursday, but in late April it had two air tankers and additional helicopters stationed at Fort Huachuca, said Heidi Schewel, a Coronado spokeswoman.

“If we were to break a fire anywhere in our forest, that helicopter could respond,” she said. “If we broke a fire and needed additional air support that exceeded our capabilities, through our dispatch office we could order whatever else the incident commander feels is needed.”

Since the fire seasons in different regions occur at different times, fire officials can afford to concentrate aviation resources in smaller regions for most of the burning season. If there’s competition for resources, those decisions are made at the regional or national level.

For the Alamo Fire, which started April 18 and ultimately burned 5,070 acres near Nogales, incident commanders were able to call on two heavy air tankers and as many as three helicopters on a single day.

“The Alamo Fire was a perfect example. We were able to get everything we needed,” Schewel said.

West Coast 911 news source: azstarnet.com