California Jumps at High-Tech Helicopter Technology to Fight Monster Fires

Firefighting - Helicopter Services

Parts of California’s normally beautiful landscape almost seem like scenes from purgatory lately. As the state battles some of the most ferocious wildfires in its long-settled history, droughts and fiercely hot summer temperatures have only made the situation worse.

2021 is far from the only year in which the most heavily populated state in the U.S. has seen enormous fires, but two of the worst blazes in California’s history did happen. Together, they’ve destroyed over a million acres of forest and open land while one of them crawled exceptionally close to Lake Tahoe.

As for the firefighters battling all of these raging flames, many of them haven’t had a day off in months. To further compound the problem, one of the most important tools used to suppress flames in areas where no truck could reach has been in short supply among many fire departments.

This of course is the helicopter. This shortage of them is why many authorities and rescue agencies in the state have jumped to innovative tech solutions.

A new fleet of high-technology helicopters is being built and deployed to combat forest and other fires 24 hours a day instead of the usual daylight hours. The leading aircraft among these new machines will be a giant Chinook edition.

This powerful $18 million chopper is part of a pilot program that fire chiefs in many regions are hoping will genuinely make a difference in how operations are conducted.

When the Caldor Fire burst into a hellish frenzy in August of this year, it started to rapidly crawl in the direction of Lake Tahoe. As a result, thousands of residents had to abandon their homes and escape.

Then there is the also massive so-called Dixie Faire, which ravenously burned for months and in the process destroyed numerous historic California Gold Rush town landmarks.

Each of these two super fires turned into a monster capable of creating its own local tornado weather, and between the two of them, more than 8000 firefighters were pushing themselves hard for weeks to gain control of the destruction.

This is the kind of situation that has most made officials and emergency crews feel completely justified in their purchasing of the new advanced helicopters like the $18 million Chinook and its cousins.

One particular fire rescue official, Orange County Fire Chief Brian Fennessy explained in a recent interview with CBS News, “These fires get so large that there aren’t enough firefighters, aren’t enough airplanes, helicopters, bulldozers.”

He then added that “You know, we’re to the point where if we were to send much more, we’re going to have firehouses that are empty. And for the people that we’ve sworn to serve, you know, our taxpayers, it’s not acceptable to have firehouses empty for any length of time.”

The Orange County Fire Chief then explains that his agency’s heavy-duty weapon against these hardships is their massive new Chinook, which used to fly missions for the U.S. Army in Afghanistan.

It has now been completely retrofitted for the California fire war and can lay fire retardant lines after sunset or in nearly any visibility conditions, which is a first for the county’s fire department, according to Fennessy.

The Chinook is just one of the new high-tech helicopters that have been ordered or brought into service around the state, but it’s definitely one of the most impressive. Its massive body can haul and drop 3000 gallons of retardant or water per flight according to Wayne Coulsen, the CEO of the company that built this chopper fleet.

Coulsen also explains that computers can precisely control the tank doors through GPS coordination while the Chinook flies into action.

The Quick Reaction Force works in teams to get its new helicopters into action and has even been using night-vision goggles and infrared cameras to navigate their way through the smoke and darkness.

Government agencies and private contractors are both commonly called out to deal with emergency scenarios such as California’s monster fires. Emergency helicopter services from providers such as Fair Lifts Aviation play a crucial role in these efforts to suppress growing wildfire infernos.