Map showing aircraft over the Maria Fire at 10:44 a.m. PDT Nov. 1, 2019. Tanker 910, a DC-10, is working closely with a lead plane, N556MC, a Hawker Beechcraft B200GT owned by Tenax Aerospace. N722HT has a fixed wing icon, but it is a helicopter, an Air-Crane owned by Helicopter Transport Services.Since the Maria Fire started on South Mountain at 6:15 p.m. October 31 it has burned over 8,000 acres 4 miles east of Ventura, California.
Today firefighters are attacking it aggressively from the ground and the air. As of 10:30 a.m. PDT on November, here is a partial list of the aircraft working the fire:
Air Tankers with their tanker numbers:
DC-10: 910, 911, and 914
MD87: 105
BAe-146: 02
RJ85: 167
Helicopters:
Blackhawk: Coulson’s “new” camo-painted helicopter
Air-Crane: N722HT
(and numerous other Medium helicopters)
Today, Friday, most of the air tankers are reloading at Santa Maria, 86 miles northwest of the fire.
The Maria Fire as seen from the camera on Sulphur Mountain (Willet) at 9:55 a.m. PDT Nov. 1, 2019.
3 Comments
I live in Washington state. They use Fire Bosses all the time there and do so successfully…..I don’t see any in California on the news…are they using them there?
I believe the City of San Diego has or had a “lets see if it works for us” (city) Fire Boss available for initial attack fires. Haven’t heard how this turned out. During high wind events like this past week, the delivery of water alone is not going to have any significant effect. Look at helicopter drops, under 500 gallons, most targets hit by the drop (or blow away) immediately reignite and start spreading again during high winds. The LATS and VLATS can “muscle” their way against the wind and by sure volume and chemical weight of retardant can be some what effective. The Fire Boss is a fine aircraft for its intended use. During wind events I sure wouldn’t want to be packing 650 gallons of water at the mercy of Mother Nature.
You’re right about San Diego, Johnny. In 2017 San Diego Fire-Rescue Department had the free use of an amphibious Air Tractor 802F Fire Boss single engine air tanker for about six weeks.
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