HELENA — Aerial resources have been critical in reaching the Jericho Mountain Fire, and Helena has an ace up its sleeve when it comes to firefighting aircraft, a tanker base that can support the largest firefighting planes.
Madelyn Heath reports - watch:
When a large air tanker races off to a wildfire, you can hear it across the Helena Valley. The around three thousand gallons of retardant the average plane holds is just one of the reasons it is so effective. Another factor is the team on the ground who get it refueled and refilled and back in the air in just minutes.
"The tanker base is able to service not only Central Montana, but planes that start the day here may end up in California," Chiara Cipriano, with the Helena Lewis and Clark National Forest, says.
The tanker base typically opens for operations on July 7th but kicked off their wildfire season on June 15th nearly a month early this year due to the Jericho Mountain Fire.
Once they got the call, the team had the base operational in two hours.
So far the tanker base has already helped planes drop more than 32-thousand gallons of retardant this year compared to zero at this time last year.
But the pilots and aircraft cannot extinguish wildfires alone.
"These planes are a big asset to have on a wildfire," Cipriano says. "They can slow a fire and allow our ground crews to have a chance to put in lines, but it is important to note neither of them works independently."
The Helena base can support helicopters with buckets, super scoopers, and aircraft up to the DC-10 V-Lats, with operations typically running from July to September.
As fire season advances forest service leaders have an important message to the public to help the efforts of firefighters in the big sky.
"With wildfires, a lot of people are curious to see what is going on, and with drones becoming more and more popular, we just want to send a reminder that when you have drones up in the air, it grounds all of our aviation," Cipriano says.
