About four months ago, I wrote a reflection piece that I called not enough firefighting air tankers and helicopters, see my June 8th article. My resource for that reflection piece is Bill Gabbert’s Fire Aviation website http://fireaviation.com/ , specifically he had written on February 16th: “air takers to be cut by one-third in 2018” He went on to say that the USFS would issue call when needed contracts, which come at an increased coast. I wrote in early June that I was very disturbed by the reduction in USFS exclusive-use large tankers from 20 in 2017 to 13 in 2018, and at that time. the status of whether or not there would be any SEATs on exclusive-use contracts in 2018 was unknown. I am not quite certain but there may not be any SEATs on Exclusive-Use Contracts in 2018. For information on type-2 helicopters exclusive-use contracts see Bill's April 10th article on Fire Avaition. In February 2018, Bill wrote about an increase in unable to fill orders for type-1 helicopters here with a reminder that in 2017 type 1 helicopters on exclusive use contracts were reduced from 34 in 2016 to 28 in 2017. Yes we have the MAFFs, but only eight of them.
I was hoping that there would be some large tankers on call-when-needed contracts to offset the reduction in the number of tankers on exclusive-use contracts. I was upset when I read Bill Gabbert’s October 4th article on Fire Aviation where he reports that “CWN contracts first advertised May 30, 2018 for additional aircraft have not been awarded." I do know that there are states that have tankers and helicopters on various contracts including but not limited to California, Oregon, Colorado with Air Tractor 802 SEATs, North Carolina and Florida. Then there are including but not limited to New Jersey New Jersey and Pennsylvania who contract for SEATS during their spring wildfire season. My understanding is that aircraft on state contracts are limited to flying fires in that state.
As we enter the fall season here in the United States, the fire season continues to be very active, especially out west. it is disconcerting to say the least that there may not be enough large air-tankers, SEATs, and helicopters available to help support the wildland firefighters on the ground. I know that they support of aircraft, including but not limited to the early stages of a wildfire, can be crucial, especially in remote and hard to access areas. It seems to me that we need more of all types of aircraft used to fight wildfires: large tankers, SEATs, and helicopters. It may be too late for the 2018 season, but it is not too late for the 2019 season.
There is much that I don’t know. I have some questions that I think about, I have no answers for you and I suspect that some of you have the same questions. How many times have aviation resources been requested but were not filled? In States that have fixed wing and helicopters under contract, are these resources able to fulfill the need? Some contractors may have (or have had) air tankers and helicopters that are not under exclusive-use contracts, what has happened to these aircraft and their pilots? For those with current call-when-needed contracts, how many aircraft and pilots do they keep available and how long before they can be dispatched if the call comes? For aircraft on contract, whether they be exclusive-use or call-when-needed, are there enough relief pilots?
When I want to find out about various firefighting aviation contracts in the United States, I go to Bill Gabbert’s Fire Aviation website, where he has tagged his articles on contracts. There was a time when I was able to find some information on the internet about these federal contracts, but these sites are understandably no longer available to the general public. I have looked to no avail to see if there was other publicly available information on U.S. federal aviation contracts. So, I am especially grateful for the work that Bill Gabbert does to find and distill this information for the public. Then there is Mike Archers, Wildfire News of the Day. I subscribe to Mike's five-day a week e-mails chock full of current stories about wildland firefighting in the United States and across the globe, including articles about air tankers and helicopters. The Associated Aerial Firefighters posts news about aerial firefighters. Finally, another source of good information is the American Helicopter Services and Aerial Firefighting Association. There may well be other folk who write about aviation resources and contracts that i do not know about.
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