Federal and state wildfire aircraft training scheduled April 22 through April 26 ...Middle East

PORT HUENEME, Calif. – The U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and other federal and state fire response agencies will be conducting airborne firefighting training in the area from April 22 through April 26.

The training exercises will include personnel from the Wyoming Air National Guard's 153rd Airlift Wing, the Nevada Air National Guards's 152nd Airlift Wing, the Air Force Reserve's 302nd Airlift Wing, Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado, and the hosting unit -the California Air National Guard's 146th Airlift Wing detailed the Channel Islands Air National Guard in a press release Monday.

The recertification training will include classroom session, flying and ground operations for Air Force crews, and coordinated flights between federal and state agencies explained the Channel Islands Air National Guard.

Practice water drops will be conducted in designated drop zones in remote areas of the northwest portions of the Angeles National Forest and people in the area may see low-flying C-130 aircraft and smaller lead planes during the week shared the Channel Islands Air National Guard.

Modular Aerial Fire Fighting System (MAFFS) units fit inside C-130 airplanes and do not require any structural modification, allowing the units to be loaded onto the military aircraft in about two hours detailed the U.S. Air Force.

An Air National Guard C-130 Hercules aircraft equipped with MAFFS fighting a wildfire in Southern California Courtesy of the U.S. Air Force/Staff Sgt. Daryl McKamey

"Airmen from the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve have been supporting our civilian wildland firefighting partners for 52 years, and our citizen Airmen are grateful for the opportunity to support our neighbors in their times of need," said Col. Thomas Gagnon, Commander of the 153rd Tactical Fire/Wildland Firefighting MAFFS Air Expeditionary Group. "Through combined training efforts like this one in California, the MAFFS community is able to ensure a unified response when called upon to protect lives, property, critical infrastructure, and natural resources, often in the same communities where we live and work."

MAFFS-equipped aircraft were activated in January during the Palisades and Eaton fires.

The use of modular aerial fire fighting systems began in 1971 as a joint effort between the U.S. Forest Service and the Department of Defense to integrate military air tankers into a national firefighting response explained U.S. Northern Command.

A C-130 working the Springs Fire in Banks-Garden Valley, Idaho in August of 2012, courtesy of the Boise National Forest/Idaho Department of Lands

The current eight C-130 Hercules aircraft part of the program can drop up to 3,000 gallons of fire retardant in less than ten seconds across a quarter-mile line, but the MAFFS-equipped planes are only activated when all commercial airtankers in the national fleet are fully committed or unavailable noted the Channel Islands Air National Guard.

Federal and state wildfire aircraft training scheduled April 22 through April 26 News Channel 3-12.

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