Santa Maria ready for the season

It’s summer in California, and the Santa Maria Tanker Base is ready for the 2023 fire season. “We’ve got six personnel staffed with the base, and that’s parking tenders, ramp coordinator, tanker base manager, and timekeeper,” said Alex Ihle, air tactical group supervisor with the Los Padres. “Then between the primary mix plant here with Perimeter Solutions and the annex, there’s six or seven personnel ready to load tankers.” The air attack platform includes Ihle and his trainee, plus a contract pilot, and Tanker 101 has two pilots and a crew chief, he explained to News Channel 3-12.

The airtanker base, at the south end of the Santa Maria Airport a bit north of Lompoc, covers more than 3.6 million acres of response area, including San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties, as well as the Los Padres National Forest. The base opened for the season nearly two months ago, but significant rainfall over the winter and into spring has meant a late start to operations. Ihle said they delivered their first retardant in early June.

“That’s just a result of more rainfall than normal,” he said. “We are in essence about two months behind where we normally would be. Our fuel moistures now are right about 96-to-97 percent, and we typically see that fuel moisture percentage in early May, so we’re a couple of months behind.” Since opening in mid-May, the base has responded to just eight wildland fires, including the Villanova Fire near Ojai last week. While the tanker crew from the base flew out, they did not drop any retardant on the fire, which was limited to just 20 acres.

Erickson’s MD-87 aircraft, which can land loaded, were recently granted permission to make gear-up drops; Bill Gabbert wrote about this back in 2017.

Erickson's T-101 and T-105
Two of Erickson’s MD-87 airtankers

This year Tanker 101, a 3000-gallon MD-87 owned by Erickson Aero Tanker, has been stationed at the base since June 5, and Capt. Brent Conner has been flying wildland fires for a few years — about 30 years as a tanker pilot and about 30 years as a cropduster pilot. He said T-101 will remain stationed at Santa Maria as long as they’re needed there.

Bill Gabbert caught this photo of the MD-87 aircraft at Madras, Oregon June 13, 2016.

MD-87 airtankers at Madras Oregon
MD-87 tankerss at Madras, Oregon before they were converted to airtankers. Photo by Bill Gabbert.

“I saw five of Erickson’s MD-87s at Madras,” he wrote in 2018. “They were parked in single file and my 24mm lens was not wide enough to get them all. The one missing in the photo also had Spanair on the side. Erickson bought at least seven of the MD-87s. They began flying two of them as airtankers in 2014.”

Erickson currently has seven MD-87 airtankers, five now on contract and two more headed out this week, in addition to its three DC-7 tankers.

Video of aircraft working the Ross Fire in Idaho

Two Single Engine Air Tankers at the Ross Fire
Two Single Engine Air Tankers at the Ross Fire in Idaho, August, 2022. Still image from Airailimages video.

Fred Johnsen of Airailimages sent us information about a video he shot in Idaho at the Pocatello Airport and at the nearby Ross Fire. The video is below, just after Fred’s description.

“A wildfire burned over 6,300 acres on the Shoshone-Bannock Fort Hall Indian Reservation northeast of Pocatello, Idaho. Visible in the night sky on August 9, 2022, the Ross Fork fire was still active the following day as the Fort Hall Fire Department battled the flames on the ground, assisted by aerial firefighting assets staging out of the Pocatello airport. A number of Fort Hall reservation residents were evacuated to the Shoshone-Bannock hotel while the fire was brought under control. Aircraft fighting the Ross Fork fire included an Erickson MD-87 jet airliner tanker, an RJ85 jet tanker, several turboprop Single Engine Air Tankers (SEATs) and bucket-wielding helicopters. A turbo Commander served as an air attack coordination aircraft over the fire scene.”

Thank you, Fred!

More photos of firefighting air tankers at Sierra Vista Airport in Arizona

Air tanker 169, an RJ-85, at Sierra Vista Municipal Airport
Air tanker 169, an RJ-85, at Sierra Vista Municipal Airport while working the Contreras Fire, June 16, 2022. Photo by Ned Harris.

These photos of aircraft that were working on the Contreras Fire were taken by Ned Harris June 16, 2022 at the Sierra Vista Municipal Airport, a joint-use civil-military airport which shares facilities with Libby Army Airfield on Fort Huachuca in Southern Arizona.

We posted more of Ned’s photos yesterday, June 24, 2022. Thank you Ned!

Air tanker 131, a C-130, at Sierra Vista Municipal Airport
Air tanker 131, a C-130, at Sierra Vista Municipal Airport while working the Contreras Fire, June 16, 2022. Photo by Ned Harris.
Tankers 105 & 107, MD-87s, at Sierra Vista Municipal Airport
Tankers 105 & 107, MD-87s, at Sierra Vista Municipal Airport while working the Contreras Fire, June 16, 2022. Photo by Ned Harris.

Photos of large air tankers working the Alisal Fire in SoCal

Tanker 101 dropping Alisal Fire
Tanker 101, an MD-87, dropping on the northwest side of the Alisal Fire, Oct. 13, 2021. Photo by SBCFD

Since the Alisal Fire started west of Santa Barbara, California on October 11 there have not been many opportunities for firefighting aircraft to work the fire due to the very strong winds. Helicopters have been able to sneak in a few times, but until yesterday and today, October 12 and 13, they have rarely been seen at the fire.

Thanks to a decrease in wind speed, today on FlightRadar24 I saw six large air tankers and two very large air tankers (DC-10s) either over the fire, flying to or from, or taxiing at the Santa Maria airport which is 31 miles northwest of the fire.

Tanker 12 dropping Alisal Fire
Tanker 12, a BAe-146, dropping on the northwest side of the Alisal Fire, Oct. 13, 2021. Photo by SBCFD

These photos are courtesy of the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.

Tanker 137 dropping Alisal Fire
Tanker 137, a 737, dropping on the northwest side of the Alisal Fire, Oct. 13, 2021. Photo by SBCFD

Wednesday morning the Santa Barbara County Fire Department said the Alisal Fire has burned 14,500 acres, an increase of 1,100 acres over the figure released Tuesday evening. The growth over the last 24 hours has been on all sides, with the exception, of course, where the fire was stopped by the Pacific Ocean on the south. Wildfire Today has more information about the fire.

Tanker 910 dropping Alisal Fire
Tanker 910, a DC-10, dropping on the northwest side of the Alisal Fire, Oct. 13, 2021. Photo by SBCFD
Alisal Fire map
Alisal Fire map 9:45 p.m. Oct. 12, 2021. The red line was the perimeter at 9:45 p.m. PDT Oct. 12, 2021. The white line was the perimeter at 4:12 a.m. Oct. 12. The red dots represent heat detected by satellites at 2:56 a.m. PDT Oct. 13.

Tanker 101 on the Moonfish Fire

Air tanker 101 Moonfish Fire Florida
Air Tanker 101, an MD-87, drops on the Moonfish Fire in Big Cypress National Preserve in south Florida. It was dropping plain water, rather than retardant or another chemical, due to the sensitivity of the Everglades ecosystem. Photo by Megan Hurrell.

Air Tanker 101, an MD-87, has been working on several wildfires in Florida over the last week.

May 7-8: repositioned from Alamogordo, New Mexico to Lake City, Florida, then delivered four loads of water on the Moonfish Fire in Big Cypress National Preserve in south Florida, one on May 7 and three on May 8. It was dropping plain water, rather than retardant or another chemical, due to the sensitivity of the Everglades ecosystem. (about 320 miles south of the Lake City Airport)

May 11: Made six drops on the High Hill Fire in the Apalachicola National Forest in the Florida panhandle southwest of Tallahassee. (about 134 miles west of the Lake City Airport)

May 14: Two drops on the 36th Ave. SE Fire east of Naples in south Florida.(about 281 miles south of the Lake City Airport)

air tanker 101 sorties Florida