Sacramento Archives - Fire Aviation

Cal Fire C-130s

Guest Writer16. March 202416. March 2024Fixed wingC-130, CAL FIRE, McClellan, Sacramento3 Comments

Here’s more from Ryan Grothe:

Last week I was up in Sacramento attending the Aerial Firefighting Conference, and I took a tour of Cal Fire aviation headquarters at McClellan Airtanker Base. The main topic of discussion was the C-130 tankers, and here is an update.

According to Cal Fire officials, One of the C-130s should be ready to go sometime this year, and the first one will be based at McClellan. The other six C-130s will be tanked soon. Fresno and Ramona have been confirmed for C-130s.

Cal Fire's new C-130s — Cal Fire’s new C-130s at McClellan — photo ©2024 Ryan Grothe

Cal Fire’s new C-130s at McClellan — photo ©2024 Ryan Grothe

Cal Fire C-130s — Cal Fire’s new C-130s at McClellan — photo ©2024 Ryan Grothe

And here’s a note Bill Gabbert wrote two years ago:

C-130s Bill Gabbert — AND the editorial Gabbert wrote a year before that: Congress should hold hearing on C-130s

Aerial Firefighting Conference at McClellan

Guest Writer14. March 202414. March 2024Fixed wingCAL FIRE, McClellan, Sacramento1 Comment

We weren’t able to attend the Aerial Firefighting Conference at Sacramento last week, but Ryan Grothe was there, and he sent us some notes and photos.

Coulson Aviation president Britt Coulson spoke at the event; he said this summer Coulson plans to take delivery of a 737-700 series aircraft from Southwest Airlines.

The 737 will have multiple cabin configurations, including head of state, business class, and standard seating. Leveraging off the already successful 737-300 platform, the prototype 737-700 will begin its modification this summer with an expected certification date by the end of 2025.

This will be the first 5000-gallon Large Air Tanker ( LAT ) to enter service. It will be equipped with the RADS-XXL tanking system.

The RADS – XXL systems have also been selected for the tanking of the CAL FIRE C-130s. Coulson has also added more C-130s to its fleet, along with two Citation 500 aircraft for intel and lead operations and a Bombardier Challenger.

The California National Guard operates aerial firefighting helicopters that can be activated from 5 bases:

- - Los Alamitos: UH-60 Black Hawks
  - Fresno: CH-47 Chinooks / UH-60M Black Hawks.
  - Stockton: Uh-60M Black Hawks / UH72A Lakotas
  - Mather: UH-60M Black Hawks
  - Moffett: HH-60G Pave Hawks

~ Ryan Grothe