More about CAL FIRE's S2-T tankers - January 10th edition

I am returning to writing a little more about CAL FIRE’s S2-T Tankers. This article serves as a follow-up to two articles I wrote before Christmas, Reflections on CAL FIRE’s S2-T Tankers, Part 1 (December 16, 2019) and Part 2 (December 23, 2019)

This article is possible because of recent e-mails with an experienced CAL FIRE pilot.

First, he made a couple of corrections to part 1 that are reflected in the article. The most important correction is clarification on the number of S2-T’s in California. Twenty-two are assigned to twelve air attack bases with one or two S2-T’s assigned to each base. One, T-100 is a spare and is at McClellan Air Attack Base until needed. See the CAL FIRE pilot’s Association website for more information on CAL FIRE’s tanker bases, aircraft and other news.

He had a few things that he wants me to share with you using part 2 as a starting along with one of the earlier articles that I referenced in part 2, Reflections, S2-T's, SEATs and initial attack (May 24, 2009). So perhaps you will want to take a few minutes to review these two articles before going any further.

My friend started with initial attack,”97% of fires are stopped before 10 acres thanks to the rapid intervention and coordination of ground and air resources. Air (tankers and copters) are here to support the ground fire fighters and can't replace them. When retardant is dropped to stop the spread, buy time and contain the fire, it needs to be backed up by fire fighters.”

I asked him about dropping retardant on fires, he said “the perfect drop is a difficult equation and an eternal quest: perfect speed, height, timing, drift, line, quantity, and coverage level (note 1). Very humbling most of the time and very gratifying once in a while when it's achieved.”

Finally he talks about the airplane: “You need a good airplane, well maintained, a good tank system, good retardant (well mixed) and an experienced pilot to start, then you might have a chance to make a decent, safe, efficient, effective drop.”

Note 1. coverage level is the density of retardant in drop. Normally ranges from 1 to 7 and represents the number of gallons in a 100 square foot area (see  terminology on the Associatied Aerial Firefighters website.)