Erickson to buy Evergreen Helicopters,Inc.
Erickson Air-Crane, Inc. has signed an agreement to purchase Evergreen Helicopters, Inc. For the $250 million price tag Erickson will get 52 helicopters and 12 fixed wing aircraft. Later today we will have more details over at FireAviation.com
From Mr. Maclean’s Facebook page.
Galena Fire
The Galena Fire on the western edge of Fort Collins, Colorado is now 95% contained and remains at 1348 acres. The firelines held well on Tuesday despite the Red Flag conditions that existed. All air resources have been released and additional firefighters will be released today bringing the total number fighting the fire down to approximately 60 as the incident management team continues scaling back.
Control tower at Ramona to close
The air traffic control tower at the airport in Ramona, California is slated to become a victim of the sequestration budget reductions. Several firefighting aircraft work out of the airport during the busy wildfire season in southern California. There have been two mid-air crashes, in 1979 and 1995, involving three firefighting aircraft and one civilian aircraft near the airport, killing a total four people, according to Walt Darran. The establishment of the tower in 1995 was at least in part due to the crashes. Not all airports that have air tanker bases have towers, but Ramona can get pretty busy in the summer.
Maclean makes appearances for his new Esperanza book
John N. Maclean has made a couple of appearances in southern California recently to promote the release of his new book The Esperanza Fire: Arson, Murder, and the Agony of Engine 57. The Valley Chronicle has an interesting article about the events, one of which drew a large crowd in spite of it occurring during a near-blizzard in Idyllwild.
