Agencies involved in aerial firefighting in the Colorado area are meeting and training together on Friday and Saturday of this week at Buckley Air force Base in Aurora. Friday’s sessions were indoors, focusing on procedures, communications, and the academic side of fighting fires from the air.
On Saturday they will take to the air working with the equipment they will use on a fire. The Blackhawk helicopters will be visible after 9 or 10 a.m. near Chatfield and Strontia Springs Reservoirs and Waterton Canyon.
The agencies involved include the Colorado Army National Guard 2nd Battalion, 135th Aviation Regiment, U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Region, Bureau of Land Management, and Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control. The National Guard also worked with active duty Army aviation units from Ft. Carson, Wyoming, Nebraska, and South Dakota.