C-130’s at Fresno Saturday

MAFFS Tanker 116 Fresno

Above: MAFFS 6 and Tanker 116 at Fresno, July 22, 2017. Photo by Mathew Kirkpatrick.

Mathew Kirkpatrick and L.S. Braun took these photos of four C-130 air tankers at Fresno July 22. Thanks Mathew and L.S.!

MAFFS air tanker Fresno
MAFFS 4 and 9 at Fresno, July 22, 2017. Photo by Mathew Kirkpatrick. Click to enlarge.
Tanker 116 Fresno
Tanker 116 on final approach at Fresno, July 22, 2017. Photo by L.S. Braun.
MAFFS 9 Fresno
MAFFS 9 on final approach at Fresno, July 22, 2017. Photo by L.S. Braun.

Air tankers at Fresno

air tankers at Fresno 9-1-2015
MAFFS 1 (with a non-standard yellow number) and MAFFS 5, at Fresno, September 1, 2015.

Mathew Kirkpatrick took these photos at Fresno Air Attack Base on September 1. Thanks Mathew!

(Click on the photos to see larger versions.)

air tankers at Fresno 9-1-2015
Tanker 45, MAFFS 4, another MAFFS, and some single engine air tankers at Fresno, September 1, 2015.

Photos of activated MAFFS aircraft

MAFFS air tanker
Members of the 39th Aerial Port Squadron along with C-130 loadmasters assigned to the 731st Airlift Squadron push a U.S. Forest Service Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System unit onto a 302nd Airlift Wing C-130 [MAFFS 5], Aug. 2, 2015. It takes about three hours to load and then configure the MAFFS unit in a C-130 aircraft. MAFFS units were loaded onto two Air Force Reserve C-130s in response to the U.S. Forest Service MAFFS activation in support of wildland firefighting efforts in California and the Northwestern U.S. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Nathan Federico)

The military is always proactive in publicizing their activities when they support fighting wildfires —  which is great. Taxpayers like to see how their money is spent. As expected, photos have been released of the C-130s that have been loaded with the self-contained, transportable firefighting apparatus that can be inserted into the cargo bay of the aircraft in just a few hours. The equipment, owned by the U.S. Forest Service, is called a Modular Airborne FireFighting System.

Four of the C-130s have been activated. Two from the California Air National Guard at Channel Islands, and two from the Air Force Reserve at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs.

These photo captions were written by military personnel.

MAFFS air tanker
A C-130J Super Hercules, [MAFFS 4]assigned to the California Air National Guard’s 146th Airlift Wing, taxis to a reload “pit” to take on nearly 3,000 gallons of fire retardant at McClellan Air Tanker Base in Sacramento, Calif., Aug. 4, 2015. The aircrew received a tasking to provide support to the growing Rocky Fire north of San Francisco, which had consumed approximately 65,000 acres as of Aug. 4. The crew was joined by three other C-130s from both the 146th AW and the Air Force Reserve’s 302nd Airlift Wing to combat the Rocky Fire. The aircraft contain the Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System which allows them to support wildfire containment in conjunction with fire crews on the ground. The 146th AW is based in Channel Islands, while the 302nd AW is stationed at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. (U.S. Air Force photo/2nd Lt. Stephen J. Collier)