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.
Tanker 89 drops on the Still Fire, Aug. 27, 2022. Still image from CAL FIRE video.
CAL FIRE posted a video online of one of their S-2T air tankers, T-89, dropping retardant on the Still Fire August 27 in Northern California. This is the first time we have been aware of video footage shot from an S-2T during a drop.
The audio is very loud in the video below.
Video from today’s Still Fire in Nevada County . Fire now 80% contained. Video from Cal Fire tanker 89. pic.twitter.com/x4FUJ14PmK
— CAL FIRE Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit (@CALFIRENEU) August 28, 2022
We have posted videos shot from other tankers as they dropped, but they are most often filmed from the cockpit looking forward, such as from a Single Engine Air tanker and MAFFS. There are also videos shot from outside a C-130 and an RJ-85 looking to the rear as the drops were made.
The Still Fire, between Grass Valley and Auburn, burned 44 acres August 27, 2022 before the spread was stopped by firefighters on the ground and in the air.
Map showing the location of the Still Fire.CAL FIRE S2Ts, including T-89, at McClellan AFB March 17, 2014. Photo by Bill Gabbert.
Abbie Crews, an air tanker pilot who flies S-2T tankers out of Grass Valley, California. Still image from Blancolirio video, August 2022.
One of Juan Browne’s recent Blancolirio aviation videos features Abbie Crews, one of the few female firefighting air tanker pilots. Before she was hired to pilot CAL FIRE’s S-2Ts out of Grass Valley, California she graduated from the Air Force Academy and flew MC12s and C-17s.
Ms. Crews gives us a very thorough and interesting tour of the S-2T.
CAL FIRE contracts with Amentum, which purchased DynCorp in 2020, for the operation and maintenance of the air tankers. The company also maintains CAL FIRE’s helicopters, but the copter pilots are CAL FIRE employees.
S2T precision drop by T-72, Border #19 fire, June 24, 2022.
Check out the video below of a precision retardant drop by Tanker 72, an S2T, a CAL FIRE air tanker based in Southern California. It occurred in very difficult terrain on the Border #19 wildfire near the US/Mexico border June 24, 2022. The video was shot by the FIRIS intelligence-gathering aircraft.
Aircraft on the one-acre Dixie Fire in Butte County, California July 13, 2021. Photo by CAL FIRE.
These photos were taken by CAL FIRE on the one-acre Dixie Fire in Butte County, California July 13, 2021. This fire is not to be confused with the Dixie Fire in Idaho that has burned over 19,000 acres. (UPDATE at 7:47 a.m. PDT July 14, 2021: on Tuesday the fire’s spread had been stopped for a while at one acre. That evening it took off and grew to about 60 acres and was very active again later in the day.)
An S2T drops on the one-acre Dixie Fire in Butte County, California July 13, 2021. Photo by CAL FIRE.Firehawk refills with water on the one-acre Dixie Fire in Butte County, California July 13, 2021. Photo by CAL FIRE.
“Made the difference between success and failure on a devastating wildfire”
The 747, T-944, drops near Santiago Peak August 8, 2018 on the Holy Fire in Southern California. Credit: Evver G. Photography
The article below is written by Jim Barnes, a former pilot of CAL FIRE S-2T air tankers.
It is a low-down dirty shame that the decision was made to cancel the 747 Super Tanker this fire season. Especially in the light of another potentially catastrophic fire season for our western states ahead of us. Some-how we never seem to heed the hard learned lessons of the past. The failure to be prepared is to prepare to fail. The 747 is not cheep for sure but the great work and many great saves it has made cannot be measured merely in dollars but potentially in the lives and property that might be lost by not having that capability.
In the week before I retired from tanker flying, I was relieving in Grass Valley. I woke up in a motel room just before daylight and flicked on the television on the way to the bathroom. I was shocked to learn that several fires were burning in the Grass Valley and Nevada City area. It was hot and it was windy so I got dressed, threw my s*** into my car and headed for the base with a short stop at Jack in the Box for of one of their delicious breakfasts.
When I got to the base it was still dark and I was the only one there. Looking out toward the city you could see the orange glow. I started pre-flighting with my flashlight when the base pilot, Colin Rogers showed up. He was soon followed by the Chief and his Air Attack Pilot who ran out to the OV-10, kicked the tires and blasted off toward the fire. Within minutes he called for both tankers to respond. Colon took the lead and I taxied into position to do a section go. Colon started his roll and within seconds aborted takeoff because of a mechanical problem. That put me first in.
The Chief wanted me to start a protective line in front of a house at the top of a steep hillside. The wind was terrible so I used two wingspans for correction. That wasn’t enough and the entire load was blown down into the canyon. On the way back to base I heard tanker 88 checking in with Air Attack. His mechanical problem was fixed and Colon was back in the hunt. I briefed him on the effect of the wind as we crossed paths. On my way back out I heard Colon in tanker 88 calling the tanker base.
“We better get prepared to operate eight tankers out of Grass Valley all day long.”
But we never saw any more S-2s at our fire. They were already committed to project fires all over the state like the one that was devastating Santa Rosa. We did get one C-130 out of Chico and he did a great job but because he was in Chico his longer turn arounds gave us about two drops an hour.
So, we had two S-2Ts hot lapping making about 13-minute turnarounds, all the helicopters and ground forces that they could muster and the fire was still outproducing us badly. The fire now posed an imminent threat to several communities, including Grass Valley and Nevada City. One residential area was about to be over burned which would have resulted in catastrophic losses.
Somehow CAL FIRE got a hold of the 747 Very Large Air Tanker. Air Attack assigned him the job of picking up an entire flank that was about to impinge on homes, a school and businesses. Without the aid of a lead plane the 747 lined up on the target, made a perfect drop and covered the entire flank with a massive load of retardant. We never saw him again for the rest of the day but that one drop made the difference between success and failure on a devastating wildfire. We will never know what would have happened had he not been there. Unfortunately for our Citizens and Firefighters we may find out this year. My prediction is that when the s*** hits the fan the powers that are will be scrambling to get the 747 back on contract. I have seen this story play out many times in my thirty-five years of aerial firefighting. Damn, I’m sure tired of being right.
To see all articles on Fire Aviation written by Jim Barnes, click here.
The FAA in their very brief preliminary information about the incident said the landing gear on the S-2T air tanker collapsed as it was landing at the airport near Fortuna 15 miles south of Eureka. The FAA described the damage as “minor”.
A recording of radio traffic from the incident posted on the Redheaded Blackbelt website included this:
Tanker 96 hit the ground. Left tire is popped. Like to request Fortuna Fire Department. Additionally, Tanker 96 is off the end of the runway. Currently out of service.
Six minutes later when Rohnerville Fire Department was called out, the dispatcher said it was “non injury”.
We will update this article after CAL FIRE releases information.
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Bean. Typos or errors, report them HERE.
This is a new-to-them HH-60L Blackhawk operated by the Ventura County Fire Department.
Jay Widdows sent us these photos he shot June 10 on the Elizabeth Fire north of the city of Ventura in southern California. The fire burned 289 acres. Thanks Jay!
Bell 205A-1, Coastal Helicopters.This photo by the Ventura County FD is included here to provide a glimpse of the terrain and vegetation.Los Angeles County Firehawk.T-137, a B-737.CAL FIRE’s Air Tanker 78, an S2-TA Ventura County Fire Department EH-1H.
