Minutes after writing that the Governor of California activated the two California National Guard Modular Airborne FireFighting System (MAFFS) air tankers, we learned that the National Multi-Agency Coordinating Group at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise mobilized two additional MAFFS which will be provided by the 302nd Airlift Wing, Air Force Reserve, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado Springs, Colorado.

They will initially be based in McClellan Airport at Sacramento, California, and are expected to be available to fly wildfire suppression missions beginning Tuesday, August 4. The MAFFS activated from Colorado will supplement two other MAFFS that were activated late last week by the Governor of California from the 146th Airlift Wing, California Air National Guard located in Port Hueneme.

This makes a total of four MAFFS that are now or will soon be activated, leaving three more that could be available at bases in Wyoming and North Carolina.

The interagency agreement between the USFS and the Department of Defense requires that MAFFS be operational within 48 hours. However they usually have responded within 36 hours of the initial request.

More about the 2009 introduction of the second generation MAFFS units.