Article - Cal Fire - October 2019

The Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
"Cal Fire" - October 2019

‘Cal Fire’, or to give it the full name, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. You may be wondering why a website that focuses upon the active, and some of the preserved, aircraft of Air Forces, Armies and Navies of this world has an article on firefighting. Well, it is run with a similar efficiency and precision; not surprising as many of its staff, particularly pilots, are ex-military but the equipment it flies is largely ex-military and therefore of interest.

Whilst I want to focus on the flying side of Cal Fire, it is worth just touching upon its roots and its wider remit. Needless to say, it is an organisation that evolved. Its roots go back to 1885, when the California State established it. This was on the back of a growing movement to safeguard the State’s forest lands not just from fire but unrestricted cutting. It was the beginning of a view held that such natural assets should be protected for future generations. However, it was wound up a couple of years later (commercial pressures one suspects) but was re-established in 1905. Whilst there may have been thoughts about forest land being made available for recreational use and some of the States now well known parks, such as Yosemite, were being established, this was primarily about conservation, sound management of cutting, and fire protection. Putting out fires is not just about conservation of an asset and environmental protection; fire on forested hillsides will mean that when the rains do come they flow unchecked straight onto the agricultural plains causing devastation to crops.

That Act of 1905 enabled the various counties to appoint local fire wardens and maintain a fire patrol at times of heightened risk. For many years, the methods of fire suppression were ground based – from lookouts, fire stations and equipment. It was in 1943 that the foundation of a more rigorous system was laid when the State agreed to meet emergency firefighting costs and pay the salaries of the full time and seasonal employees concerned with fire protection in the forests and wildlands. That guaranteed funding made it possible for a more professional service to emerge to look after the 31 million acres of forest and wildlands. (To give some scale to that it is an area of approximately half the size of the UK!).

The idea of using aircraft to help in fire suppression first emerged in 1931 when crop sprayers were used to help fight brush fires and that occasional but restricted use continued through to the early fifties. By then it became clear there was a potential for aerial firefighting and surplus war equipment was tried. The service used, through contracts, a converted B-17 Flying Fortress, a Consolidated Catalina and several Grumman F7F Bearcats. The primary aerial fire-fighting asset, however, came to be the Grumman TBM Avenger, which continued in service for many years in that role.

By 1970 the Grumman S-2 Tracker was being looked at. Surplus Navy stocks meant many were available and their load carrying capability, together with twin engine reliability, made for a more effective and safer operation. In the early seventies they came on stream allowing the service to replace the 14 TBM’s they still used.

Cal Fire acquired 55 S-2’s and, so sound was the platform, in the 1990’s one of those A models was upgraded to the turbine T model we know today. The success of that conversion led to the acquisition of the larger and more modern S-2E/G Trackers, 26 of which were bought in 1996 and, over the next few years, converted to turbine power (two Garrett TPE-331 GR turboprop engines). These S-2T’s, 22 of which are in service, can carry 1,200 gallons of fire retardant at speeds in excess of 200 knots to where they are needed.

However good, however effective, these airtankers are, they cannot work alone. They do not cruise the skies looking for fires. Aside from the ground-based personnel, lookouts, firefighters on the ground dealing with fires, etc, Cal Fire uses what they refer to as a tactical aircraft to spot and help direct aerial operations. Initially they had used single engine , but powerful, Cessna 182 and 210 models but, as with the modernisation to the S-2 in the 1970’s, so there was a tactical upgrade and great use was made of surplus USAF Cessna O-2, with the twin engine adding a greater measure of safety but also improving the capability to loiter and direct operations. Twenty were selected from the storage facility at Davis Monthan and taken to Fresno for reassembly. They came into service in 1976 and remained so for twenty years. They were superseded by the twin turbine North American OV-10 Bronco, which had become surplus to U S Marine Corps requirements. Cal Fire acquired 16 of them in 1993 and still operates 13 today. Whilst I was at the Cal Fire Sacramento base, another OV-10, one that had been in USAF service, was there, completely stripped down with work that will take many months going on to bring it into service. These aircraft are very useful to the service. One of the pilots I spoke to who flies these Broncos was really enthusiastic about it; its speed to get to where it is needed, its loiter capability and the view from inside, all of which help to ensure the fire-fighting load is delivered where it is needed with pin-point accuracy.

There is also the helicopter fleet. The helicopter has the advantage of being able to transport some firefighters and their equipment to more remote areas quickly. A mixture of types were used from the mid ‘60s’ (Bell47, 206, the FH1100 and also some Alouettes). The helicopters were deployed to six bases and the Bell206 Jetranger was the primary tool. They played an increasingly useful role but there were limitations on what they could do and there were a number of accidents. This led Cal Fire to decide, in 1981 to bring the operation ‘in house’. In 1978 they had used three contractor owned Bell205, helicopters with a much greater load carrying capability than the 206, more rugged and generally, more versatile. It was almost inevitable that in forming their own fleet, they acquired, leased, 12 surplus military Bell UH1F. Apart from taking up to six firefighters to the scene or extracting them, the Huey’s were able to help in the fight. Initially they used a water bucket, refilling from the nearest lake or river, but in the mid ‘80s’ used a 324 gallon ‘Bambi Bucket’. These Buckets were fine over forests and some brushland fires but had not the precision better suited to populated areas and fixed tanks were later installed.

The lease of the Huey’s expired in 1991 and, due to their success, Cal Fire took the opportunity to acquire the larger, more powerful, more robust H model, a number of which the Army had declared surplus and made available to the US Fire Service generally.

Cal Fire has heavily modified their Huey’s. They have a more powerful engine, transmission and rotor system. To help accommodate that, the tail rotor and boom have been strengthened and these ‘Super Huey’s’ are now ideally suited to the hot and high conditions in which they will be called upon to operate. Twelve are in service.

What does the future hold? Cal Fire is already working on using surplus US Army UH-60’s as a replacement for the Super Huey’s and, when they become available, they will bring a considerable increase in load carrying, whether that be firefighters or retardant. Cal Fire has contracted for access to the ’10 Tanker Air Carrier’ DC-10’s. It is also exploring the acquisition and conversion of surplus C-130 aircraft to tackle some of the larger fires. Such aircraft would provide a quantum leap in the amount of retardant that could be carried and is evidence of the far sightedness of the planners. Just looking at the past few years, where the 5-year average number of fires had been 4,835 with some 200,000 acres affected, specifically the figures for 2016 through to 2018 were :-

2016 4,785 fires 244,000 acres

2017 7,117 fires 506,000 acres

2018 6,284 fires 876,000 acres

Forecasting is not easy but plans have to be based on the evidence available and it clearly shows that the number of fires has increased but, more importantly, the area affected has grown considerably and far greater capacity will be needed to address the fires if they continue in the way they have in recent years. That thought has already been given, that things are being done, must be of some comfort to those who live in California (and there must be people living in other parts of the world who would dearly like the authorities in their country to get better organised at dealing with this sort of increasingly recurrent problem).

If you find yourself at or near one of the airfields they use, such as McLellan, near Sacramento, or Hemet-Ryan, near Riverside, if it is not in the middle of the firefighting season, call in, ask if someone can show you around or make an appointment. You will learn far more and all of those who I met were full of knowledge and of enthusiasm for the work Cal Fire is doing.

With thanks to Justin McGough, Batallion Chief and his colleagues at Hemet-Ryan Air Attack Base, and to Tim S Huber, Aviation Officer II (M), and his colleagues at McLellan for being so welcoming and inspiring me to write something about the work of Cal Fire.

Author Peter Nelson

Photography Peter Nelson & Mark Forest