Used military planes sought for firefighting
Used military planes sought for firefighting
12 October 2013
published by www.utsandiego.com
USA — As many as seven large C-27 aircraft, military cargo and transport planes being phased out of the U.S. Air Force could find a new home fighting fires in San Diego County and other areas in the southwest.
Earlier this year U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and John McCain, R-Ariz., began urging the Department of Defense to authorize the transfer of seven soon-to-be-retired C-27s from the military to the U.S. Forest Service.
This week the San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted to send a letter to the Defense Department urging the same thing.
The Forest Service is in dire need of additional firefighting capabilities, Supervisor Dianne Jacob said. Rather than allow these planes to just sit idle, these aircraft can be retrofitted and made available for fighting fires in our region where the fire risk is always high.
Board Chairman Greg Cox said he met with Feinstein two weeks ago, when he was in Washington, D.C., with about 130 other members of a San Diego delegation, and first heard about the available C-27s.
