Reflections on the Huey Helicopter for wildland firefighting

When I decided to devote this blog to aerial wildland firefightings and related concerns back in January 2009, I began by writing about the UH-1H super Huey helicopters (Bell Helicopters) service for wildland firefighting. I don't quite recall why I started with Huey's. It might of been as simple as my friend aviation historian friend and former airtanker pilot suggesting that I start by writing about Huey helicopters. But I think it is safe to say that I was probably already vaguely familiar with the Huey, if for no reason then I had heard the Huey's were used in Vietnam.

I have seen a couple Huey's up close and personal, two through visit to two airbases of the New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) who flies two Huey's (Delta 5 and Delta 6) with 300 gallon (approximate) bambi buckets. On a 2011 visit to San Diego, I took a drive to CAL Fire's Ramona air attack base where I was able to get up close with their Huey.

I know from reading Bill Gabbert's Fire Aviation site that CAL FIRE, is in the process of getting new Firehawk helicopters, see for example his October 2019 post on a Firehawk arriving in Sacramento. So it stands to reason that the site of a Huey working a fire in California will be a memory in a couple of years. To the best of my knowledge the NJFFS Hueys are remaining in service. Other states currently have or have had Huey's in service fighting wildfires, such as North Carolina.

Huey's will always be special to me because they were they were the first firefighting aircraft that I wrote about and because I have seen at least three, possibly more up close and personal. There is a certain elegance in watching helicopters work a fire. Because they can go to a water source to dip and fill their buckets they are an important aerial resource to support the wildland firefighters on the ground. They can make quite a number of drops on a fire, and the closer the water sources is to the fire the more drops they can make.

Enjoy these three videos showcasing Huey's working a fire.

North Carolina


Direct link to video


New Jersey


Direct link to video


CAL FIRE (16 minutes)


Direct link to video

Aerial Operations at the Owassa Fire

The webmaster of the NJFFS Section B10 webpage told me about this video that he had posted to his webpage last night and I want to post it here so that you may enjoy this footage. There is some decent footage of the NJFFS UH-1H Huey Helicopter -- Delta 6 -- performing bucket operations with its 300-gallon bambi bucket. For those of you who want to see an AgCat in action, you will see two drops by the Ag Cat. Now, I don't know if we are seeing one or two AgCats. Two AgCats were working the fire on April 7 and I understand that the tanker base is about a 15 minute flight from the fire. So, if the video we are seeing is what was seen in real time, then I am pretty certain that we are seeing the two AgCats from Division A (Alpha 1 and Alpha 2).

I am thrilled to have some video footage of an AgCat flying a fire in New Jersey to show you. Enjoy!

underneath H-301

Thanks to TL Stein and a friend from Ryan AAB, I have the following description of what is underneath H-301:

We start at the top of the image. On either side, you can see the floor windows and the observation mirrors that look back at the tank and snorkel, and the PA - Siren speakers.  On the far left, just below the step, is the filler coupling where the tank is refilled on the ground using either a fire truck or a hydrant should there be no water sources to snorkle from.  On the outsides of the tank, just inside the skid supports, are the hydraulic actuators that open and close the tank doors.  Inside the triangle looking fixtures, are where the pivot arms attach to both the actuators and tank door gear box. You'll notice that one tank door is open, this is to keep the inside of the tank dry when not in use.  In the center of the tank, you can see the fittings and snorkel hose as it's folded back under the helicopter. The two smaller black hoses are the hydraulic lines that power the pump on the end of the snorkel. The hydraulic power is provided by a small unit that is mounted inside the crew area, behind the pilot and co-pilot.  The item hanging down (painted red) that looks like it has a golf ball on the end of it, is part of the WSPS (Wire Strike Protection System).  There is a WSPS installed on the top as well.  It's purpose is to cut any power line or cable that the aircraft may accidentally fly into.  Also, you can see a small cable that exits the aircraft and angles down to the tank (starts at the top of the "3".  This is the manual emergency release for the tank, in the event of a hydraulic failure.  All the pilot needs to do in this event, is pull a T-handle on the floor of the cockpit and it open both doors, dropping all the contents of the tank.  Usually, in the event of a failure, the doors can only be closed on the ground so in typical operation, the tank would be removed and a bucket will be used.

For more information about the WSPS go here. This page includes information about the WSPS along with other flight performace issues of helicopters. You will need to do some scrolling to get to the section on the WSPS.

Thanks to my friend at Ryan, I have some clarification on if H-301 can be used for bucket operations. The answer is that if the fixed tank is not operational for some reason, the fixed tank can be removed and a 324 gallon bambi bucket can then be used.

Correction: H-301 tank size

I have a minor correction. The fixed tank on H-301 is 360 gallons, not 325 gallons. I believe that the buckets on CALFIRE helicopters have a capacity of around 325 gallons. I have updateded yesterdays post to reflect the correct fixed tank size on H-301.

Thanks to my friend at Ryan for pointing this out.

CAL FIRE's helitack

I'd like to thank TL Stein for a photo of one of CAL FIRE's helitack helicopters, H-301, based at Hemet-Ryan Helitack Base. CAL FIRE has a fleet of nine helicopters positioned around the state, in addition, I think that they also have a couple that are maintained as emergency aircraft.

I believe that two CAL FIRE helicopters have belly tanks. One of the copters with a belly tank is H-301 and the other is based at Bear Valley. My friend at Ryan tells me that H-301 has a 360 gallon fixed tank on its belly. I don't know if the copter at Bear Valley has a 360 gallon tank. I am pretty certain that both H-301 and the copter at Bear Valley have foam tanks for class A foam.

Go here for a pictorial overview of Ryan's helitack operations, take time to check out the links! I will be writing in some more detail about helitack operations in a couple of weeks.

Note: I revised and corrected this post. I had misidentified H-301 as a helitanker. It is not a helitanker. Helitankers are heavy, large helicopters such as the Erickson Aircrane that I will be writing about next week.

Huey's: part 2

In earlier posts I have written that Huey’s (and similar classes of helicopters) are used for water drops on wildfires and transporting wildland firefighters to remote or inaccessible areas to fight wildfires. To answer the question of how Huey’s may be used by wildland firefighters, I offer links to two webpages, California and Florida.

A word about California’s state fire agency, CAL Fire. CAL fire is what is known as an all risk fire department. I recently had the opportunity to ask a CAL fire employee what an all risk fire department is. He said:

An all risk fire department means that whatever type of an incident there is, CAL Fire is trained to handle it. Schedule A stations are counties in california that have contracted the state to handle there fire protection services so they are county employees but CAL FIRE trained. Schedule B are the Wildland guys. There primary concern is for wildland fires but can still go on house fires traffic accidents medical aides any emergency that may pop up.

The reason why I am mentioning the all risk aspect of CAL Fire is because CAL Fire Huey’s are used for non-fire emergency missions. You will note the mention of the non-fire emergency use of Huey’s when you go here to read about the CAL Fire Huey’s (loaned to CAL Fire through FEPP). This pdf file also has some specs for their Huey’s. Note that you will need adobe acrobat or some other pdf viewer in order to read this file.

Speaking about my own State of New Jersey, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) is available to respond to non-fire missions. For example, they helped with some tree work in the aftermath of a recent ice storm that left thousands of homes with out power in Sussex County New Jersey. I suspect that the NJFFS would make their Huey’s available to respond to non-fire emergencies as appropriate.

In my wonderings on the internet learning about and researching wildfires, I always find myself looking to say what is happening in Florida. I recently did a search and found a short description (and a couple of pictures) of how the Florida Dept. of Forestry uses aircraft on this page. They refer to aerial ignition, you may go here to find a brief definition (just scroll down and you will see the definition. I believe but am not sure that aerial ignition can be used in both prescribed burns and in fighting wildland fires. I'll try to find out some more specifics about aerial ignition and make a post about it.

In the meantime, I'll write about bambi buckets in a day or so.

Huey's: part 1

I have spent the last couple of days doing two things: getting ice off of my long driveway and reading about Huey (UH-1H) helicopters. I got interested in finding out a little more about Huey's because the New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) has two UH-1H helicopters. Huey's, manufactured by Bell, were widely used in the Vietnam war. These military helicopters were modified for use by federal and state forest fire agencies for wildfire fighting. The equipment (e.g. including but not limited to helicopters and land vehicles) that many State forest fire agencies use to fight wildfires are in the Federal Excess Personal Property Program.

According to the FAA registration database, the two Huey's used by the NJFFS are in the Federal Excess Personal Property Program. That is, according to the FAA registration database the owner of these two Huey's is listed as the USDA Forest Service FEPP. Under FEPP, the USDA Forest Service owns the equipment, in our case the Huey helicopters, and loans them to State foresters to fight wildland fires.

The two Huey's used by the NJFFS, known as Delta 5 and Delta 6, have 300 gallon bambi buckets. A bambi bucket looks like an upside parachute suspended from the belly of the heliocopter. If you go here and click on air operations in the menu at the top of the page, you will see some photographs of Delta 5, including a couple of Delta 5 with a bambi bucket.

Forest Fire Services in other States including but not limited to California (CAL Fire), North Carolina, and Florida use Huey's that are in FEPP.

The CAL Fire Huey's are equipped with water tanks and bambi buckets. To see a CAL Fire Helicopter making a water drop from it's tank see this you tube video. Note the long tube suspended from its belly used to fill the tank with water.

Huey's can also carry 10 passengers, and perhaps as many as 14, so they can also be used to transport wildland firefighters.

More on Huey's tommorrow.