CAL FIRE helicopter 301 during hoist training at Hemet, CA. Photo by Ryan Grothe May 11, 2022.Ryan Grothe captured these shots May 11 of helicopter 301 during hoist training at the Hemet-Ryan Air Tanker Base in Southern California. The helicopter is the new Sikorsky S-70i FireHawk, one of 12 purchased by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
CAL FIRE helicopter 301 during hoist training at Hemet, CA. Photo by Ryan Grothe May 11, 2022.
Ryan Grothe captured these shots of firefighting aircraft at the Hemet-Ryan Air Tanker Base in Southern California. The helicopter is the new Sikorsky S-70i FireHawk, one of 12 purchased by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Flight Path Firehawk helicoptersTwo new CAL FIRE Sikorsky S-70i Firehawk helicopters flew from the Denver area to Sacramento Wednesday and Thursday of last week. The aircraft were converted for wildland firefighting by United Rotorcraft in Englewood, Colorado.
The two helicopters left Centennial Airport southeast of Denver March 10 at about 10:40 a.m. MST and arrived at Sacramento McClellan Airport at 4:08 p.m. PST on March 11. On the seven-leg trip they stopped at Alamosa, CO; Cortez, CO; Page, AZ (where they stayed overnight); Bullhead City, AZ;, Tehachapi, CA; and Columbia, CA.
According to Flight Aware the helicopters flew at 130 to 150 mph.
The two helicopters were H-301 (N486DF) which will be based at Hemet, and H-104 (N487DF) destined for Boggs Mountain. It is likely to be weeks or months before they finish their final inspections and outfitting and arrive at their new homes.
CAL FIRE helicopter 301. Photo via Josh Bischof.Horsepower for the 2021 Fire season, in transit from Colorado yesterday, Hemet Ryan’s (Riverside Co.) and Boggs Mountain (NorCal) new S70i Firehawks stopped at Columbia Air Attack Base for fuel enroute to Sacramento. pic.twitter.com/ofn7J8MbFw
— SoCal Air Operations (@SocalAirOps) March 13, 2021
Air tanker 07, a P2V, July 15 on the Mountain Fire in southern California. USFS photo by Steve Whitby.These photos were graciously sent to us by Steve Whitby who took them on the Mountain Fire in July. The fire burned over 20,000 acres in and near the San Bernardino National Forest in southern California. Thanks Steve — great pictures!
