Wednesday, August 11, 2021

2021 wildfire season: thank-you New South Wales and 737 tanker Marie Bashier

 I understand from reading Bill Gabbert's Fire Aviation that there are not enough air tankers in the United States, nothing new but the numbers of available air tankers are lower than expected, see July 28th Fire Aviation article for more information and this August 7th article from Fire Aviation focusing on the lack of available air tankers in California.

The New South Wales Rural Fire Service in Australia answered our request for a large air tanker and sent their 737 air tanker known as "Marie Bashir." She arrived on July 24th for a 45 day deployment and she and her crew have been working since then flying multiple wildfires out west. Thank-you NSW Rural Fire Service, and the crew of Marie Bashier for helping the western wildfire fighters in a devastating wildfire season. 


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