Colorado Senator Mark Udall met with a dozen fire chiefs in Frisco, Colorado (map) on Sunday. Following the 2012 wildfire season which was the busiest in recent memory the group had a lot to talk about on the subjects of preparedness, fire prevention, and the availability of aviation resources. Senator Udall has been vocal in pressuring the U.S. Forest Service to increase and modernize the federal air tanker fleet, which has been cut to 9, down from the 44 that were on exclusive use contracts in 2012.
The U.S. Forest Service began the process of contracting for “next generation air tankers” November 30, 2011, and 15 months later still has not completed the process. No large air tankers, next generation or 50-year-old legacy aircraft, are on federal contract right now, in spite of the fact that they usually begin coming on duty in the Southwest in mid-February.
The video below summarizes the meeting with the fire chiefs and includes some highlights of the 2012 fire season in Colorado.
In a separate letter to the Secretary of the Air Force on Monday he requested that the Air Force “transfer excess C-130J and/or C-27J aircraft as authorized by the FY13 National Defense Authorization Act to the USDA [to be used by the USFS] as soon as possible.”
Below is an excerpt from the section of the FY13 National Defense Authorization Act that refers to the transfer of aircraft from the military to the USDA and the Coast Guard:
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“SEC. 1091. TRANSFER OF EXCESS AIRCRAFT TO OTHER DEPARTMENTS OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.
(a) TRANSFER.—The Secretary of Defense may transfer excess aircraft specified in subsection (b) to the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Homeland Security for use by the Forest Service and the United States Coast Guard. The transfer of any excess aircraft under this subsection shall be without reimbursement.
(b) AIRCRAFT.—The aircraft transferred under subsection (a) are aircraft of the Department of Defense that are—
(1) identified by the Forest Service or the United States Coast Guard as a suitable platform to carry out their respective missions;
(2) excess to the needs of the Department of Defense, as determined by the Secretary of Defense;
(3) in the case of aircraft to be transferred to the Secretary of Agriculture, acceptable for use by the Forest Service, as determined by the Secretary of Agriculture; and (4) in the case of aircraft to be transferred to the Secretary of Homeland Security, acceptable for use by the United States Coast Guard, as determined by the Secretary of Homeland Security.
(c) LIMITATION ON NUMBER.—
(1) LIMITATION.—Except as provided in paragraph (2), the number of aircraft that may be transferred under subsection (a) to each of the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Homeland Security may not exceed seven aircraft for each agency.”
File photo of a MAFFS II unit being loaded into a C-130 at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado, September 9, 2011. Air Force Reserve photo.
Military and civilian officials are considering making it possible to activate military air tankers earlier than has been done in the past to help suppress wildfires. C-130 aircraft from the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve have access to eight Modular Airborne FireFighting Systems (MAFFS) that can be loaded into their cargo holds. These units can carry up to 3,000 gallons of fire retardant which can be pumped out by compressed air over wildfires.
According to an Associated Press article by Dan Elliott, General Charles H. Jacoby Jr., head of the U.S. Northern Command at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, said on Wednesday that making the C-130s available more easily is being weighed.
Under current regulations, privately owned air tankers have to be committed to fires before the military aircraft can be activated. This would have to be changed for General Jacoby’s suggestion to be implemented.
When the fire season ended last year there were only nine large air tankers under conventional exclusive use contracts. But those contracts expired over the winter and the U.S. Forest Service is evaluating new proposals for old “legacy air tankers” as well as what the agency calls “next generation” air tankers that are faster and can carry more retardant. The USFS needs to award the new contracts very soon, since some of them begin their mandatory availability periods in mid-February.
At least four companies are in the running to supply a total of seven or more next-gen air tankers on this next contract. The list includes Neptune, Minden, Aero Air, and Aero Flite, and possibly Coulson and 10 Tanker Air Carrier.
Since the USFS has allowed the air tanker fleet to deteriorate from 44 in 2002 to 9 in 2012, it is imperative that something be done to make up the shortfall of this important fire suppression tool. Having only 9 is a pretty low threshold for having all of them committed, which should technically make it legal to activate the military C-130s much more frequently than we have seen in recent years. Especially if you consider that it is important to have an adequate number of air tankers standing by at air tanker bases ready for a quick response to new fires — in addition to any air tankers that may be committed to going fires. Fast, aggressive, initial attack by ground and air resources can minimize the size and the expense of wildfires.
Air tankers don’t put out fires, but aerial retardant can under the right conditions slow them down making it possible for firefighters on the ground to move in closer and stop the spread. The use of aircraft can keep fires smaller while saving taxpayers money, in addition to reducing the threats to lives, homes, and private property.
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.
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.
Aero Air has acquired all of the air tanker operations of Butler Aircraft, including their three DC-7 air tankers. Aero Air has also purchased seven MD-87 airliners, mostly from SAS airlines, and has started converting them into 4,000-gallon air tankers. One is 99 percent complete, according to Kevin McCullough, President of Aero Air. More details are at our sister site, FireAviation.com
Minden’s Tanker 48 dropping on the Fern Lake Fire. Photo by Paul Filmer
There are three new articles at Fire Aviation that you should check out:
1. Paul Filmer took some excellent photos of an air tanker and some helicopters working on the Fern Lake Fire in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. The one above is a sample.
2. “Elvis is back in the building”, according to Peter Ryan, the Deputy Premier of Victoria. He was referring to one of the Sikorsky Air-Crane helicopters that are beginning their contracts down under for Australia’s bushfire season, along with other firefighting aircraft.
3. Erickson Air-Crane has bought back an Air-Crane helicopter that it sold two years ago to a power company in California.
