Wildland Fire Fighting in the USA
Airtanker, Helicopter and Wildland Fire Apparatus
Picture Archive 3
 

Picture Archive 1 Travelling the US Western States Informations and Thanks

Picture Archive 2 Meeting Friends: Memories, Operations and Pictures

Picture Archive 4 Special Publications about "Wildland Firefighting" in the USA

Special Pages "Forest Fire" Forest- and Wildland Firefighting in Germany and Europe

Current Wildfire Situation in the Western States of the USA The FirePublications/Feuerwehrpresse Wolfgang Jendsch is always in contact with US forest and fire agencies, fire departments and fire managers within the scope of their topic "Wildland Firefighting" during the anual fire season to get current informations and datas for the documentation of the wildfire situation in the western US states. In this context below we make a list of all forest- and wildfires in the western US states available, which are more than 1000 acres in size.

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures ...!
The following pictures may be very interestings for technique-, airplane- and apparatus freaks?!
I will show here a very small selection out of about 8,000 to 10,000 pics with fire air attack and fire apparatus. I saw a lot of this equipment during my trips around the western states - and every time I was impressed of that special technique and of the posibilities to use that technique for fire operations. And I got the great chance to make trips into incident areas on several command cars, fire engines, water tender, helicopters and and airplanes.
I never will forget the great feeling during this trips, but also I never will forget the great job firefighters, air commanders, hotshots, smokejumpers or pilots did. Thank you for all!
 

New for Friends of Apparatus and Engineering:
A new Book Series - for the present as "ebooks" in preparation - will present forest- and wildland fire apparatus of the US Fire Departments and of the US-Fire Agencies. Further Informations here!

Air Attack
Lead Planes and Airtankers
Different types of air attack - lead planes, tactical command planes, airtankers, helitankers, fire crew helicopters - are used in wildland fire fighting to support the ground attack like handcrews and strike teams from air.

Picture 1: Leadplane "Rockwell OV-10 Bronco", California Division of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF), Fresno Air Attack Base (CDF, USFS), California. "Broncos" are primarily used as leadplanes by CDF and BLM.
Picture 2: Leadplane "Beechcraft 58P Baron" of the US Forest Service (USFS/USDA); National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), Fire- and Smokejumper Airbase Boise/Idaho.
Picture 3: Command Plane (Air Command), "Aero Commander 500B", Kern County Fire Department, California. I remember a flight with that high-wing twin-engine aircraft to the "Democrate Fire" with air attack supervisor Fred Roach - flying around and around may be not good for an empty stomach, but it is really interesting to watch the ground- and air operations as well.

The US wildland fire agencies are using different agency-owned (USFS, CDF) or assigned airtankers of the ICS-types 1 to 3 (4: single-engine agricultural tankers). Several contractors (for example: Neptune Inc., Aero Union Corporation, Hawkins & Powers, TBM Inc., T & G Aviation Inc.) deployed the airtankers on special fire air bases during the official fire season.

Air Tanker Classification:
ICS-type I: 3000+ gal retardant (Il-76, Martin Mars, KC-97, C-130, C-130 MAFFS, P3, DC-7)
ICS-type II: 1800-2999 gal retardant (DC-6, P2V, SP2H, PB4Y2, DC-4/C54, DC-4 Super)
ICS-type III: 600-1799 gal retardant (B-26, Albatross, Super PBY, CL215, CL415, AT802, S2T, S2, A26, Twin Otter)
ICS-type IV: 100-599 gal retardant (Turbine Trush, Ag Cat, Dromedar, Beaver)

Important Information:
U.S.D.A. Forest Service and Department of the Interior Agencies cancel Large Airtanker Contract
Boise/Idaho, May 10, 2004

The US-Forest Service (USDA) and the Department of the Interior (DOI) announced today that they are terminating the contract for 33 large airtankers due to concerns over the airworthiness of the aircraft and public safety. The large fixed-wing airtankers were used in wildland firefighting primarily for initial attack and structure protection support.
The decision comes in response to findings and recommendations contained in the April 23, 2004, National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) report on three previous airtanker accidents (see: obituary). One critical NTSB finding states "it was apparent that no effective mechanism currently exists to ensure the continuing airworthiness of these firefighting aircraft". The NTSB report also concluded that the Forest Service and the Department of the Interior were responsible for ensuring the safety of firefighting aircraft. Private companies operate the 33 airtankers under a contract with the federal agencies during the fire season.
Since most of the large airtankers were designed and used for military operations before their acquisition by contract companies, the NTSB report also indicated that a complete history of maintenance and inspection records are not available for many of them. This lack of documentation makes it impossible to guarantee airworthiness, according to the NTSB. The average age of the large airtankers is 48 years with some more than 60 years old.
"Safety is a core value of the firefighting community and it is non-negotiable", said Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth. "To continue to use these contract large airtankers when no mechanism exists to guarantee their airworthiness presents an unacceptable level of risk to the aviators, the firefighters on the ground and the communities we serve".
"We take the findings and recommendations made by NTSB very seriously", said BLM-Director Clarke, "Chief Bosworth and I are committed to working with other federal agencies, our state partners, Congress, industry, and the public to understand and adjust to this change while continuing to provide safe and effective fire management and suppression".
The large airtankers are one of many tools that firefighters use, but wildland fires are managed and suppressed on the ground, not from the air. During any year, thousands of wildland fires are suppressed on initial attack without the benefit of air support.
The agencies developed a strategy for the 2004 firefighting season to supplement aerial resources with other available aircraft such as large helicopters and helitankers, single engine airtankers (SEATS), and military C-130 aircraft equipped with the Modular Airborne Firefighting System (MAFFS). A strategy for long-term aviation asset management and acquisitions of newer aircraft based on available funding will be developed by the leadership of the Forest Service and the DOI agencies.
"Clearly the days of operating older aircraft of unknown airworthiness for firefighting operations are over", said Chief Bosworth. "We are grateful to the pilots, crews, and operators of these aircraft, who have dedicated themselves to firefighting efforts over the decades. We have the greatest fire management and suppression program in the world, and we will continue to protect lives, property and our nation’s natural resources".

For further information, contact Rose Davis, Forest Service Fire and Aviation Management Public Affairs at (208) 387-5437.
See also: NIFC Information, German Version
 

Picture 1: Airtanker 26 (Aero Union Corporation) Lockheed P3-A Orion, a type-I (ICS) four-engine turbo-prop plane on Redding Fire Airbase, California. The T 26 carries 3000 gal of fire retardant and works with eight gates for the drop-downs. The U.S. Navy primarily used the P3 for submarine surveillance before. The turbine engines add reliability and power which gives the P3-A a short take off roll.
Picture 2: Airtanker 160 (Aero Flite) Douglas DC-4 Airliner, a type-II (ICS) well popular airtanker who carries 2000 gal of fire retardant and works with four to eight gates. The DC-4 is a little slower than most other airtankers, but can operate from shorter and less weight restricted airports. The plane has been acquired both military surplus and from civile airlines. The airtanker was stationed at Reno Airbase, Nevada.
Picture 3: CDF-Airtanker 78, Grumman S-2F Tracker - a type-III (ICS) tanker from Redding Fire Airbase, California. In the western US states the S-2 is only used by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF). The plane, which carries 800 gal fire retardant and works with four gates for the drop-downs, operates usually without leadplanes, but under the supervision of an air tactical supervisor.
 

Air Attack:
Helitankers, Helitack- and Fire Helicopters
Beside airtankers the US fire agencies and fire departments use helicopters for wildland air attack. Helicopters are available for water drops from fix tanks (helitanker) and buckets (fire helicopter), for rappeling (helitack) as well as for crew- and equipment transport. Helicopters operate from the fix fire air attack bases or from helispots (temporary airports in the incident areas).

Helicopter Classification:
ICS-type I: 700 gal water, 16 seats including the pilot, allowable payload 5000 lbs. (e.g.: Boeing-234, S-64, AS-332, Vertol-107)
ICS-type II: 300 gal water, 10 seats including the pilot, allowable payload 2500 lbs. (e.g.: Bell-212, Bell-205, BK-117, S-58)
ICS-type III: 100 gal water, 5 seats including the pilot, allowable payload 1200 lbs. (e.g.: Bell-206B-III, Lama, MD-500, AS-355)
ICS-type IV: 75 gal water, 3 seats including the pilot, allowable payload 600 lbs. (e.g.: Bell-47, Hiller-12E)

Picture 1: Helitanker Bell 412, a twin turbine engine type-II (ICS) helicopter of the Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACFD), California. The helicopter has four main rotor blades, unlike the two blade Bell 212. Helitankers consists of fixed 360 gal water tank at the bottom. The tank can be filled on a fire water hydrant as well as from a fire engine or from a water tender. The Bell 412 also can be used for rappeling (helitack), crew transports or cargo transports.
Picture 2: Aerospetiale AS-355F-1 Twinstar, a type-III (ICS) fire helicopter of the Sequioa National Park Service, California.
Picture 3: Fire helicopter of the Nevada Devision of Forestry (NDF) from Minden Fire Airbase, Nevada. The type-II (ICS) Bell 205 A-1 is usually used for water bucket operations as well as for crew and cargo transports. The heli consists of a 1300 horsepower engine and with 14 seats for firefighters.
 

Beside airtankers and fire helicopters the fire air attack has some special airplanes and helicopters like self-filled water tankers, jump- and cargo planes or medical rescue helicopters. Three of those special planes you may be seen below.

Picture 1: Beside the well-known Canadair CL-215 and CL-415 waterbombers this picture shows a consolidated PBY-5A CANSO (Bufallo Airways). It is an ex-military WW II long range coastal patrol aircraft that was converted to a waterbomber in the 1960's - one of only three airtankers of this type, who can fill its water load itself. The plane touches the water of a lake by a landing operation, opens its gates so that the water can get into it. After filling itself the plane can start to another operation without any landing. This airtanker is stationed on a county airport near Deer Park, Spokane County/Washington.
Picture 2: Well-known smokejumper plane of the US Forest Service, Missoula Smokejumper Base, Montana. The C 23-Sherpa (Shorts SD 330) carries between 10 to 20 smokejumpers with their whole equipment. Planes like this one are used by the US Forest Service (USFS/USDA) as well as by the Bureau of Landmanagement (BLM).
Picture 3: During larger fire incidents special medical rescue helicopters (air ambulances) are available in the operations areas. The picture shows a BK 117 helicopter (N378LF).
 

Wildland Fire Apparatus

Wildland Fire Fighting Apparatus of the
Bureau of Landmanagement (BLM)
The Bureau of Landmanagement (BLM) - U.S. Department of the Interior - is the largest federal state wildland fire organization in the USA. BLM manages about 265 million acres of public lands, provides fire protection for 388 million acres and is the host agency at the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC).

Picture 1: Chevrolet 3500 brush truck (ICS type-VI) of the BLM District Rock Springs, Wyoming: Wildland model 663S (NIFC), 200 gal water, Pacific BB4 pump, Robwen Flow-Mix 500B foam system.
Picture 2: Type-V (ICS) International wildland engine, BLM District Grant Junction, Colorado Upper Colorado River Interagency Fire Management (USFS, BLM).
Picture 3: The Bureau of Landmanagement (BLM) District Office in Winnemucca/Nevada owns two of only a few Mercedes-Benz Unimog fire engines in the USA. This small type-VI one (2962), built 1996 by NIFC, has a 400 gal water tank, 3 gal class-A foam and a 120 gpm centrifugal pump. The front plate can be used to build fire lines. The other engine (2931) is a Mercedes-Benz Unimog 2450 (1993) with 950 gal water and a 350 gpm pump.
 

Wildland Fire Fighting Apparatus of the
U.S. Forest Service (USFS/USDA)
The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) - U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) - is the second large federal wildland fire fighting agency in the USA. The organization manages about 190 million acres of national forests and grasslands.

Picture 1: Type-VI wildland fire engine (USFS model 52) of the Upper Colorado River Interagency Fire Management (USFS, BLM), Glenwood Springs, Colorado. The 1997 built brush truck consists of a 290 gal fiberglass water tank as well as a Wajax BB-4 pump on a flatbed slip-on unit.
Picture 2: Wildland engine (ICS type-V, USFS model 71, year of construction 1994) on a Navistar International 4900 chassis with 600 gal water tank, 10 gal foam, a 200 gpm Hale CBP-4 pump and a power-take-off pump type "Aqua Mac". The body was built by the GTA Aviation Service Comp., Phoenix. The engine is stationed at the USFS Ranger Station in Silver City, New Mexico.
Picture 3: USFS truck on International chassis, a personal and equipment carrier of a helitack crew.
 

Wildland Fire Apparatus of the Federal State Agencies:
For Example - California Department of Forest and Fire Protection (CDF)
The CDF is the largest state fire agency in the USA. The organization is dedicated to the fire protection and stewardship of over 31 million acres of California's privately-owned wildlands. In addition, the department provides varied emergency services in 33 of the state's 58 counties via contracts with local governments.
Other federal state agencies for example are: Nevada Division of Forestry (NDF), Arizona Department of Forestry (ADF), New Mexico Forestry Division (NMFD), Colorado State Forest Service (CFS), Utah Department of Forestry and Fire, Wyoming Forestry Division (WFD), State of Idaho Forestry, Montana Forestry Division (MFD), Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF).

Picture 1: Typical CDF type-III (ICS) wildland engine from CDF fire station 30 in Paso Robles, California. The International/Masterbody carries a 500 gal water tank and a 500 gpm Hale pump. The engine was build in 1992.
Picture 2: Ford flatbed truck with "heavy attack equipment" (dozer), Dobbins fire station, Yuba County, California.
Picture 3: CDF crew carrier on International chassis of the Pine Grove Fire Crew, California (California Youth Authority). With trucks like this one agencies carries inmate fire crews from several prisons to the incident areas.

Picture 1: Brush truck on International Loadstar of the Nevada Division of Forestry (NDF), South Washoe Fire Station, Nevada.
Picture 2: Type-V (ICS) wildland fire engine on International 5700 chassis, Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF), Forest Grove/Oregon.
Picture 2: Hummer patrol and fire truck of the National Park Service (NPS), Grover Beach, California. The NPS - U.S. Department of the Interior - administers about 80 million acres of national parks, monuments, historic sites, natural areas and other federal lands.
 

State Wildland Fire Apparatus
The federal US states provide local fire departments with special wildland fire engines as an addition to the agencies equipment. Here are three examples of those trucks from New Mexico, Washington and Utah.

Picture 1: New Mexico state fire engine from Glenwood/New Mexico, Apache Sitgreaves National Forest
Picture 2: Brush truck of the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Spokane County Fire District 4. The Ford F 350 with a 1996 DNR selfbuilt body carries 200 gal of water and 5 gal of foam.
Picture 3: Ford F 350 brush truck of the "Utah Department of Natural Resources and Forestry", Moab/Utah. The 1996 built truck carries 300 gal of water, 5 gal of foam and a 250 gpm Hale pump.
 

Wildland Fire Fighting Apparatus of the Indian Reservations
Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)
Most cities and villages of  the US Indian Reservations have their own fire department, and most of them are integrated in the US wildland fire fighting system. So they have their own brush trucks and fire engines, their own wildland fire fighting crews, may be their own hotshots and smokejumper. The following three pictures show example fire trucks of the Apache Indian Reservation (Arizona), the Hopi Indian Reservation (Arizona) and the Paiute Indian Reservation (Nevada). Main organization of the Indian Reservations is the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). The organization provides wildland fire protection for 60 million acres of Indian reservations and other trust lands.

Picture 1: Wildland fire engine on a former military GMC chassis: White Mountain Apache Fire & Rescue (Fort Apache Indian Reservation), Whiteriver Fire Station, Arizona.
Picture 2: Patrol of the Hopi Indian Reservation from Keams Canyon, Arizona - a Chevrolet 3500 brush truck with a slip-on unit (Wajax-Pacific pump, 200 gal water tank; built by NIFC). The E-88 is a state truck (Bureau of Indian Affairs/BIA).
Picture 3: GMC 7000 D brush truck (construction year 1983) of the Paiute Indian Reservation, Clark County/Nevada. The wildland engine carries 300 gal of water and a 165 gpm Hale centrifugal pump.
 

Wildland Fire Fighting Apparatus of the
County- and City Fire Departments
Beside the fire fighting equipment of the federal agencies like BLM, USFS, CDF or NDF (for example) the city- and county fire departments provide - beside their structure equipment - numerous wildland fire apparatus, sometimes also helicopters (for example: Los Angeles County F.D., Los Angeles City F.D., Kern County F.D.).
Here I will show you only three examples: two brush trucks and four water tender (tanker-pumper). My picture archive contains several hundreds of such trucks, from all over the western US states.

Picture 1: Hummer brush truck, build 1996, with 250 gal water tank and 100 gpm single-stage Wajax pump. The Hummer is owned by the Boise Fire Department, Idaho.
Picture 2: Ford F 350 Super-Duty brush truck (1997) of the Spokane County Fire District 4, Washington. The four-wheel-drived truck consists of a slip-on unit with a 400 gal water tank and with 10 gal foam.
Picture 3: The Victor Fire Department, Montana, owns this 1500 gal water tender on a International Loadstar 1800 chassis with a Butler tank, but without pump. The truck was built in 1964.

Picture 1: 5000 gal Kenworth water tender (1975) of the Uinta County Fire Protection - Lyman Fire Department, Wyoming. The Lyman firefighters called their tanker "Big Bubba".
Picture 2: The "Big One": 12,000 gal water tender with Peterbilt W 900 truck of the Grant County Fire District, Moses Lake Fire Department, Washington. The 1982 built water tender carries a 2200 gpm pump.
Picture 3: Modern tanker-pumper (STS, 1996) of the Animas Fire District, Durango/Colorado. The three-axes Freightliner is used both for structure and wildland fire fighting. The truck carries 3000 gal of water, 8 gal of foam and a 1250 gpm Waterous pump.
 

Commercial Wildland Fire Fighting Apparatus
U.S. Contractors
Several commercial contractors and fire service companies offers fire engines, water tender and other fire fighting equipment for rent. One of the largest companies is North Tree Fire (NTF), located with several fire stations in California.

Picture 1: Water tender (International) of the commercial "Lambert Fire Fighting Service", Stevensville/Montana.
Picture 2: Tactical water tender (engine 294) on a Kenworth C 500 B chassis (FTI, 1995) from "North Tree Fire" (NTF), Marysville, California: 3600 gal water, 70 gal foam, 750 gpm Waterous pump, 4000 gal portable tank.
Picture 3: Water tender (Dodge 600) of the commercial "Wildfire Water Tenders" (WWT), Corvalls/Montana.
 

Last of all:
Some military special (Wildand) Fire Equipment I saw on my US Trips!
It was not only wildland fire fighting equipment I saw during my trips to the eleven western US states. Beside I saw a lot of very interesting fire engines, airplanes and further fire equipment. One of the most interesting things were the special fire trucks of the US Air Force, located on several military air force bases (AFB).
Thanks to all firemanagers and friends, that made it possible to visit such "secret" facilities.

Picture 1: International 5000 water tender (tanker), stationed on the Indian Springs Air Force Base, Nevada. The truck is also on duty to fight fires on the large dry grass lands on the military air base.
Picture 2: The Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion - the largest helicopter of the U.S. Marines. I met this ship on an small desert airport in the Lake Isabella area, California. The heli was on duty to search for Marihuana fields in the southern Sierra Nevada. Otherwise the helicopter may be used for personnel transport to large fires, when military firefighters are assigned. The CH-53E carries 38 persons or 24 patients (lying). Three GE T-64 power turbine engines turn a single seven-bladed main rotor.
Picture 3: In San Francisco I got an invitation to visit the US aircraft carrier "USS New Orleans" (1965, carries helicopters and Harrier-jets, 1550 crew members, 1991 in Gulf War, Skylab-Mission I and II). The ship crew members showed me a special fire truck for aircraft carriers.
 

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