Air Tankers and Helos fighting wildfires: private citizen's perspective

Wildland firefighters whether in the air or on the ground do what they do to keep us safe. As you no doubt know, wildfires often occur close to or within the sight line of people's residences. Here are a couple of videos of aerial firefighting shot by private citizens from their property.

The first video was shot in August 2011 of aerial operations over the Warm Springs Fire in Wyoming. I am struck by the commentary of the videographer as she watched the aircraft (two of Neptune's P2-V tankers (10 and 44), a lead plane, and a helo with a bucket working the wildfire near her home. As I was watching the video, I sensed her gratitude. And at the end of the video she expresses her gratitude to the wildland firefighters in the air and on the ground who fought the wildfire. No homes were lost. Read the about this video comments here and click on show more. She thanks the local firefighters from Dubois Wyoming as well as all the non-local ground crews for their work in saving homes. Allow about six minutes to watch the video


Direct link to video

The second video was probably shot early on during the 2013 Rim Fire in California. Much of the video was shot by a homeowner from his roof. At the time the video was shot the Rim Fire had burned about 125,000 acres and was at 5% containment.  The Rim Fire ultimately burned over 257,000 acres in Stanislaus National Forest and Yosemite National Park and was fully contained in mid to late October 2013. I caution readers that you will some profanity early in the video and again towards the end, what I take to be an expression of awe as they watch the DC-10 tanker working the fire.


Direct link to video


I made several posts on the subject of the Rim Fire which you may access here (with the most recent post on the top).