Alan M. Petrillo
The threat of wildland fires continues to loom not only in the western and southwestern states but also in other parts of the country. And in many wildland fire situations in those areas, firefighters need the help of air assets to get a handle on the conflagration. The types of aircraft and helicopters used by fire bosses to control wildfires from the air vary with the area, the terrain, and the air assets available to be deployed.
According to United States Forest Service (USFS) data, there are one billion burnable acres in the United States, with approximately 100 million of those acres classified as "highly flammable." A quarter of a million communities and 80 million people are under threat from wildland fires, the USFS data shows.
Tom Harbour, USFS director of fire and aviation management, says that in 2012, the USFS deployed 20,000 firefighters and 2,000 engines to fight wildfires around the country, along with flying 300 helicopters and 25 air tankers.
Air Tankers
Harbour notes that the USFS's aviation assets include large Type I and Type II air tankers; smaller Type III and Type IV air tankers, helicopters, and scooper aircraft that are also used for aerial supervision; smoke jumping platforms such as the DC-3, C-23A, Twin Otter, Easa, and Dornier aircraft; Cessna Citation and King Air fixed-wing aircraft used for infrared mapping; aviation units from local and state jurisdictions; and contract fleet air tankers and helicopters.
Fixed-wing aircraft used in recent years by the USFS to fight wildfires include very large air tankers (VLATs) like the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 that can carry 12,000 gallons of water or retardant and the Boeing 747 with a tank capacity of 24,000 gallons, Harbour points out.
Type I air tankers include the Martin Mars (7,200-gallon tank), the Lockheed P-3 Orion (3,000-gallon tank), the Lockheed P-2 Neptune (2,700-gallon tank), the Douglas DC-6 (2,800-gallon tank), and the Douglas DC-7 (3,000-gallon tank).
The CL-215/Bombardier 415 Superscooper is a Type II air tanker that can carry 1,600 gallons of water, while the Type III Grumman S-2T carries 1,200 gallons and the Fire Boss 800 gallons.
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(1) The Fire Boss has an 800-gallon tank and can scoop up nearly a
tankful of water without landing in a 15-second pass over a body of
water. (Photo courtesy of Fire Boss.)
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Scoop and Drop
Jamie Sargent, a technical consultant with Wipaire Inc., which owns Fire Boss LLC, says there currently are 51 Fire Boss aircraft operating around the world, with 42 units in Europe, 13 in Canada, four in the United States, two in Australia, and one in Argentina. "The challenge in the U.S. market is that it has been geared toward ex-military aircraft converted for firefighting," Sargent says. "But, agencies are now moving toward next generation platforms and focusing on land-based aircraft that can haul retardant and water."
Sargent notes the Fire Boss serves as an initial attack resource for wildland fire managers, and because it is a turbine powered aircraft, there is no engine warmup time required, meaning the aircraft can be on its way to fight a fire very quickly.
"The Fire Boss has an 800-gallon tank onboard and can scoop between 600 and 650 gallons at a time, which takes about 15 seconds," Sargent says, "because you never can scoop a full tank capacity. With between an hour and a half and two and a half hours of fuel