Tanker 910 at Gorgonio Fire

Tanker 910, a DC-10, on the Gorgonio Fire in Riverside County, Calif., 5-4-2013 used with permission. Credit Rachel Luna/The Sun.
Tanker 910, a DC-10, on the Gorgonio Fire in Riverside County, Calif., 5-4-2013. Used with permission. Credit Rachel Luna/The Sun.

The day that Tanker 910, a DC-10, came on duty after being activated by CAL FIRE on a call-when-needed contract, it was used on at least one fire in California. These photos were taken May 4 on the Gorgonio Fire in Riverside County, California, by Rachel Luna, a photographer with The Sun.

The DC-10 carries 11,600 gallons, almost six times more retardant than a Korean War vintage P2V air tanker, which currently make up most of the large air tanker fleet contracted to the federal government. (Update: Trish said in a comment that the DC-10 dropped two loads on the fire, for a total of 23,200 gallons. That would have been 12 loads from a P2V, or 8 from a BAe-146.)

DC-10 Tanker 910
Gorgonio Fire in Riverside County, Calif., 5-4-2013. Used with permission. Credit Rachel Luna/The Sun

The Gorgonio Fire was reported at 11:43 a.m. on May 5 in an area that was difficult to access. The spread was stopped that afternoon after it burned 650 acres near Highway 243 south of Banning and north of Pine Cove. The initial attack included a fast, aggressive response by ground and aerial fire resources, a strategy that is not seen often enough outside of California. As of Sunday afternoon, the fire is 75 percent contained.

KMIR TV has a video report on the fire which has a few seconds of the DC-10 dropping.

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3 thoughts on “Tanker 910 at Gorgonio Fire”

  1. 650 acres final, two helicopters with a distant water source, wind, R.H. bottomed out, and one fixed-wing? I bet the taxpayers won on this fire. Get in, Get it Done Get out.

  2. Man that is a great shot. They did 2 full load drops @ 11.6k each on that fire yesterday.

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