Cameras on firefighting aircraft filmed attack on brush fire in California

S2T and OV-10 attack the Still Fire

View from an S-2T air tanker while dropping on the Still Fire
View from an S2T air tanker while dropping on the Still Fire, Sept. 26, 2022. Still image from the video below.

The CAL FIRE Air Attack Base in Grass Valley, California posted this video on September 26 showing the view from an S2T air tanker and an OV-10 Bronco Air Attack aircraft as firefighters in the sky assist personnel on the ground on the Still Fire.

Internal and external cameras on the S2T captured the action from the cockpit as well as looking from the aircraft’s belly to the rear as 1,200 gallons of retardant is dropped on the fire. The Air Attack ship also had cameras and you can listen to the radio traffic with the helicopters, air tankers, and the Incident Commander on the ground as they coordinate tactics to stop a fast-moving wildfire which was threatening multiple homes and other structures.

The fire was held to 44 acres after it was attacked by firefighters on the ground and a total of 7 air tankers and 2 helicopters.

Another C-130 arrives at McClellan with new CAL FIRE livery

CAL FIRE Air Tanker 120 C-130
CAL FIRE Air Tanker 120, formerly Coast Guard 1709, arriving at McClellan, August 12, 2022. By Mike McKeig.

Another of the seven C-130 aircraft that the Coast Guard will eventually transfer to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection flew into Sacramento McClellan Airport today. In the Coast Guard it was known as #1709 but will become Air Tanker 120 when the conversion is complete and it is operated by CAL FIRE.

Like some of the other Coast Guard C-130s that have come to McClellan after having work done it appears to have 98 percent new livery, the exception being the rudder. It will eventually receive the other half of the zero to complete the T-120 designation. The delay may have something to do with balancing the rudder after the conversion is largely complete.

We were told there are no obvious external indications of retardant drop doors or a tank having been installed.

Below is what it looked like five years before the transfer and tanker conversion effort for the seven C-130s began in 2013.

A Coast Guard C-130H, No. 1709
A Coast Guard No. 1709, October, 2008. This is one of the seven HC-130Hs being transferred to the CAL FIRE. Photo by Bob Garrard.

More photos of T-120 arriving at McClellan today:

CAL FIRE Air Tanker 120 C-130
CAL FIRE Air Tanker 120, formerly Coast Guard 1709, arriving at McClellan, August 12, 2022. By Mike McKeig.
CAL FIRE Air Tanker 120 C-130
CAL FIRE Air Tanker 120, formerly Coast Guard 1709, arriving at McClellan, August 12, 2022. By Mike McKeig.

Thanks Mike!

CAL FIRE Director gives update on C-130 air tankers

Air Tanker 118 training Ramona, California fire airtanker
Tanker 118, during training flights at Ramona, CA February, 2022. Photo by Ryan Grothe.

In an interview this week with CBS Bay Area, Joe Tyler, the new Director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said the seven C-130s that are being transferred from the US Coast Guard to CAL FIRE will go to Georgia this year to have the 4,000-gallon retardant tanks installed.

CAL FIRE Director Joe Tyler
CAL FIRE Director Joe Tyler making the keynote address at the Aerial Firefighting conference in San Diego, March 22, 2022. Photo by Bill Gabbert.

During Mr. Tyler’s first interview after becoming Director March 4, he told Fire Aviation two weeks later that it looked like the incorporation of the C-130s into their fleet might be pushed back to 2024 due the pandemic/endemic and supply chain issues. This was in spite of the agency’s efforts in attempting to facilitate movement of the project. In the CBS interview this week he generally confirmed the 2024 timeline, but also maintained hope that one or more would be in service before 2024.

Below is the CBS Bay Area interview with Mr. Tyler.

The U.S. Air Force was directed by Congress in December 2013 to perform  maintenance on the seven aircraft and convert them to air tankers. At that time they were given $130 million for the project. In 2018 Congress appropriated an additional $20 million, bringing the total cost to $150 million. It has now been 3,066 days since the process started.

New CAL FIRE Director said they may bring on up to 10 more helicopters

Joe Tyler, in his first interview since becoming Director March 4

In his first interview since he started as the new Director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Joe Tyler told Fire Aviation on Wednesday that the state of California may have up to 10 additional firefighting helicopters in 2022 to assist firefighters on the ground.

Director Tyler said the current approved budget enables CAL FIRE to issue 120-day exclusive use contracts, based on fire potential, for up to three large air tankers, eight Type 1 helicopters, two Type 2 helicopters, and two lead planes. That budget authority lasts until the end of the fiscal year on June 30, 2022 and the Director’s staff is working on implementing the option now. The Governor’s proposed budget for the following fiscal year beginning July 1, 2022 includes exclusive use contract funding over the next three years for 10 Type 1 helicopters, but that budget has not yet been passed by the legislature.

CAL FIRE also has access to a San Diego County Type one helicopter through a cooperative agreement.

These numbers are in addition to the 10 helicopters already operated by CAL FIRE.

Director Tyler told Fire Aviation that he was offered the Director position on March 3 and he started the next day. He is overseeing an appropriated budget of $3.7 billion and more than 9,600 civilian and uniformed staff who responded to more than half a million emergencies in 2021. His predecessor, Thom Porter, retired in December.

CAL FIRE Director Joe Tyler
CAL FIRE Director Joe Tyler making the keynote address at the Aerial Firefighting conference in San Diego, March 22, 2022. Photo by Bill Gabbert.

Director Tyler is a 31-year veteran of CAL FIRE and most recently served as the Deputy Director of Fire Protection, overseeing statewide fire protection operations and cooperative fire protection. He began his career with CAL FIRE in 1991 working in several counties and programs throughout California and has an extensive background in executive level operations and programs. Prior to his appointment as Deputy Director, Tyler served as the Assistant Deputy Director of Fire Protection with oversight of law enforcement/civil cost recovery, fire protection operations, aviation management, tactical air operations, and mobile equipment.

“It is my commitment to take care of our people,” Director Tyler said in the interview Wednesday. “The health and wellness of the people who work for us are of utmost importance. As I have said to our people, they are our greatest asset.”

Director Tyler said the incorporation of the seven former Coast Guard C-130 aircraft into the state’s air tanker fleet might be pushed back to 2024 due the pandemic/endemic and supply chain issues. This is in spite of the agency’s efforts in attempting to facilitate movement in the project. He said they had hoped to see some of the C-130s flying on fires this year. CAL FIRE is working with the Coast Guard, the Air Force, and the contractor who will install the retardant delivery system, Coulson Aviation.

“We have working groups that meet weekly between those groups to determine where we are at in status and we have executive steering committees that meet quarterly,” the Director said. “The last update that was just given to us in this last month, was that Coulson Aviation working with the United States Air Force and their engineers were going through the preliminary design review of the retardant delivery system and things were looking good to be able to continue to move forward.”

C-130 air tanker brought to Ramona for crew training

Air Tanker 118 training Ramona, California fire airtanker
Tanker 118, during training flights at Ramona, CA February, 2022. Photo by Ryan Grothe.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection brought air tanker 118, a C-130, to the airport at Ramona, California last week. Ryan Grothe who shot these photos said, “They conducted training flights in the area, including some touch and goes on the runway and pattern work.”

The seven Coast Guard C-130s will not be officially transferred to CAL FIRE until all of the maintenance and conversion to air tankers is complete, or close to it. That is expected to happen in 2023. No retardant delivery systems have been installed in any of the aircraft. Some of them may still need depot level maintenance.

Air Tanker 118 training Ramona, California fire airtanker
Tanker 118, during training flights at Ramona, CA February, 2022. Photo by Ryan Grothe.

Mr. Grothe said one of the C-130s is expected to be based at Ramona.

The relatively short runway restricts which types of aircraft can use the facilities at Ramona. When the U.S. Navy built the airport in 1945 as an emergency landing field it was only 4,000 feet long and remained that length well after it was conveyed to the County of San Diego in 1956.

CAL FIRE established an Air Attack Base there in 1957 and the U.S. Forest Service followed three years later.

Air Tanker 118 training Ramona, California fire airtanker
Tanker 118, during training flights at Ramona, CA February, 2022. Photo by Ryan Grothe.

In 2002 the runway was lengthened to 5,001 feet but it is difficult for most large air tankers and impossible for very large air tankers to work at the base.

In August of 2019 one of Coulson’s C-130s under contract to CAL FIRE was spotted at Ramona.

Air Tanker 118 training Ramona, California fire airtanker
Tanker 118, during training flights at Ramona, CA February, 2022. Photo by Ryan Grothe.
Air Tanker 118 training Ramona, California fire airtanker
Tanker 118, parked during training flights at Ramona, CA February, 2022. Photo by Ryan Grothe. Two S-2Ts were also there, Tankers 71 and 88.

C-130 designated for CAL FIRE stops by McClellan, stripped of paint

Coast Guard number 1714

Former Coast Guard C-130, 1714
Former Coast Guard HC-130H, 1714, at McClellan, Nov. 17, 2021. Tanker 118 is behind it. Photo by Mike McKeig.

One of the seven Coast Guard HC-130Hs that may eventually be transferred to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), Coast Guard number 1714, returned to Sacramento McClellan Airport this month. The last time it was seen there was quite some time ago when it was still in Coast Guard livery. When it flew in from Ogden, UT on November 2 it had been stripped of paint. It is likely that the aircraft had been under the care of the 309th Aircraft Maintenance Group at Ogden Air Logistics Complex at Hill Air Force Base.

Mike McKeig got a photo of 1714 at the end of an engine run on November 17, two days before it departed for Roswell, New Mexico.

If the Air Force completes the maintenance and conversion into air tankers as Congress required in legislation passed December 20, 2013, the seven Coast Guard HC-130H aircraft will be transferred to CAL FIRE. They were originally destined for the U.S. Forest Service to be government-owned and privately-operated. But oddly, the agency lost interest and now they will be regifted to CAL FIRE if the Air Force follows through as required. Actually, all seven are still property of the Coast Guard and won’t be transferred over until all of the work is done. In the meantime, CAL FIRE is using at least one to train crews. At news conferences they take every opportunity to have one with the new CAL FIRE livery featured prominently in the background.

More FireHawks nearing completion in Colorado

For Ventura County and CAL FIRE

CAL FIRE helicopter Firehawk, Moffett, S-70i, N477DF
CAL FIRE Firehawk, Moffett, S-70i, N477DF. Photo by Skippyscage at Centennial Airport, Englewood, CO, April 14, 2021.

Skippyscage sent us photos of more Blackhawk helicopters that appear to be nearing completion at United Rotorcraft in Englewood, Colorado.

The CAL FIRE helicopter above, Helicopter 106, N477DF, is stenciled with “Moffett”, and may be destined for Moffett Field in California.

On April 12 we had a photo of Ventura County’s Helicopter 5 in flight shot by Barbara S. Hoversten near Centennial Airport in Englewood, Colorado. Below is one more.

Ventura County helicopter Firehawk N60VC
Ventura County, HH-60L, N60VC. Photo by Skippyscage at Centennial Airport, Englewood, CO, March 5, 2021

The 12 Sikorsky S-70i helicopters that CAL FIRE has purchased are brand new, straight from the factory. They are being accessorized by United Rotorcraft with navigation and communication systems, cabin interiors, higher landing gear, and a 1,000 gallon external fixed water tank with a retractable snorkel system for fighting fire.

Similar work is being done on the two Ventura County aircraft seen here which will be delivered in Southern California. They are former military HH-60L Blackhawks originally configured by United Rotorcraft as dedicated MEDEVAC helicopters with medical equipment and patient litter systems, some of which is being repurposed in the new FIREHAWK configuration.

Ventura County, HH-60L, N70VC helicopter Firehawk
Ventura County, HH-60L, N70VC. Photo by Skippyscage at Centennial Airport, Englewood, CO, April 14, 2021.

Dennis Brown, CAL FIRE’s Senior Chief of Aviation, to retire

Dennis Brown, CAL FIRE Senior Chief of Aviation
Dennis Brown, CAL FIRE Senior Chief of Aviation, at the HAI conference in Anaheim, California, January 28, 2020. Photo by Bill Gabbert.

Dennis Brown, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s Senior Chief of Aviation, has worked in wildland fire longer than most people in the agency have been alive. But he is about to move on.

“We’re going to be advertising for a new Senior Chief of Aviation because I will be retiring April 30,” the Chief told Fire Aviation.

“Last fire season was my 50th fire season, so I’m ready to retire and spend some time with my wife,” the Chief said. “It’s a tough decision, you know, I love what I do and I’m proud of our program. We have a great team that’s going to keep it going.”

Chief Brown began his career in wildland fire with the U.S. Forest Service in 1971 and served as Firefighter, working his way up to Regional Aviation Safety Officer for the agency’s California Region (Region 5). In 2009 he started working with CAL FIRE as a pilot and will retire as the Senior Chief of Aviation.

Congratulations Chief Brown.