McClellan breaks their own record for retardant

See it in time-lapse video.

On Wednesday October 11 a new record was set for the number of gallons loaded into air tankers in one day at the air tanker base at McClellan Air Field near Sacramento — 311,000 gallons. But the next day, October 12, they blew that record out of the water, pumping 387,655 gallons.

With seven large fires burning within 40 to 80 miles of McClellan Air Field near Sacramento, the air tanker base there has been extremely busy for the last week with 12 air tankers working out of the facility at times.

Click on the Instagram image below to see a fascinating time-lapse video of aircraft activity at the base.

The numbers below are statewide in California.

Fire retardant dropped by firefighting aircraft california
Fire retardant dropped by firefighting aircraft in California October 9-13, 2017.

New record set for retardant at McClellan

With seven large fires burning within 40 to 80 miles of McClellan Air Field near Sacramento, the air tanker base there has been extremely busy this week with 12 air tankers working out of the facility at times. Along with the 1,200 to 4,000-gallon air tankers, the very large DC-10 and 747 air tankers using the base need about 12,000 to 19,000 gallons each time they park in a retardant pit.

On Wednesday October 11 a new record was set for the number of gallons loaded into air tankers in one day at the base — 311,000 gallons.

Between October 9 and 11, Tanker 944, a 747, flew 13 sorties and dropped 215,489 gallons of retardant in the 3 day period. The DC-10’s undoubtedly also played a large role in achieving the new record.

Air attack key in halting Canyon 2 Fire spread near Anaheim

(Above: The red dots represent heat detected on the Canyon 2 Fire by a satellite at 2:54 a.m. October 10. The yellow dots were detected at 12:54 p.m. October 9. The Canyon Fire started September 25, and the spread was stopped a few days later. Click to enlarge)

A couple days ago, Fire Aviation readers made a reasonable ask to news media filming water and retardant drops: Pan the camera out.

You’ve been heard.

A television crew with KTLA in Southern California got a great vantage of Tanker 911, a DC-10 operated by 10 Tanker Air Carrier, making a run over the hills east of Anaheim during efforts to contain the Canyon 2 Fire.

Check it out:

The Canyon 2 Fire started Monday morning in the Anaheim Hills area.

By Tuesday, Anaheim Fire & Rescue reported the blaze to be at 7,500 acres. About 1,100 firefighters were assigned to the incident, with 14 helicopters and six planes assisting from the air.

As of Wednesday morning, it had grown to 8,000 acres with containment at 40 percent — a shift from Santa Ana winds from the east to coastal sea breezes from the west aided containment efforts.

Roughly two-dozen structures were damaged or destroyed, but no serious injuries were reported.

Supertanker to assist with California wine country wildfires

(Above: The 747 SuperTanker drops on the Palmer Fire south of Calimesa and Yucaipa in southern California, September 2, 2017. Photo by Cy Phenice, used with permission).

A 747 Supertanker will assist firefighters battling a series of fires that erupted overnight Sunday in California’s wine country.

Global Supertanker announced Monday morning it would assist with efforts to battle the Atlas Fire in Napa County, California. The fire broke out about 9:20 p.m. Sunday and quickly burned approximately 5,000 acres, fanned by high winds, CAL FIRE reported.  

The Atlas Fire is among a number of blazes that started Sunday night and Monday morning, forcing thousands of residents from their homes and leaving crews scrambling through the night to get a handle on the sheer number of fire starts.

The largest, the Tubbs Fire, scorched in excess of 20,000 acres within just a few hours, Santa Rosa Fire reported. The fast-moving fire forced the evacuation of area hospitals, closed schools and led officials to recall all city employees to help staff the emergency operations center.

Details about damages or injuries were not immediately available by daybreak Monday.

RJ85 on the Edwards Fire

RJ85 Edwards Fire in Alameda County, California
An RJ85 drops on the Edwards Fire in Alameda County, California, September 26, 2017. Photo by Joel V.

Joel sent us this photo of an RJ85 dropping on the Edwards Fire near Oakland, California. Thanks Joel.

As a bonus, here’s a video of an MD-87 dropping on the same fire, shot by Darryl Poe.

The fire burned about 22 acres near Edwards Avenue and Mountain Blvd, six miles southeast of Oakland.

LA Times photo of DC-10 dropping on Canyon Fire

By LA Times Staff Photographer Irfan Khan.

Very impressive photo by LA Times Staff Photographer Irfan Khan. (Click on the photo twice to see a larger version.)

More information about the 2,500-acre Canyon Fire near Corona, California.

Perfect photography of an air tanker drop

The DC-10 was dropping on the La Tuna Fire in Southern California on September 2, 2017.

Helicopter photographer Kevin Takumi shows the perfect technique for filming an air tanker drop. He zooms in close at first on Air Tanker 910, a DC-10, then at the completion of the drop zooms out so you can see where the retardant lands.

Here’s a few more aerial firefighting videos:

Continue reading “Perfect photography of an air tanker drop”