Flight Crews at Twin Falls, UT, Airbase Ready to Battle Wildfires
The Times-News, Twin Falls, Idaho
(TNS)
Aug. 12—×
TWIN FALLS — It was a Wednesday afternoon and all was quiet in the Bureau of Land Management's Twin Falls District.
No fires were burning out of control in the district's 3.9 million acres as the BLM airbase south of Twin Falls stood relatively still.
Employees sat quietly in an air-conditioned control room containing a monitor showing the location of firefighting aircraft around the world, while contract workers, charged with filling air tankers with fire retardant, huddled outdoors in the shade.
But with a drop of a match or a stray bolt of lightning, all could have changed.
Aircraft are vital in the federal government's multi-billion-dollar effort to fight wildfires across the nation each year.
For fires in the Magic Valley, those planes likely fly out of the air base next to Joslin Field, Magic Valley Regional Airport, south of Twin Falls.
The base, sometimes relaxed and sometimes frantic, has been directing aircraft from the base to fight the blazes for decades.
"It can get hectic," acknowledges ramp supervisor James Sparrow. When the Gardner Fire raged near Picabo earlier this month, aircraft of various sizes were getting stacked one behind another, getting fueled and loaded with fire retardant.
Two single-engine tankers have been assigned to the airbase and can hold up to 800 pounds of fire retardant or water, and it takes just 3.5 minutes for their storage tanks to be filled.
"The pilot will tell them what their weight limit is," BLM spokesman Ryan Berlin said. "They will disconnect it and off they go."
Those pilots might make several flights a day, but need to be back on the ground by "pumpkin time," referred to as a half hour after sunset. For safety reasons, the aircraft don't fight fires when darkness falls. The small aircraft need to be on the ground at pumpkin time, while the larger two- or four-engine craft need to have at least dumped their load by that time, Sparrow said.
If pilots run out of flight time, they land at a nearby base, such as one at Pocatello, and stay the night.
"The flying itself is very challenging and every event is different," pilot Perry Schermerhorn said. He's been fighting fires for five seasons and said it is satisfying to render aid to communities threatened by wildfires.
A firefighting helicopter is also assigned to the Twin Falls base, but Berlin said it is not there as often as the planes. On Wednesday, it was fighting a fire near Stanley.
Larger aircraft, including those from the military, can be called to the scene when more resources are needed. Giant C-130 planes can hold a load of 28,000 pounds of retardant, which is essentially water mixed with fertilizer and known for its reddish color.
The airbase "ramp," where the planes are filled, even has a reddish hue, a sign of millions of gallons that have filled tanker after tanker through the years.
"I was out here yesterday with a pressure washer and still can't get rid of (the color)," said James Sparrow, ramp manager.
When an order came in to get aircraft ready to fight a fire, as it did later Wednesday, people sprang into action. The aircraft, which work in tandem for better efficiency, were called to dump water on a wildfire burning near Payette.
Flight preparations were being made only to have the run called off due to visibility concerns.
When aerial firefighting gets underway, "it's an orchestration," Berlin said. "It really is."
He described scenes where four tankers and a couple of helicopters battle a fire, along with an "air attack" aircraft that flies high above the blaze, providing aerial reconnaissance.
Berlin, who began his career as a firefighter 25 years ago and moved up the ranks, said fighting fires is a cooperative effort between all involved, from firefighters on the ground to pilots in the air.
"Everyone works hard," he said. "Everyone works together."
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