CalGuard aircraft fighting wildfires
CalGuard aircraft fighting wildfires
19 August 2013
published by www.utsandiego.com
USA — California National Guard air crews activated in the last week to battle wildfires in the north of the state have dropped more than 250,000 gallons of water or retardant, the state military service announced.
Eleven Air and Army National Guard aircraft joined CAL Fire and U.S. Forest Service personnel fighting the American, Swedes and Rim fires.
Two C-130J Hercules airtankers activated from Channel Islands Air National Guard Base in Oxnard Aug. 13; followed on Aug. 17 by three UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crews from Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base near Long Beach; a CH-47 Chinook helicopter from Stockton; and additional Black Hawk helicopters deployed from Mather Air Field in Sacramento, said Lt. Col. Thomas Keegan, California National Guard public affairs officer.
We train for this fight every year, coordinating with state agencies to ensure that the right people, with the right training, are in the right place when the lives and property of our fellow Californians are on the line, Maj. Gen. David S. Baldwin, adjutant general of the California National Guard, said in a news release.
