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Tag: air tanker

Nevada fires update

Author Kelly AnderssonPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , 2 Comments on Nevada fires update

The Elko Daily Free Press reported that the 16,000-acre Willow Fire is now the main priority for the BLM’s Elko district. It’s burning north of Battle Mountain; resources on the fire include one of 10 Tanker Air Carrier’s DC-10 aircraft.
Willow Fire 08/07/12Most of the fires in Nevada have not been updated on Inciweb since the middle of July, except for the Lake Fire Complex, which comprises the 162-acre Lake Fire and the 42-acre Murphy Fire on the Bridgeport District of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. Those fires are just south of Wellington, Nevada, and north of Bridgeport, California. The fires started early Sunday afternoon; both are at about 80 percent containment.
Willow Fire on 08/07/12The Elko Daily Free Press reported on Monday that 11 major fires were burning in north and central Nevada. A 7,000-acre fire southeast of Alamo was at zero containment, another north of Battle Mountain was at 5,000 acres, and a 3,000-acre fire near there was threatening structures. East of Denio, another fire had reached 3,000 acres.

According to the newspaper report, smaller fires were active 31 miles northwest of Winnemucca, 20 miles northwest of Battle Mountain, 22 miles southeast of Winnemucca, 5 miles southeast of Winnemucca, 25 miles southwest of Winnemucca, 55 miles northwest of Winnemucca, and 65 miles northwest of Winnemucca.

The fires were started Sunday afternoon by lightning.

The 20-Mile Fire northwest of Montello likely won’t be aggressively fought from the ground because thunderstorms and heavy rain in steep terrain last month made entry to the fire area impossible. According to fire managers, mopup, rehab, and demob have been delayed by impassible roads. The fire is 98 percent contained at just over 13,000 acres.

Both DC-10s are being used on fires

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , 14 Comments on Both DC-10s are being used on fires
Tanker 911 dropping Poco Fire
Tanker 911 dropping on the Poco Fire in Arizona, June 15, 2012. Photo by Ian James.

The U.S. Forest Service has activated one of the DC-10 air tankers twice this year to supplement the fleet of nine exclusive use air tankers available to help firefighters suppress wildfires. But now, for the first time since the Oak Glen fire in 2009, both of 10 Tanker Air Carrier’s DC-10s are working at the same time. On Tuesday both Tanker 910 and Tanker 911 were assigned to fires on which they were the sole air tankers working the fires.

Rick Hatton, President of 10 Tanker Air Carrier, told Wildfire Today:

While this is not the exclusive use contracting we seek, we are hopeful that the contribution two DC 10s will make toward effective fire suppression this season will convince the authorities that multiple 10s should become a permanent part of the future fleet.

The DC-10 always carries 11,600 gallons of retardant and does not have to reduce their load based on density altitude (air temperature and elevation) like all other air tankers. The P2Vs which comprise eight of the nine air tankers now being used on exclusive use use contracts can only carry about 2,000 gallons. The newer next generation air tankers, three of which will begin working on fires later this year if a contract dispute can be settled, have a 3,000-gallon capacity. One BAe-146 that has been operated by Neptune Aviation since last fall can also hold up to 3,000 gallons.

The DC-10 is classified as a “Very Large Air Tanker” and its size makes it impossible to be accommodated at most air tanker facilities. However, it can reload with retardant at eight bases in the western United States, has a cruising speed of 564 mph, and has a capacity equal to almost six P2Vs. A P2V cruises at 225 mph.

Contract protest delays new airtankers

Author Kelly AnderssonPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags 7 Comments on Contract protest delays new airtankers

Coulson Aviation and 10 Tanker Air Carrier are protesting the government-awarded contract to Neptune Aviation and Minden Air, along with two other Western companies, and the protest could keep seven new tankers on the ground for most of the fire season.

Tanker 41 at Missoula
Tanker 41 on Friday, August 4 at Neptune’s ramp after her tail got painted. Photo courtesy Bill Moss.

The Missoulian reported that Neptune’s Tanker 41 arrived last week in Missoula, ready for fire assignments. Neptune expects to add a third jet-powered BAe before the end of the month, and Minden also plans to bring on another BAe this summer. The contract awards included airtankers larger than SEATs and smaller than the VLATs.

Coulson and 10 Tanker protested the newly awarded contract in late June, and the General Accountability Office (GAO) is reviewing the case. That review, if it stretches over the allowed 100 days, could keep the new airtankers on the ground until October. Both protesting companies bid on the Forest Service “next-generation” airtanker contracts, and neither was awarded a contract.

Gary Allen, the GAO attorney who is reviewing the protest, told the Missoulian he can’t discuss details.

Rick Hatton with 10 Tanker also said he couldn’t talk about the protest. The DC-10 tankers flew 60 days of fire missions last year, but the company’s struggled for years with landing an exclusive-use contract; fire agencies have thus far limited the very large airtankers to only a call-when-needed contract.

Coulson operates the Martin Mars and other scoopers, along with firefighting helicopters. Coulson has also proposed designing its own C-130 as an airtanker.

Aero Flite Inc. of Kingman, Arizona, operates CL-215 ships and was awarded one of the new contracts. They’ve been in business since 1963. Another contract was awarded to Aero Air LLC of Hillsboro, Oregon; they plan to bring into service a couple of MD-87 jet airtankers next year, while Aero Flite will bring on an Avro RJ85 – a longer version of the BAe-146. OPB News reported that the MD-87 ships can drop 4,000 gallons of retardant.

The new contracts with the four companies were planned to add seven airtankers to the fleet by next year. They were awarded after the President signed a bill to speed up the federal contracting process, which required a 30-day waiting period before the Forest Service could award the contracts. After a June 3 tanker crash claimed the lives of two pilots in Utah,  Oregon Senator Ron Wyden introduced legislation to waive that waiting period.

100,000 gallons and still growing

Author Kelly AnderssonPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , 23 Comments on 100,000 gallons and still growing

A wildfire burning in heavy timber 50 miles east of Boise continued to spread even after pilots dropped more than 100,000 gallons of retardant on it. Boise State Public Radio reported that the fire burned through retardant lines on Sunday — the Trinity Ridge Fire grew from 200 acres on Saturday to 1,300 acres Sunday; it is now at 1,800 acres.

Trinity Ridge Fire
Trinity Ridge Fire

The fire gained ground in spite of the 46 runs made by four C-130 MAFFS tankers operating out of Boise. Three SEATs also worked the fire over the weekend.

Dave Olson, incident information officer, said the fire took off Friday in sub-alpine fir and lodgepole, both prone to torching and throwing embers. He said the fire is suspected to be human-caused; firefighters found a burned utility terrain vehicle at the fire’s source. Investigators are seeking the owner of the vehicle.

Additional fire crews have arrived, and a Type 2 team has assumed command.

Yesterday, the fire burned aggressively in the mostly sub-alpine fir and lodgepole pine, with considerable torching and spotting. NWCN.com reported that fire managers say current conditions are much drier then they’d originally thought. “It’s actually drier this year than it was in 2006 and 2007,” said Olson.

Neptune adds another tanker

Author Kelly AnderssonPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags 4 Comments on Neptune adds another tanker

Another new airtanker will be added to the national fleet next week if a contract disagreement can be resolved.

Neptune Aviation out of Missoula, Montana, will put their second BAe-146 to work early in the week. Neptune maintenance director Gerry Nielsen told the Missoulian that the new airtanker delivered by Tronos Aviation is ready to go.

“It’s an operational tanker,” he said. “Tronos sent it in with its tank already loaded in. We’ll do one or two test flights to check things out and make sure it’s all correct. Then we wait for the Forest Service.”
Tanker 45
The contract, though, is under protest, so authorization for “next-generation airtanker” contracts is on hold. According to the Missoulian, the contract affects Neptune and three other aircraft companies, which have planned to bring on seven new airtankers at a multi-year cost of over $500 million. Neptune put its first BAe jet, Tanker 40, into service last year on an interim contract, and was awarded a two-plane contract in June. Tanker 41 will begin work in early August, and Neptune plans to acquire its third jet early next year. That third tanker will take the number “10” from the P2V that Neptune retired from service earlier this year.

Reload bases for the DC-10 air tanker

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , , 13 Comments on Reload bases for the DC-10 air tanker
DC-10 Tanker 911 on the Robbers Fire
DC-10 Tanker 911 on the Robbers Fire in California July 15, 2012. Photo by David Wilson. (Click to see a larger version.)

With the DC-10 being activated again, I am reminded of the shortage of air tankers during the Myrtle fire in the Black Hills of South Dakota a few weeks ago, which during the first six hours had no large air tankers. On the radio a conversation between two people in the Operations section could be heard discussing the no-show of the air show. I could sense the frustration in their voices. One of them suggested that they consider requesting the DC-10 Very Large Air Tanker, but they did not know with certainty the nearest air tanker base where it could land and reload with retardant.

They knew that the aircraft is too large for most of the dozens of air tanker bases, since it has a wing span of around 160 feet and a weight of about a half million pounds. The physical layout of the bases and the runway, taxiways, and ramps at the airports are not designed for the size and weight of such a large air tanker.

However, there are eight bases that can accommodate the DC-10 in the western United States, according to Pam Baltimore, an Acting Public Affairs Officer for the U.S. Forest Service in Washington D.C.

  • SBD – San Bernardino, CA
  • MCC – McClellen – CA (Sacramento)
  • MWH – Moses Lake, WA
  • BOI – Boise, ID
  • IWA – Mesa-Gateway, AZ (Phoenix)
  • HIF – Hill AFB, UT
  • HLN – Helena, MT
  • CPR – Casper, WY

When contemplating using a DC-10 air tanker on a fire, aviation personnel consider, in addition to the cost per delivered gallon, the fact that it can cruise at 564 MPH, and the retardant capacity of 11,600 gallons, equivalent to almost six P2V or four BAe-146 air tankers, which carry about 2,000 and 3,000 gallons, respectively.