National Night Out: New Jersey Forest Fire Service Helicopter Delta6

Direct link to August 5th video from MySussex on YouTube

I am aware of National Night Out the first Tuesday of August, as I see signage and social media posts about local events on that day. National Night Out recognizes the work that police and fire departments (including wildland fire agencies) do to keep us safe. In the video that I embedded, you will see NJ Forest Fire Service helicopter, Delta 6, which is stationed at Aeroflex-Andover Airport in Andover in Sussex County NJ during the wildfire season. Delta 6 provides valuable support to wildland firefighers in northern New Jersey during New Jersey's wildfire season.

Friday Fun: CH-53 Helicopters working a 2024 Wildfire in Germany

For this week's Friday Fun I am sharing a video of a couple of CH-53 helicopters working a 2024 wildfire in Germany. The video that I am sharing was posted by HD108oide on YouTube. I enjoy seeing helicopters working a wildfire, and enjoyed this video. I hope that you do as well.

2026 California Wildfire Season: PG&E Helicopters to support aerial firefighting

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. 

New Jersey Forest Fire Service Cross-Training with the Montana Department of Natural Resources

 

Direct link to March 6th video shared by the New Jersey Forest Service 

The New Jersey Forest Fire Service has had a cooperative arrangement with the Montana Department of Natural Resources since 2017. I enjoyed this video about cross-training where the training focused on using helicopters to release ping-pong sized spheres that can be used to ignite lands for prescribed burning. Depending on the configuration of your browser. you may not be able to see the embedded video, if that is the case, please use the direct link.

Florida: Aerial Prescribed Burns and Single Engine Eagle Helicopter

Direct link to Dec. 2025 video from VerticalPlus on YouTube

I know how important prescribed burning is as a tool to manage wildfire danger. As some of you may know, I consider Florida to be one of my special places so I have an interest in following how they fight wildfires. I enjoyed the video that I am sharing here from VerticalPlus about Florida's prescribed burning program and their use of an Eagle single engine helicopter. The state of Florida uses this Eagle single engine helicopter that has been converted from a twin engine to a single engine helicopter, for aerial prescribed burns because of its efficiency. I learned more about Florida's aerial prescribed burning program.

Friday Fun: A Review of Helicopters and Air Tankers Battling Wildfires

For today's Friday Fun post I am posting a short video on some of air tankers and helicopters that help wildland firefighters on the ground fight wildfires. This video focuses on aircraft used in California.

Direct link to January 2026 from the National Wildfire Tracking Team on YouTube

Friday Fun: Valley Helicopters Flying in British Columbia

From Vertical Magazine, a seven minute 2024 video of a visit by a Vertical Magazine reporter to Valley Helicopters in Hope, British Columbia to look at Valley Helicopters operations and a little of their history and types of helicopters they fly and the types of missions their helicopters fly. 

Direct link to September 2024 video from Vertical Magazine on YouTube.

About Aerial Firefighting in Florida Including a look at the "Eagle Single" Helicopter

Direct link to December 4th Video from Vertical Magazine on YouTube

As you may know, Florida is special to me so I am always on the lookout for how Florida fights wildfires. I struck gold yesterday thanks my friends at the NJ B10 NJ Wildland Fire Page for sharing this video about Florida's aerial firefighting strategy on their website yesterday. As soon as I watched this video I knew that I wanted to share it with you. I knew that Florida does a lot of prescribed burning but did not know that the did more than 48 states combined. I saw how they use helos to help the wildland firefighters on the ground fight wildfires as well as their use of airplanes to oversee aerial operations. Finally I learned about the "Eagle Single" helicopter, new addition to their fleet.

Friday Fun: Medevac Helicopter Landing on I-81 in VA Responding to an Accident

Direct link to July 2022 video from Michael Miller on YouTube

I know that one of the important things that helicopters can do such as medevac helicopters is providing transportation to hospitals of accident victims and critically ill people, transportation that can often be quicker than ground transport. I live not far from my local hospital and when I see a helicopter flying over my house at a lower altitude there is a decent chance that the helo is transporting someone to the emergency room. The hospital has an appropriate landing pad for the helicopter. While I have not personally been an interstate while traffic was stopped so a helicopter can transport and accident victim I know that this happens. I was on I-81 about five years returning home when we diverted to local roads because of a bad accident on the interstate. As we were on local roads, thanks to our alert from AAA, I have no idea if a helicopter serviced the accident or if it was only ambulances or a combination of the two. I was glad to get off the interstate and away from the traffic.

In this July 2022 video that I shared above, the video was posted by Michael Miller, a Medevac helicopter pilot was flying out of Virginia in July 2022. I enjoyed watching this video to get an idea of what it is like to see a Medevac helicopter working an accident on an interstate. Michael does a good service flying Medevac helicopters. 

Ag Aviation Helicopters

 

Direct link to July 2025 video by Garrett Stanfield on YouTube

I am interested in Ag Aviation so I do post on this every so often as I last did on November 3rd. On a somewhat quiet day I wanted to make a post highlighting what an Ag Aviation helicopter can do. I found the above video this morning to share with you. 

Friday Fun: A Look at CAL FIRE's Firehawk Helicopter

Direct link to July 31st video from CAL FIRE TV on YouTube

According to the information supplied by CAL FIRE in the text accompanying the video the Firehawk helicopter has a 1,000 gallon capacity water tank, is equipped with night vision, external hoist for rescue operations and can seat a nine-person helitack crew.

Airbus H125 Helicopter - Flagler County Florida

Direct link to video from Just Helicopters on YouTube 

Flagler County, Florida courtesy of Google Maps

I was reading the July/August 2025 issue of Aerial Fire - The Aerial Firefighting Magazine earlier this week, the cover story focuses on Flagler County Florida’s new helicopter, the Airbus H125 

For 22 years Flagler County Florida had an AS350B3 multi-mission helicopter. This helicopter was recently replaced with an Airbus H125. The H125 keeps the FireFlight name. According to Aerial Fire

The Airbus AS350 Écureuil series, alongside its modern successor, the H125, has become a cornerstone of aerial firefighting efforts across North America. As climate volatility intensifies, the frequency and severity of wildfires, particularly across the western United States and parts of Canada, are increasing. Consequently, the demand for highly versatile, reliable, and high-performance rotorcraft has never been greater. Among the platforms meeting this demand, the H125 has emerged as an undisputed leader, recognized globally for its exceptional capabilities in demanding mission profiles.

While FireFlight is used for aerial firefighting and prescribed burns, there are other uses for FireFlight. This includes but is not necessarily limited to search and rescue, taking accident victims to trauma centers, public safety flights, storm reconnaissance, and law enforcement.

Among the features of the H125 according to the Aerial Fire article:

• precision water and foam drops with a 210 gallon bucket
• in flight foam injection into the bucket
• crash resistant fuel systems improves pilot and crew survival
• FM radios to facilitate communication with ground crews
• alert sirens for discharge safety
• modern avionics
• interchangeable equipment for multi-mission uses.

After reading the article,  I was very impressed with Flagler County’s new H125 FireFlight helicopter. They are one of only two Florida Counties with their own helicopter, the other county being Miami-Dade. I don’t quite know how long the link to this article will be accessible, happens sometimes. If possible, I hope that you take the time to read this wonderful article. I commend Flagler County and the pilots, crews, and maintenance team for using FireFlight to keep their residents and business owners safe.

NJFFS Huey at July 16th Airshow in Atlantic City NJ

Direct link to July 16th video from Zinger Aviation Media on YouTube

I have been wanting to share a video with you of a Bell Huey helicopter used for aerial firefighting in support of the wildland firefighters on the ground. While this video does not show the bucket that the NJFFS Huey's carries you get to see the Huey up close and personal on the two passes it made at the July 16th airshow in Atlantic City, New Jersey. I believe that theThe New Jersey Forest Fire Service still has two of these helicopters which their website refers to as Bell 205 Hueys. To the best of my knowledge, the Bell 205 Huey is also known as the UH-1H Huey, see this website from Globalair for more information. In my wonderings around the internet on YouTube and Facebook, I have seen quite a few videos and photos of what appear to be Bell Hueys (exact model unknown) fighting wildfires, but without knowing for certain exact information I was reluctant to share. So, I am delighted to share this video of one of the NJFFS Bell Huey's which are used to fight many wildfires of various sizes in New Jersey.

My profound thanks go to my friends at the B10 New Jersey Wildfire Page for sharing this video on their website on July 17th. While I am at it, when you get a chance check out this website for their posting of videos relating to wildland firefighting as well as their photos of wildfires around New Jersey.

Friday Fun: Firefighting Helicopters Working a German Wildfire

Direct link to video from HD1080ide on YouTube

Enjoy this video of helicopters including three Sikorsky CH-53 helicopters and other helicopters working a wildfire in Germany. Allow about nine and half minutes to watch the video. Enjoy.

Tankers and Helos Getting Ready for 2025 Wildfire Season

The 2025 Wildfire Season is here and companies that fly airtankers, helicopters, and lead planes continue to get ready for the fire season. Of importances is annual spring training as demonstrated in the video below from Neptune Aviation on Facebook, go here for the direct link. To the best of my knowledge all companies flying tankers and helicopters for wildland firefighting conduct annual spring training, spring training may be a part of their contract. 

Below are some images of spring training from Coulson Aviation's Facebook page, here is a direct link

Coulson Aviation's Tanker 132, a C-130, is finished her duties in Australia where she was helping the Australian's fight fires in their summer season. Tanker 132 is on her way back to Coulson's base in Thermal California where she will undergo maintenance in preparation for the 2025 Wildfire Season in the United States here. Unfortunately, I am unable to embed the video because it contains content owned by someone else. I hope you go directly to Facebook where you can watch this short video of Tanker 132's flight back to the United States. However, I did find a six-year old video on Coulson's YouTube channel about spring training that I am embedding below.

Direct link to Video from Coulson Aviation on YouTube

Note: to the best of my knowledge you should be able to see the embedded content from Facebook on all of your devices unless you have browser settings that do not allow this content.

Getting Air Tankers and Helos Ready for 2025 Wildfire Season in U.S.

I have been doing this blog long enough to know that both spring maintenance and annual pilot training are done by companies with aircraft that fly fires do each year. I write this post as an acknowledgement of how important each are to safety and efficiency.

This is the time of year when companies with aircraft that fly fires in the United States perform what is sometimes known as spring maintenance on their aircraft to get them ready for the fire season. While I don't know how much time is involved nor do I know the particulars of what each company with aircraft the flies fires does, I believe the spring maintenance on each aircraft may go on for several days depending on what needs to be done. In addition, maintenance is done through the fire season as required to keep the aircraft performing in peak efficiency. All companies do this those with air tankers, lead planes, and helicopters. The examples that I know of are for air tankers only, please take them as an example that will apply to all aircraft flying fires. Neptune Aviation has a few pictures of their spring maintenance on their air tankers that they shared on their Facebook account which is found at this link. Coulson shared the following on X, formerly twitter:

A well-cared-for tanker is a ready tanker! Tanker 138 is back from Western Australia and is now in for spring maintenance, ensuring it stays in top shape for the North American season. Behind every mission is a crew dedicated to keeping our fleet fire-ready. #coulsonaviation pic.twitter.com/eWZDUGjmvY

— Coulson Aviation (@CoulsonAviation) March 10, 2025

As many of you know, getting ready for the wildfire season is more than spring maintenance of aircraft flying fires. The pilots go through annual training to keep current. Again, the examples I know of are from companies flying air tankers but this applies to any pilot flying aircraft on wildfires. Dauntless Air flys the AT-802F Fireboss, and they shared about their annual pilot training on their Facebook Page which you may find here. In addition 10 Tanker referenced their annual pilot training on their Facebook account in a short video that you may see here.

New South Wales Rural Fire Service: Helicopter Pilot Profile

 I pay some attention to New South Wales in Australia in part because I have acquaintances in New South Wales but also because as I can, I try to have an international perspective on aerial wildland fire fighting. While perusing the New South Wales Rural Fire Service's Facebook page the other day I came across their member profile of Mick Cantwell a helicopter pilot who is also a remote area firefighter. 

Friday Fun: Helicopters Flying Over Stadiums

For last week's Friday Fun I shared a video of the Blue Angels performing at Annapolis. I was chatting with a friend a couple of days who told me that they saw some helicopters flying over a stadium. That conversation gave me the idea for this week's Friday Fun on Helicopter Flyovers.

I am embedding three short videos of helicopter flyovers football stadiums. Enjoy

1. Helicopters flying over Bills Stadium (late 2022?)

Direct link to video by Owen Gage on YouTube

2. Helicopter Flyover NFL Bills-Jets Game, 11/19/2023

Direct link to video by MarkB on YouTube

3. 2023 Army-Navy Game (jets and helicopters)

Direct link to video by AStack75 on YouTube

New Helo Pod deployed in Northern San Diego County CA

Direct link to video from KPBS on YouTube

I have a special place in my heart for helicopters, this is for you Matt, and I am always interested in the different ways that helicopters may refill their tanks if tanker or refill their bucket. I learned of the Helo Pod in San Marcos, CA (northern San Diego County) that you see in the KPBS video the other day when I was perusing Facebook and saw a video from CAL FIRE San Diego of the demonstration of a San Diego County Sheriff's helicopter using the Helo Pod. I believe that I may have read about other Helo Pods in the past several months. This Helo Pod holds 5,000 gallons and can be filled remotely. The idea is that helicopters will be able to access this Helo Pod at any time thus reducing turn around time and saving lives. For more information, see this April 30th article on KPBS.

If you are a fan of watching helicopters work as I am, then you may enjoy this seven minute live video that CAL FIRE San Diego recorded on April 30th and shared on their Facebook page. I enjoyed watching the video and I thought that some of you might enjoy it as well so I am embedding it below.

Pumpkins Are Not Only for Halloween: Water Storage Tanks for Wildland Firefighting

Perhaps this post is not timely as it is the day after Halloween here in the United States. Perhaps you have displayed a pumpkin and if not you depending on where you live, you may have seen pumpkins in your travels, I know that I have. 

In honor of the recent Halloween celebration here in the United States and more importantly, in honor of the important role that fire pumpkins, aka portable water storage tanks, play to support aerial wildland firefighting, I share an October 31st Facebook post from the Bureau of Land Management. I do know that when a wildland fire using helicopters are located in remote areas, these fire pumpkins play an important role. Time is saved because the helicopters can fill their tanks or bambi buckets near the fire. In addition, water tankers and engines can utilize the fire pumpkins to fill their tanks, again saving time.