Enjoy this video about airtankers flying wildfires at night in California. The aerial wildland firefighters receive training to safely fly wildfires at night. I am happy to know that airtankers fly wildfires at night in California, I do not know if other States have airtankers flying wildfires at night.
Airborne Firefighters, a documentary series, has other videos about wildland firefighting.
Direct link to September 13th video from Coulson Aviation on YouTube
I am greatful to read that a Coulson 737 tanker from the New South Wales Rural Fire Service received heavy maintenance before coming to California to help with their wildfire season.
This September 3rd video is from https://www.youtube.com/@9news.
Here is a direct link to this video,
An unfortunate aspect to aviation and aerial wildland firefighting are hard landings. I came across this video today and was interested to see this video of Blackhawk being airlifted from the site of the hard landing. I am sure that this happens all the time after a hard landing, but I rarely get to see a video of such an airlift. As I understand no one onboard the Blackhawk was injured. There were reports of a fuel leakage and residents in the area of this hard landing are understandable concerned.
Direct link to August 17th post from German Public Broadcast Service on YouTube
I heard a report early this moring on National Public Radio about the hot weather and wildfire danger that many areas of Europe are seeing. Unfortunately, I can not find a link to that story online nor could I find any videos on YouTube related to the story I heard. I did find a video that I shared above about a very large wildfire in Belgium and the help they are receiving from other countries in Europe sending aerial resources.
Direct link to August 11th video on NBC10 Philadlephia
Just about every summer since I started this blog over 20 years ago New Jersey Forest Fire Service wildland firefighting crews are deployed across the United States to help wildland firefighters in other states fight wildfires. This deployment does not affect the ability of the NJ Forest Fire Service to fight wildfires in New Jersey as there are crews available to fight wildfires in New Jersey.
Direct link to July 31st video from Ocotillo Outlaws on YouTube
Footage from Ocotillo Outlaws of aerial firefighting over Grade Fire in east San Diego County on July 31st. Sorry for the small size of the video, you can enlarge the video to full screen by clicking the arrows to the right.
Direct link to July 28th video from NBC News on YouTube
I knew from my newsfeed that wildfires are burning in Spain and France. The July 28th video that I shared above provides a nice overview of these fires.
I just heard a nice report from NPR about this fire, unfortunately I am unable to link to that report, but there is a July 29th report on the NPR site that I can link to, the NPR report may be found here.
In this post I am referring to the July 29th article on NPR linked to earlier. Evacuations in France continue with at least 60,000 residents evacuated as a precaution. This may be the among the largest peacetime evacuations in French history. Total evacuations in France and Spain total approximately 330,000 people.
In Spain, 79,000 people evacuated over the weekend and evacuation orders for 20,000 were lifted Tuesday night with stay-at-home orders lifted for an additional 14,000 people.
Fire fighters on the ground in France and Spain are being assisted by aerial firefighting aircraft.
Direct link to July 23 video from Fox 9 Minneapolis St. Paul
I am happy to report that some progess is being made in fighting wildfires in northern Minnesota, but wildfires are still active and it may be awhile before they are contained. See the video that I shared from Fox 9 Minneapolis St. Paul for more informationDirect link to July 15th post from Fox9 Minneapolis-St. Paul on YouTube
The wildfires in northern Minnesota continue with smoke continuing to affect other regions of the United States and Canada. The video that I shared above, reported on July 15th is a little long, over eight minutes that includes weather information. These wildfires have burned about 70,000 acres on Friday,July 15th. Wildland firefighters discuss how they are working to keep people safe.
Direct link to July 15th video from Fox9 Minnesota on YouTube
I saw a video of an airtanker dropping on the Chelan Wildfire that got me interested in finding out more about this Wildfire. According to Inciweb's page on the Chelan Wildfire, accessed on July 8th, the Chelan Wildfire, burning in Washington, was first reported on July 4th. The current estimate (dated July 7th) is that 9,735 acres have burned and it is at 20 percent containment. In the video below you will see two scoopers responding to the wildfire.
Direct link to July 7th video from Aerofilite Aerial Firefighting on Facebook
Direct link to June 30th video from ABC4Utah on YouTube
I continue to be interested in the wildfire burning along the Colorado/Utah border that some are calling the Cottonwood Fire. I found this link to a report from KSL of a June 29th article that the Cottonwood Fire has burned 94,000 acres on June 29th and is at 4 percent containment, they report that an estimated 150 buildings have been destroyed. I then looked around and found a video from ABC4Utah that I shared here with some more details about this wildfire.
As some of you know I have an affinity for Florida because I had the privilege of spending some time in Florida several years ago, but more importantly because I have some friends and acquaintance in Florida. This article dated June 22nd from the WGCU weather center got my attention so I am both sharing the link with you as well as summarizing a few wildfires as of June 22nd in Lee County in southwest Florida:
1. Winding Cypress Way in Collier County, no acreage available;
2. Two larger wildfires in the Myakka State Forest were at 95 percent containment;
3. Orange Hammock Ranch, Sarasota County. 100 acres, 90 containment;
4. Glades County, Platt Trap Fire, 275 acres, 50 percent containment;
5. Charlotte County, North Fort Myers-Charlotte Fire, 130 acres, 25 percent containment.
Read the article I linked to do for more information.
Direct link to June 16th KPIX video on YouTube
I was pleased to see the video that I shared above where I learned that Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) will be used during the 2026 wildfire season in the Bay Area in aerial operations to fight wildfires. Helicopters such as PG&E's helicopter fleet are an important addition to support the wildland firefighters on the ground in the Bay Area of California.
As we are in to spring and early summer wildfire season, I do try to follow, as I can, where Airtankers are currently based. I saw this post from AeroFlite Aerial Firefighting on Facebook a week ago. I believe but am not 100 percent certain that at least one of the airtankers they are referring to are Dash 8-400 AT airtankers
I am glad to see that these two AeroFlite airankers were based in Washington week ago, I hope they are still there.
Direct link to May 26th Facebook post from AeroFlite Aerial Firefighting on Facebook
