Cal Fire Aircraft Fleet - Folks thinkin that aircraft are NOT maintained in ANYONES book have got another thing coming. What would those folks (uninitiated in the land management agencies) think those aircraft were just serviced by your local Chevy or Ford dealer?
Think again CAL FIRE’s current support contractors are DynCorp and Logistics Specialties Incorporated (LSI). DynCorp provides airtanker and airtactical plane pilot services, and all aircraft maintenance services. (All CAL FIRE helicopters are flown by CAL FIRE pilots.) LSI provides procurement and parts management services.
Cal Fire Aircraft Fleet
The average annual budget of the CAL FIRE Aviation Management Program is nearly $20 million. A total of 18 CAL FIRE personnel oversee the program with an additional 130 contract employees providing mechanical, pilot and management services to the program.
While looking up information about the Aerial Firefighting International Show and Conference that will be held at McClellan Airfield at Sacramento in January, I ran across this Google Maps photo of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection aviation maintenance facility at McClellan.
It must have been taken during a shoulder season and shows approximately two-thirds of the air tankers and air tactical aircraft that Cal Fire operates. The agency has a total of 23 S-2T 1,200-gallon air tankers, 14 OV-10A air tactical twin-engine fixed wing aircraft, and 11 UH-1H Super Huey helicopters.
In his 11 and half years with Cal Fire and nearly 40 years with the U.S. Forest Service, Cal Fire’s Senior Chief of Aviation Dennis Brown knows when the conditions are right for another hectic fire season.
Brown said they are also training pilots to fly several of the new, specially-modified S70-i Firehawks, which are double the size of their longstanding UH-1H, or Huey, helicopters and will replace 12 of the Vietnam-era aircraft by 2022 .
The California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection, commonly known as Cal-Fire, has one of the largest fleet of firefighting aircraft in the world, with over 50 craft strategically placed at 12 airbases and 10 helicopter bases.
“We’ll have 23 Grumman S-2 air tankers. Those are our 1,200-gallon air tankers at our 12 air attack bases,” Brown explained. “We have a 16th OV-10. That aircraft will be going to the paint shop. It will be going to Fresno.”
The helicopters can carry up to 12 firefighters and can store up to 1,000 gallons of water or fire-retardant, compared to the Hueys’ 320 gallons. They are also equipped with exterior cables for rescues and a snorkel system that can suck up 1,000 gallons of water in less than a minute.
Cal Fire’s Lockheed C-130 program is currently on pause. Brown said this is because they are struggling with meeting the requirements of the National Defense Authorization Act by the U.S. Air Force and getting the 4,000-gallon tanks installed on the aircraft.
cal fire aircraft types, cal fire airplanes, cal fire helicopters, cal fire air tanker fleet, cal fire air bases, cal fire air operations, cal fire helicopter fleet, cal fire tanker bases