MAFFS air tankers conclude assignment in southwest

MAFFS air tankers conclude assignment in southwest
C-130 MAFFS air tanker helping to protect the ruins in Frijoles Canyon on the Las Conchas fire, June 27, 2011. Photo: Jayson Coil

After almost a month, flying 242 sorties and dropping over 609,000 gallons of retardant on fires in the southwest, the military C-130 Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System-equipped aircraft have concluded their assignment, due at least in part to the monsoons returning to the area. Four were activated on June 15 and dropped over a half million gallons of retardant until two were released on July 7. The remaining two continued working out of Albuquerque, NM until their assignment ended on July 13.

Military C-130 air tankers continue to assist with firefighting in the southwest

MAFFS C-130  Las Conchas 6-27
MAFFS C-130 makes a drop on the Las Conchas fire, 6-27-2011. Photo: Jayson Coil

Modular Airborne Firefighting System (MAFFS) equipped military C-130 aircraft continue to supplement the fleet of privately-owned air tankers fighting wildfires in the southwest. Initially four were activated on June 15, and two are still working out of Kirtland Air Force base at Albuquerque, New Mexico. Here is an excerpt from a July 8 news release from the U.S. Northern Command:

Since being activated by the National Interagency Fire Center in Idaho June 15, the 302nd Air Expeditionary Group has performed 242 airdrops, dropping 559,993 gallons of fire retardant to help contain wildfires in the Southwest. Recent MAFFS efforts have been concentrated on the Las Conchas fire near Los Alamos in New Mexico.

Under the direction of the Joint Forces Air Component Commander for Air Forces Northern, four C-130 Hercules aircraft equipped with fire fighting capabilities deployed to Kirtland AFB, N.M. as part of the 302nd Air Expeditionary Group. Command and control of the aircraft is being provided by the 302nd AEG from Boise, Idaho.

The 302nd AEG is comprised of personnel from the Air Force Reserve Command’s 302nd Airlift Wing, Colo., the California Air National Guard’s 146th AW, Wyoming ANG’s 153rd AW and North Carolina’s ANG’s 145th AW.

MAFFS-equipped aircraft and crews from the Air Force Reserve Command’s 302nd Airlift Wing, the California Air National Guard’s 146th Airlift Wing, and the North Carolina Air National Guard’s 145th Airlift Wing have been flying the aerial containment missions for the last three weeks. On Thursday, the 145th AW aircraft and crews were released from duty. Personnel and two C-130s from the Air Force Reserve Command’s 302nd AW will remain at Kirtland AFB, N.M. available to support U.S. Forest Service fire containment efforts.

MAFFS is a self-contained aerial firefighting system, which can discharge 3,000 gallons of water or fire retardant in less than five seconds, drawing lines of containment that can cover an area one-quarter of a mile long by 60 feet wide. Once the load is discharged, the MAFFS system can be refilled in less than 12 minutes.

The MAFFS units are owned by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, one of several federal and state government agencies and organizations with roles and responsibilities in wildland fire suppression that make up the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. The Department of Defense is flying at the request of NIFC.

 

Military MAFFS air tankers activated

Update at 8:40 a.m. MT June 18, 2011: Two additional MAFFS aircraft have been activated. The second two are from North Carolina. All four will be based at Albuquerque, NM.

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MAFFS C-130 Texas 4-2011
MAFFS C-130 dropping in Texas, April, 2011. CNN

Two Modular Airborne Firefighting System (MAFFS) equipped military C-130 aircraft have been activated and dispatched to the southwest to help fight the numerous large fires that have burned hundreds of thousands of acres this month. The California based air tankers left June 16 for their new temporary base at Kirtland Air Force Base at Albuquerque, New Mexico. The MAFFS air tankers can carry 3,000 gallons of retardant.

There are a total of eight MAFFS units, positioned in four states, two units per state.

In April six MAFFS from military bases California, North Carolina, Wyoming, and Colorado were activated for fires. Four were used on wildfires in Texas, while two were based at Laughlin Air Force Base in Texas but were used on fires about 60 miles away from Laughlin in Mexico. The MAFFS did not see a lot of use in Texas because about the time they were activated humid air moved into the state, slowing the spread of the fires. But two of them were pretty busy in Mexico.

The rules that govern the use of the C-130s require that privately-owned air tankers be fully committed before the military aircraft can be used on fires.

MAFFS 2 tank
MAFFS 2 tank, the new version of the MAFFS, which is loaded into a C-130 when the aircraft is activated as an air tanker.
MAFFS 2 interior
The interior of a MAFFS 2, showing the retardant discharge and emergency high pressure air release tubes going through the side paratrooper door. Loadmaster Bill Whitlatch operates a new MAFFS 2 unit aboard a C-130J aircraft with the Channel Islands Air National Guard. Photo by Stephen Osman, Ventura County Star.

HERE is a list of some of the recent articles at Wildfire Today that mentioned the MAFFS air tankers.

 

Photos of MAFFS training at Boise

MAFFS air tankers training at Boise

The National Interagency Fire Center posted on their Facebook page (yes, they have a Facebook page!) nine photos of the Modular Airborne Firefighting Systems (MAFFS) C-130s air tankers from North Carolina and Wyoming training at Boise this week. Here are a couple of the pics.

 

MAFFS air tankers training at Boise

 

Magicvalley.com has an article about the training. They also have some excellent photos of the C-130s, including some taken inside the aircraft.

Military C-130s assist with Texas fires

The Texas Forest Service has this update on their fire situation. (The complete report is here.)

A Type I IMT (Wilder) has been ordered for the PK West Fire and a Type II IMT (Florida Red) has been ordered to support East Texas. A tanker base has been set up in Midland to support a DC-10 airtanker. Dyess Air Force Base has set up a tanker base to support the Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System (MAFFS) units on four USAF C-130s.

The 100 acre Pinnacle Fire, now 90 percent contained destroyed 6 homes, caused numerous evacuations, and threatened 100 homes & 10 businesses. Two MAFFS units from Del Rio dropped retardant on the fire that assisted in the saving of those structures. TFS ground crews continue to work this fire. A FEMA Management Assistance Grant (FMAG) was received.

The 145th Airlift Wing, Charlotte, NC and the 153rd Air Wing, Cheyenne, WY are providing one Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems (MAFFS) C-130 aircraft each, along with two from the 146th Air Wing, Channel Islands, CA, and support personnel to the state of Texas. The aircraft and personnel are based at Dyess Air Force Base. On Saturday, April 16, two MAFFS from Peterson Air Force base in Colorado Springs, Colorado were mobilized to assist Mexico with two very large fires 40 to 60 miles south of the Texas border.

Also on April 16, Texas Governor Rick Perry requested the assistance from the federal government to help fight the fires in his state.

Here are three videos of the MAFFS C-130 air tankers dropping on fires in Texas on April 17, 2011.

 

The video below has some coarse language at the end.

The top 12 fires in Texas listed on the National Situation Report:

Top 12 Texas fires, April 19, 2011

MAFFS C-130 Texas 4-2011
CNN

Below are the tracks that N144Z, the Cessna Citation infrared mapping aircraft owned by the US Forest Service, left on FlightAware Monday night and very early Tuesday morning as it mapped fires in the Midland, Abilene, and Fort Worth areas. Each group of parallel lines indicate one fire that was mapped, or multiple fires if they are close together. The imagery is then analyzed by Infrared Imagery Interpreters who map the perimeters of the fires, the heat concentrations, and any spot fires outside the main perimeter, and then they calculate accurate acreages. This may be why the size of the fire at Possum Kingdom Lake 70 miles west of Fort Worth was adjusted overnight from an estimate of 63,000 to nearly 150,000 acres.

N144Z KABI to KMAF 4-18-2011

 

N144Z 4-19-2011

U. S. military sends two air tankers to fight fires in Mexico

Saturday morning two C-130 aircraft with Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems (MAFFS) left Peterson Air Force base in Colorado Springs, Colorado for Mexico to assist with two large fires that are burning about 60 miles south of the Texas border. They arrived later in the day at Laughlin Air Force Base, which they will use as a reload base, and are already dropping water mixed with foam concentrate on the fires. That’s right, not long-term fire retardant, but foam.

The MAFFS units, which hold about 3,000 gallons, are owned by the U.S. Forest Service and slip into the C-130’s cargo bay fairly quickly to convert the transport planes into air tankers. Normally they drop retardant but apparently they were not able to work out the logistics of acquiring it for this mission.

The MAFFS aircraft have been authorized to drop four loads per day per aircraft, for up to seven days.

Evergreen’s 747 Supertanker has been working on the fires in Mexico since April 12. Steven Daniels, of Evergreen Aviation, told Wildfire Today that the massive air tanker has dropped 12 loads of retardant, 20,000 gallons each, for a total of 240,000 gallons.

Supertanker1 - 30 June 2010
File photo of the 747 Supertanker dropping on June 30, 2010

The Bomberos, or Mexican firefighters, are not totally familiar with the use of retardant and wonder why the 747 is not dropping directly on the fire or flames, but instead is dropping just ahead of the fire. They are learning that dropping ahead of the fire is the best way to slow it down, and that an air tanker can’t put out a fire completely, it takes support from ground personnel to follow-up after the drop.

Two Air-Cranes operated by Helicopter Transport Services have also been working on the fires in Mexico.