Scooping air tankers being used on Holy Fire in SoCal

Air Tanker 260

Above: File photo of Air Tanker 260, a CL-415, scooping water at Castaic Lake December 6, 2017. Photo by Robert Schwemmer.

(Originally published at 6:40 p.m. PDT August 10, 2018)

Two water scooping air tankers are being used on the Holy Fire in the Cleveland National Forest northwest of Lake Elsinore, California. After seeing Cathy Gregg’s tweet about the scoopers we checked Flight Radar 24 and spotted two of the CL-415’s, Tanker 261 (N392AC) and Tanker 260 (N389AC).

At about 6 p.m. local time both aircraft appeared to be headed to San Bernardino Airport. I don’t know which lake they are scooping out of but if it is Lake Elsinore, about a mile from the fire at its closest point, they could have some very short turnaround times dropping up to 1,600 gallons at a time. The Martin Mars, even though it was based at Elsinore, didn’t scoop water there — it got it from another lake in Riverside County; was it Perris or Diamond Valley?

If you want to see more file photos of these two air tankers, we’ve tried to tag them every time they showed up here:  Tanker 260, and Tanker 261.

The exclusive use contracts that the U.S. Forest Service had for four CL-415’s were cancelled for this fiscal year which began in October, 2017. But they remained on Call When Needed Contracts, at a substantially higher daily and hourly rate. It is easy to blame the USFS for this decision since they issue the contracts, but the most likely guilty parties are our Representatives, Senators, and President, who did not supply adequate funding to maintain the same numbers of air tankers (large, very large, and multi-engine scoopers) that we had in FY 2017.

Scoopers at Redding

T-263 T-261

(Originally published at 6:27 p.m. MDT July 30, 2017.)

Ethan, who took this photo at Redding July 30, 2017, said it is the first time he has seen CL-415 water-scooping air tankers at Redding.

Left to right we see Aero-Flite tankers 263, (unknown in the center), and 261 on the right.

Thanks Ethan!

CV-580s and CL-415s at Medford

Air tanker 52

Above: Air tanker 52, a CV-580, departs Medford, Oregon for the Bybee Creek Fire in Crater Lake National Park. Photo by Tim Crippin.

Tim Crippin took these photos of CL-415s and CV-580s at the Medford, Oregon Airport August 1 and 2. Some of them were working on the Bybee Creek Fire in Crater Lake National Park which has burned 720 acres since it started on July 28.

Air Tankers 261 and 262
Air Tankers 261 and 262 At Medford, Oregon this week. Photo by Tim Crippin. He said they were on the Million Air ramp waiting to go to the Bybee Creek Fire in Crater Lake National Park.
Air tanker 55
Air tanker 55, a CV-580, arrives at Medford, Oregon to reload. Photo by Tim Crippin.
Air tanker 261
Air tanker 261, a CL-415, at Medford, Oregon departs for the Bybee Creek Fire. Photo by Tim Crippin.

Photos of two water-scooping air tankers in Oklahoma

Air Tanker 262, a CL-415

Above: Air Tanker 262, a CL-415, in Oklahoma, April 7, 2016. Photo by John Wilson.

John Wilson sent us photos of the two CL-415 water-scooping air tankers that are on U.S. Forest Service exclusive use contract. We were not sure which two AeroFlite aircraft were on the contract until we saw his photos. Now we know it is T-261 and T-262. We updated the 2016 contract list first published March 2, 2016.

John said the air tankers were seen near Bethel Acres, Oklahoma. They were most likely scooping water from Shawnee Twin Lakes in Pottawatomie County and then dropping the water on a fire a few miles to the south.

John said:

It was early evening and I was losing light but the Nikon handled it pretty well. I didn’t realize there was more than one aircraft until I started processing the images and noticed the tanker numbers.

Air Tanker 261, a CL-415
Air Tanker 261, a CL-415, in Oklahoma, April 7, 2016. Photo by John Wilson.

Thanks John.