Air Tankers under contract: ready for fire season
Air Tankers under contract: ready for fire season
1 April 2005
Published by www.kotatv.com
The Forest Service, State Wildland Fire, and other firefighters are all gearing up for what they’re calling the driest year in recorded history.
To make sure firefighters are ready for the ripe fire conditions, the mobilization on the ground and in the air lifts off early. The Forest Service already has at least six heavy air tankers under contract, and more are on the way.
Frank Carrolll with the Forest Service says most of the air tankers are showing their age though. Remember that there are WWII and we’ve had several of them, the wings have come off and crashed so it’s a very serious problem. The problem with aerial fire fighting is you have equipment that can fly slow enough to drop liquid effectively at 300 feet.
In addition to the air tankers, forest and fire workers are looking for agricultural airplanes, and helicopters. The Forest Service expects to be up to ‘full force’ July 1st.
