After writing about the Colorado Springs Independent article reporting on their investigation into the management of the Waldo Canyon Fire, we looked into the availability of air tankers during that time frame.
On June 23, 2012, the day the fire started, there were eight large fires burning in Colorado and 16 uncontained large fires in the country. On June 26 when the Waldo Canyon Fire moved into Colorado Springs burning 346 homes and killing two people, there were 29 uncontained large fires burning in the United States.
However there were only nine large air tankers in the United States on national U.S. Forest Service exclusive use contracts, down from the 44 we had in 2002.
Two Korean War vintage air tankers crashed June 3, 2012, killing Capt. Todd Neal Topkins and First Officer Ronnie Edwin Chambless bringing the total from 11 down to 9. Four military Modular Airborne FireFighting System (MAFFS) C-130 air tankers were mobilized on June 24 and four more on June 29.
We may never know if the shortage of air tankers had anything to do with the loss of two lives and 346 homes in Colorado Springs. Fighting fire on the cheap does not save money.
I remember when a DC-4 was parked at Jeffco. On contract.
Heck a big SEAT is better than nothing…
From that single spark that started the Waldo Fire is there a minute by minute tracking of the fires intensity and movement? Did anyone or agency pay attention to the weather? Was there a chance to stop this fire in the first twenty minutes or was it destine to be a major fire regardless of what the fire department did or didn’t do. The question should be addressed, what would it have taken to stop this fire in its early stages, if at all possible? The Waldo Fire appears to have the same suppression action as a fire in Rome 64 AD July 19th, it also burned for six days. As the Rome Fire grew as with the Waldo Fire the request for air tankers was UTF, I would have imagined. (forgot, the airplane hadn’t been invented in 64 AD) Anyway the final outcome was about the same. As I approach five decades in the fire/wildfire service and have watched thousands of homes destroyed and lives lost in all sincereity I feel very sad for those who suffered from the wildfires of 2012. Hats off the the reporter and Wildfire Today for doing the research and reporting on this fire. I hope that the reporter will turn the clock back to the point of ignition and track the events of suppression and weather, maybe the fire department didn’t have a chance?
And don’t forget abpout 10 Tanker Air Carrier’s two DC-10s, T910 & T911 which were also available to work on this fire but were not called upon to assist.
Good point, Trish.
Politicians will continue to avoid the requirement to increase the tanker fleet until there is a definitive study that shows direct linkage between the use of air tankers and reduced acres burned or suppression costs.
Intuitively, “more is better” but until there is proof, the shortage of air tankers won’t be addressed very seriously .
There were also 5 Canadian airtankers in Colorado, when the Waldo Canyon fire burned.
The only thing that saves money is aggressive initial attack.