DC-10 Fire Tanker Joins the Fight Against SoCal Blazes; Supertanker 747 Remains Unemployed

Image from KNBC-TV video of Tanker 910 at work over Southern California, October 22, 2007

Have you ever seen a Japanese monster movie? There's usually a scene that looks something like this: As a giant beast wreaks mayhem in Tokyo, the city is ablaze. It seems all hope is lost, until, just at the last moment, Tokyo's beleaguered citizens see their savior approaching on the horizon. Maybe it's Godzilla, or Ultraman, or Johnny Sokko's Giant Robot, but either way, everyone knows that the tide of the battle is about to take a turn for the better.

Sans monsters, a scene much like that will likely be replayed several times today in Southern California, as the area's firefighters deploy their most powerful weapon in an effort to bring a series of massive wildfires under control.  With more than 500,000 people evacuated from their homes and 240,000 acres ablaze from Orange County to the Mexican border, Tanker 910 -- a DC-10 widebody jet that's been converted into a supersized water bomber -- is back in action.

Gusting Santa Ana winds kept Tanker 910 grounded until last night, but now that the winds have abated, the big tanker is hard at work. Telstar Logistics has written extensively about Tanker 910 before -- our technical introduction is here, and there's some video of it in action over Silicon Valley here -- but for those just tuning in, these are the basics: From its base at Victorville, Tanker 910 can take to the skies carrying up to 12,000 gallons of fire retardant. Once over a blaze, the aircraft can drop its entire load in eight seconds, spreading a line of retardant 300 feet wide and a mile long. Here's a brand-new video of Tanker 910 doing what it does best:

If the aircraft's recent track record is any guide, it will likely save hundreds of homes in the hours and days ahead. But when the flames are finally out, we expect some controversy to follow.  Here's why:

Until now, the US Forest Service has declined to sign on as a customer for Tanker 910s services.  (The aircraft is currently rented out by CalFire, the state's firefighting agency.) Citing safety risks associated with the age of the DC-10 airframe, the feds have been taking a wait-and-see approach to the aircraft's effectiveness.  As reported in the Victorville Daily Press on September 12, 2007:

Federal officials are cautious, citing safety concerns and the plane’s age. Still, the tanker is making a difference on state fires. While it is but one tool in the state agency’s arsenal, officials are enthusiastic about its effectiveness.

“You can’t argue with the facts,” said Mike Padilla, CAL FIRE’s aviation chief. “It’s been used on over 10 fires in California last year and this year, and when it’s been used, I think the record shows it’s been very effective.”

It landed in Victorville Wednesday, capping off two weeks of work on several fires around the state. An examination of the largest fires this year raises questions about the effectiveness of U.S. Forest Service efforts as opposed to the efforts of the state agency CAL FIRE. Although the state agency certified the tanker in 2006, the U.S. Forest Service has still not done so.

Worse, the US Forest Service's jitters and red tape have effectively killed an even bigger firefighting aircraft, a Boeing 747 Supertanker that was converted into a water-bomber capable of dropping 24,000 gallons of retardant -- twice as much as even Tanker 910. Here's a video of the 747 Supertanker making a test drop:

After the feds declined to sign on as a customer for the 747, Evergreen effectively shut down the Supertanker program earlier this year. So while Southern California burns, the most powerful firefighting tool in the world may be gathering dust just a few hundred miles away. CORRECTION: The Evergreen 747 Supertanker has been converted back for use as a freighter — but it retains its firefighting paint job. Here's how the Supertanker looked on September  1, 2007 while hauling freight in Ireland:

When the flames are finally out in Southern California, Telstar Logistics hopes there will be a lot of tough questions asked about how well the federal government's policy toward Tanker 910 and the 747 Supertanker serves the interests of California's citizens. The mainstream media has taken notice before. Will they do so again?

UPDATE: 24 October, 2007
The Orange County Register published an editorial on October 23, sharply criticizing the US Forest Service bureaucracy for failing to certify Tanker 910. The OCR writes: "It would be nice to have more such planes available, don't you think? If the federal government had had its way, even [Tanker 910] almost certainly wouldn't be flying this week."

Meanwhile, to get a sense of how vital the DC-10 tanker has become to California's firefighting effort, check out this scene from the state's command center, as reported by the Los Angeles Times:

Over the course of just a few minutes, [Bob Green, chief of operations for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection] gets a call telling him about a fire racing up San Onofre Peak, near the nuclear power plant. He gets word that Mt. Palomar is burning. Two other fires have erupted at Camp Pendleton.

"Bob, is there any way of getting that DC-10 for a few drops here?" an exasperated commander at the Harris fire in San Diego County asks in a conference call.

Green thinks.

"It's making drops in Lake Arrowhead," he says. "We have two DC-7s that could help you out. I can put it together in 30 minutes."

Other field commanders working at least 15 active fires throughout Southern California call in, begging for the massive DC-10 supertanker -- the biggest firefighting aircraft in the state, capable of dropping 12,000 gallons of fire retardant. Firefighters are exhausted, they tell Green, and it's affecting their ability to make decisions.

UPDATE, 26 October, 2007
On the bright side, NASA has effectively joined forced with the FAA and the US Forest Service to field a civilian version of the Predator B drone over Southern California where the aircraft is being use to locate fire hotspots.  Read all about it at our new post" Ultimate Mashup: NASA's Predator UAV and Google Earth Join Forces to Fight Fires in California

LINKS:
DC-10 Drop on Arrowhead Fire (KNBC-TV video of Tanker 910 at work on October 22, 2007)

Tanker 910 (Wikipedia page)

Evergreen Supertanker (Official website of Evergreen International Aviation)

No Help From Above: Firefighting supertanker put on cargo duty (Boise Weekly, August 8, 2007)

PREVIOUSLY:
DC-10 Airliner Attacks Big California Wildfires

UPDATE: DC-10 Water Bomber Saves Cupertino (and iPhones, iPods)

Comments

[quake]

Incredible video of that tanker drop. I hope this convinces the Forest Service to rent some big planes. Next up... the A380 Super Duper Tanker!
I was wondering what all those tanks were for..
http://flickr.com/photos/telstar/1485292041/

[Matt]

Use the equipment - put the DANG fire OUT - what does it take to go DUH?

See it need it want it use it go for it - it is just that simple

a retired USCG CPO

[JL]

This really is reprehensible, when you're talking about life and limb of firefighters who certainly didn't get into their chosen fields of work for the high pay and easy duty. When I was 16 I spent a summer working in the federal CETA program at a CDF station in Twain Harte in Tuolumne County, mainly washing the trucks and hoses. It was a joy to scrub the crusted Borade off of the engines because I'd witnessed their return from a few horrendous forest fires and them covered with it too, explaining they'd have been toast if not for an air drop directly on the hot side of their position.
I live in San Diego now, luckily not in the danger zone. If this is about money, find it and fund it, dammit. If it's about the airframe, go pull a half dozen C-17's with the fewest hours and equip them. If Congress can find it within themselves to sneak $1 million for a museum for Woodstock on a bill,they can empower us to put out wildfires.
I suspect this is from the environmentalist faction of the USFS, who believe we have disturbed the natural burn process and actually want the fires to burn, humans be damned.
Where do YOU live.

[Ed Nemechek]

ALSO, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher is investigating this CALIFORNIA BURNING mess and we should call our congressmen and urge them to support Dana in this effort as we unfortunatly have to FORCE the US Forest Service and now apparently Cal Fire to do their job of PUTTING THESE FIRES OUT in the BEGINNING of the fire. If the DC 10 had been called in at the start, this holocaust couldnt have happened wind or no wind. We have to STOP THE BIG BUCKS BUREAUCRATS who are deliberately aiding and abetting these fires for over 12 years. Its either them or us, and the choice should not be difficult. We should call our congressmen and urge them to support Dana Rohrabacher in his investigation of this treason against our state and to FORCE the USFS to use the DC 10 type aircraft on federal land in the BEGINNING of the fire. Call congressmen Jerry Lewis at 1 800 233 1700,and Buck McKeon at 1 800 565 4333, to support Dana, and call Dana at 1 714 960 6483 and encourage him in his great efforts to save our state. Ed Nemechek. 760 246 8059

[Ed Nemechek]

STOP THE FIRES!---(Letter to Editor for publication ) WARNING: Fire season is here, and CalFire (the California firefighting agency) informs me again that the DC-10 Supertanker firefighting aircraft is still classified as “NOT AN INITIAL ATTACK AIRCRAFT “. This still means the DC-10 has not been, and will not be, used at the beginning of fires until all other methods have failed. I think it’s obvious this is a suicidal policy that ALLOWED the wildfire holocausts in southern California in the past when the DC-10 was NOT deployed at the start of the fires, wind or no wind. This policy also appears to be a semi- continuation of the U.S. Forest Service policy, see: JBS.org -search: wildfire, wherein the U.S. Forest Service deliberately refused to use ANY Supertankers for over 12 years during which time scores of people died horribly, including firefighters, and tens of thousands of homes were burned including national defense nuclear facilities. Supertankers could have saved all that destruction but were never called. We must continue to demand that the DC-10, and Boeing- 747 also, be used as initial attack firefighting aircraft, for if we don’t we’ll be condemned to continuous mega-fires this year destroying our lives and homes with the acquiescence of so-called fire officials who apparently think fire is something they can fool around with. We have to compel CalFire and the U.S. Forest Service by public pressure to use the DC-10, and Boeing-747 Supertankers, see: evergreen supertanker (on internet), to put out fires IMMEDIATELY, and more Supertankers should be built. We can’t allow this deliberate carnage to continue! Contact every politician in California, including the Governor, NOW. Just five more Supertanker aircraft can END ALL UNCONTROLLED WILDFIRES IN AMERICA!--Sincerely, Ed Nemechek, P.O. Box-3263, Landers, Ca. 92285. -760-246-8059. -------------------------------------------------------------More info:

For publication, Dear Editor: PUT OUR FIRES OUT AND PREVENT MUDSLIDES ! -- WARNING: WILDFIRE IS A TERRORIST WEAPON (they have said so) and must be stopped. I want to mention that we only have one Supertanker firefighting aircraft in our entire country (the DC-10 in California that can squelch an area of fire of 12 football fields in a single drop of retardant which the U.S. Forest Service refuses to use, see: DC-10 Supertanker (on internet). This policy appears to be a continuation of the scorched earth policy (see: JBS.org (search: wildfire) seemingly employed by the U.S. Forest Service and by their deliberate refusal to use ANY Supertankers for over 12 years (see: waterbomber.org (or: 1-804-240-4065 for the Russian Supertanker fleet that‘s now available and could stop our California fires if called) during which time scores of people died horribly and tens of thousands of homes were burned including national defense nuclear facilities. Supertankers could have saved all that destruction but were never called. We must continue to demand that the DC-10, and Boeing- 747 (twice the capacity of the DC-10) (see: evergreen supertanker (on internet) also, be used as initial attack firefighting aircraft, for if we don’t we’ll be condemned to continuous mega-fires destroying our lives, homes, and country by so-called fire officials who apparently value their paychecks, full employment for firefighting personnel, sweetheart subcontractors, disaster benefits, and profits from deliberately protracted wildfires more than human life or suffering. This is out of control monstrous bureaucracy that has fed off the charred bodies, homes, and national defense facilities of American citizens for over 12 years and we have to compel the U.S. Forest Service and state agencies by public pressure to use the DC-10, and Boeing-747 to put out fires IMMEDIATELY. Building only five more Supertankers would END ALL uncontrolled wildfires in our entire country. We can’t allow this deliberate carnage to continue! Call ALL your state and congressional representatives NOW. -Sincerely, Ed Nemechek, P.O. Box 3263 Landers, Ca. 92285. -760-246-8059.

[Greg Collins]

It is clear to me that we can do much more to aid our citizens
especially to fight fires with aircraft. These fires now, October 14,
2008, here in the hills north of the San Fernando Valley, did not
get anything near the air support needed. This is a hot, angry
fire, and the big DC-10 tanker, the Super-Scoopers, the P-3
tanker and all the other fixed wing fire fitting aircraft seem to
get into action way too late. Much damage has been done, and
these aircraft were desperately needed right away for a very fast
moving fire like this. And the 747 tanker seemed to be in Ireland
or something. These disasters harming our citizens, what if it
was treated like Operation Shock and Awe. What is Homeland
Security doing for us? There should be fleets of aircraft ready to
go during the relatively short be deadly fire season, here in hot,
bone dry, and windy Southern California. I try my best to pray
that terrible disasters like this are fought with the full power of
our government.

[Dennis]

As I watch SoCal burn, again, hoping I donlt have to flee as well I wonder if the Obama administration may look at the 747 program. I hope so as a tax payer it's a big DUH! 24000 is way better than 12000.
Good luck and thanks for looking ahead, some thing that isn't done much anymore.
Dennis

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[Tourism Dissertation]

Blogs are so informative where we get lots of information on any topic. Nice job keep it up!!

[Shower Stalls]

Thats Alotta Water!

[Martin Glenn]

can the supertanker be employed to cool the japanese nuke plant?