As Massive Wildfires Sweep California, Where is the Biggest Fire Fighting Aircraft?

As you may be aware, it’s wildfire season, and this year, there is a massive wildfire sweeping across California.  Really, this is not all that unusual.  Almost every year, there is a massive fire in some part of the Western US.   They tend to strike different areas, as once they have struck a part of the country, the vegetation is burned up enough to prevent them from occurring again, in the same place, for several years.

Via USA Today:

Calif. wildfire threatens 4,000 homes as flames spread

LOS ANGELES — A fast-growing wildfire along the Pacific Coast Highway northwest of Los Angeles nearly doubled in size Friday and was threatening more than 4,000 homes as crews battled strong winds, tinder-dry conditions and record-breaking temperatures.

The Springs Fire had burned more than 18,000 acres of rugged, brush-covered terrain by late afternoon and was 20% contained, the state’s fire agency reported. Forecasters said that 45-mph wind gusts would taper off and that cooling may begin by evening.

At midday, the temperature hit a record 96 in Camarillo, where the blaze began, about 50 miles north of Los Angeles.

Thousands of residents had already evacuated the Ventura County fire, including 118 families ordered from a premier Navy base because of heavy smoke after flames jumped the scenic highway Friday morning.

The fire began Thursday during the morning rush hour near U.S. 101, which is the major commuter route into Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley. After reaching the coast overnight, the fire headed back inland Friday.

The fire had damaged 15 homes and destroyed at least 25 outbuildings and other property by midday. Large animals and livestock were being taken to the county fairgrounds.

In addition to 4,000 homes, the wildfire was threatening 100 businesses in its southwestern race toward Malibu. Officials said Friday afternoon that the famous beach community was not threatened.

When these fires threaten homes and communities, it’s firefighting aircraft that can be used to make a big impact. Aircraft can rapidly lay down large strips of water or fire retardant. For this reason, they have been the mainstay of wildfire fighting for decades.

Unfortunately, the current fleet of firefighting aircraft is nowhere near as capable or as new as one would hope. In fact, it’s a hodge-podge of new and old aircraft, some dating back to the Second World War. A few are very large aircraft, such as C-130’s, and are capable of dropping large loads of water or retardant, but many are vintage 1940’s flying boats and bombers, with only a few thousand pounds of capacity.

Even the highly capable C-130’s are showing their age. In 1994, a C-130 broke apart in mid flight while fighting forest fires. The aircraft had been an ex-military transport and was long past its prime, having experienced more than its recommended flight hours and been subject to some extremely stressful maneuvers. Last year, two 50+ year old Lockheed P2V’s experienced problems while fighting fires, one of them crashing.

When it comes to fighting fires, there are a few things that are clear:  bigger is always better.  A bigger aircraft can deliver more retardant or water than a smaller one.  If it is big enough, it may even be able to put out a large fire in one pass, without having to return for more water, giving the fire time to grow.   It’s also clear that fire fighting aircraft should be designed to fight fires without exceeding their normal flight characteristics.   And, since aerial firefighting is so demanding, newer aircraft with fewer flight hours are always preferable.

Thankfully, someone stepped up to the plate and built one…

This is the Evergreen Supertanker.   A firefighting aircraft engineered and built by Evergreen Aviation.   It’s a Boeing 747-100, but it’s a lot more than just a jumbo jet with big tanks slapped on.   The Supertanker uses a specially engineered system of tanks and pressurized nozzles to allow it to disperse water or retardant while maintaining a flight profile entirely within the normal margins of a 747 during flight and landing.  With a total capacity of 20,500 US gallons, the supertanker dwarfs most other firefighting aircraft.

The aircraft was manufactured in 1971 but is still well within the typical flight hours for a 747 and has undergone a complete structural inspection.   It has been extensively tested and represents an investment of many millions of dollars in design and construction.

The Supertanker has proved itself highly capable, putting out fires in Israel and Spain.  It has the ability to lay down a strip of fire retardant three miles long (5 km) or can drop its load in segments, putting out hot spots without needing to discharge it all at once.   This capability has proven to be extremely valuable in real world fire fighting.

So where is it?   Is it in California fighting the fires?   If not, why isn’t it?

Unfortunately, I can find no information to indicate the Evergreen Supertanker has actually been deployed to fight these fires.   In fact, it seems that it has not generally been sitting out from most American wild fires.

Last summer, when fires were devastating the state of Colorado, I wrote an E-mail to Evergreen Aviation asking what the status of their aircraft was.   This is the response I received:

Evergreen International Aviation Statement Concerning the Supertanker

We felt compelled to release this statement due to the overwhelming amount of calls we have received concerning the availability of the Evergreen Supertanker. We at Evergreen are saddened by the fire devastation now taking place in many Western US states.

For over 60 years, we have supported the US Forest Service in its important mission to battle and control fires, and it is our desire to continue this rich history of service. While our helicopters continue to work fires for the State of Alaska under State contracts, unfortunately, our Boeing 747 Supertanker Very Large Air Tanker (VLAT) aircraft awaits activation with the US Forest Service.
We have never been told why we have not been activated by the US Forest Service, so we can only speculate as to why we face this outcome:

1. We were offered a Call-When-Needed (CWN) contract a few years ago by the US ForestService (proving our technical viability), but we were never called into action resulting in a multi-million dollar loss to our company as we were required to maintain and have  flight crew available should we be called. The only contract that will sustain a VLAT program is an Exclusive-Use contract, which provides an income stream to sustain the program even if the asset is not utilized. We invested over $50M to develop this asset in the firm belief that we could better control fires as we proved in Israel and Mexico under CWN contracts that we could afford to offer at the time.

2. There have been recent changes to the US Forest Service procurement policies.  Today, only small businesses are eligible for contract awards concerning air tanker assets;  Evergreen is not a small business and, therefore, is excluded from consideration for any  award.

3. The US Forest Service’s specification for Next Generation Air Tanker aircraft limits tank size to 5,000 gallons. The Supertanker’s tanks hold about 20,000 gallons, which is considered outside the USFS specification. The USFS just awarded contracts to four small businesses with aircraft equipped with these smaller tanks, and excluded the
Evergreen Supertanker. Since World War II, tank capacities have been in the 3,000 to 5,000 gallon range, yet we continue to face the growing threat from mega fires today. We believe the Supertanker represents an overwhelming response to this growing threat. Please contact your state representatives in Washington DC to demand an examination of their current procurement policies concerning VLAT aircraft.

The US Forest Service says it best: “Only YOU can prevent wildfires.”
Evergreen International Aviation, Inc. Tel: 503.472.9361 http://www.EvergreenAviation.com

Unfortunately, this seems to still be the case. Despite the fact that the Supertanker was created to satisfy the US Government’s request for next-generation air tankers, it has not been utilized, either because it is too large to meet their out of date specifications or because it is made by a big company and not a small company. (On that note, does anyone know of any little mom and pop shops that make jumbo jets?)

While I realize that this topic is outside the general science-based content of this blog, this kind of boneheaded government policy really kills me.   The aircraft is an excellent fire-fighting asset and we should be using it.   Homes and even lives may be lost because the best aircraft at the government disposal are not being pressed into service.   This will surely also result in greater expenditure for tax payers, both in longer time to contain the fire and greater damage.