Chico Air Attack Firefighting base on high-alert

[olroy2044]

Due to the worst drought on record here in the north valley, fire-fighting agencies are expecting a very severe fire season.  CalFire (the former Calif. Division of Forestry) maintains an Air Attack base here in Chico are on 5 minute status whenever flying conditions allow. Two bombers and a spotter plane are assigned here for the season.

This old warhorse, a Douglas DC-7, is ready to go--boarding ladder in place, hatches open and fire extinguisher handy for engine start-up  I live about 10 miles from the field, and I can hear the thunder from those Wright R3350 Turbo Compound engines from my home when they run them up every morning.  3250 horsepower apiece makes a LOT of noise!



Partnered up with the big Douglas is this Grumman S2T, a re-engined S2E Tracker sub chaser obtained from the US Navy.  The radial piston engines have been replaced by turbo-props, greatly increasing its performance and reliability, but costing it some of its charm-----kinda like film and digital



Both pics as shot with the exception of leveling the horizon in GIMP.

The spotter plane, a Rockwell Bronco, was not visible, hiding behind some other aircraft.

Noise or not, we are very glad to have these aircraft and their crews near-by!!

[mickeyobe]

Jul 20, 2015 19:05:59 GMT -5 olroy2044 said:

Due to the worst drought on record here in the north valley, fire-fighting agencies are expecting a very severe fire season.  CalFire (the former Calif. Division of Forestry) maintains an Air Attack base here in Chico are on 5 minute status whenever flying conditions allow. Two bombers and a spotter plane are assigned here for the season.

Roy,

Pardon my ignorance about airplanes.
Are any of those the kind that scoop up water (while in the air) and then drop it where needed?

I think they are called water bombers.

Mickey

P.S.  Please note green addition.

[Deleted]

Sometimes they use a DC-10 up in our area to dump on fires. That's a really big plane (jet) down that close to the ground.

W.

[olroy2044]

Mickey: Neither of these aircraft have the water-scooping capability. These return to base to refill with retardant which is used in most cases instead of water. Firefighting helos use huge buckets to scoop up water and drop on fires, like this one used several years ago when the valley and mountains were ablaze.



The lakes and ponds in this area are so low, if not dry, that the water-scooping fixed wings find it very difficult and extremely dangerous to operate. A Canadian company builds a very effective airplane of that type.

Wayne: The DC-10 is used around here also when it can get in where the fire is. It is so big that it cannot operate in the rugged canyons of this area. When terrain permits, it can drop a LOT of retardant in a hurry.

The drought conditions not only create extreme fire danger, but also handicap firefighting efforts