A SKY-HIGH FIREFIGHT PILOTS ASSIST GROUND CREWS BATTLING FLAMES.Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer When Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, wildfires race through inaccessible canyons and up chaparral-covered slopes, aircraft are often the only hope for stopping the flames. But even water-dropping helicopters and air tankers can't infallibly stop a fast-moving brush fire when wind, heat and fuel conditions are against it. ``There is no system that can stop a brush fire set on the wrong day in the wrong conditions,'' said Los Angeles County Fire Department Not to be confused with Los Angeles Fire Department. The Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD), serves unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County, as well as 58 cities and towns that choose to have the county provide fire and EMS services, including the City of La senior pilot Lee Benson. ``Can you stop a tornado?'' As Southern California's firestorms blackened black·en v. black·ened, black·en·ing, black·ens v.tr. 1. To make black. 2. To sully or defame: a scandal that blackened the mayor's name. 3. tens of thousands of acres and destroyed hundreds of homes from the Mexican border to the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains San Bernardino Mountains, part of the Coast Range, S Calif., extending c.60 mi (100 km) NW and SE through San Bernardino and Riverside counties. Notable peaks are San Bernardino Mt. (10,630 ft/3,240 m) and Mt. San Gorgonio (11,485 ft/3,501 m). , the aerial equipment sent against the flames ranged from World War II-era planes to specially outfitted helicopters to the SuperScoopers. Fighting fires above the flames can be dangerous. Tankers have exploded in midair and run into mountainsides. The California Fire Pilots Association says aerial firefighters' fatality rates are higher than those of any other firefighters. But in fighting fast-moving wildfires, it's safer than putting a fire engine crew or camp crew in the path of flames that might surround them, officials say. ``We have to make sure we don't put anybody in a situation where they can't get them out,'' said Boise-based National Interagency Fire Center The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise, Idaho, is the physical facility that is home to the National Interagency Coordination Center (NICC), and the National Multi-Agency Coordination group (NMAC or MAC). spokesman Mike Apicello, a former smoke jumper who parachuted to fight forest fires. ``The safest approach is by air.'' Much of the aerial firefighting is being done by highly maneuverable helicopters, whose pilots can fly at low speed into a smoky canyon, eyeball See eyeballs and eyeball driven. the flames and drop water on them. ``It's always difficult in the smoke. That's where the helicopters really shine,'' said Benson, who is one of nine Los Angeles County Fire Department helicopter pilots fighting the blazes. A 10th is on military reserve duty in the Persian Gulf. ``They can work in the smoke where the aircraft have a difficult time. They can get way in there and kind of scoot scoot v. scoot·ed, scoot·ing, scoots v.intr. To go suddenly and speedily; hurry. v.tr. Upper Southern U.S. around down there until they find a place to drop.'' Often the helicopters work in tandem with a fire crew or bulldozer on the ground, dropping water onto the advancing line of flames as the firefighters uproot vegetation in their path to block them. One helicopter circles overhead to direct the others to their drops. The air tankers, largely military surplus planes operated under contract, drop chemical fire retardant fire retardant Public health A chemical used to resist combustion, which may contain polybrominated biphenyls and antimony oxide . The usual place to drop is in advance of the flames - like on a ridgeline ridge·line n. See ridge. Noun 1. ridgeline - a long narrow range of hills ridge arete - a sharp narrow ridge found in rugged mountains - to slow down the fire when it arrives. The two Canadair SuperScoopers, leased from Quebec for the Southland's fire season, can scoop water out of a reservoir without having to fly miles back to a base to reload (1) To load a program from disk into memory once again in order to run it. Reload is entirely different than reinstall. Reinstall means that you have to run the install program from a CD-ROM or floppy disk and perform the installation procedure over again. like the tankers, and carry more water than helicopters. But the SuperScoopers, which spent part of Monday on the ground at Van Nuys Airport Van Nuys Airport (IATA: VNY, ICAO: KVNY, FAA LID: VNY) is a public airport located in Van Nuys, California in the San Fernando Valley, within the Los Angeles city limits. , have their own limitations, firefighters said. They drop water, not fire retardant, so it does little good to drop in advance of the flames, and their speed and wide drop pattern means they don't work as well as helicopters in supporting crews on the fire line. Firefighting from the air has been around more than 60 years in the United States. Smoke jumpers first parachuted out of Ford Trimotor airplanes in 1939, Apicello said. Experimental use of airplanes to drop water on wildfires also began before World War II. But aerial firefighting intensified after World War II, first using military-surplus torpedo planes and later converting big bombers to firefighting use. A new trend is for county fire departments to buy small air tankers, similar to modified crop dusters, Apicello said. The planes don't need long runways, which many rural areas don't have, and can get to a wildfire quickly to attack it, often helping firefighters carried in by helicopter. Charles F. Bostwick, (661) 267-5742 chuck.bostwick(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 10 photos, 2 boxes Photo: (1 -- color -- ran in Valley edition only) A Bell 206-B Huey drops a load of water on the Simi Valley Fire on Monday. Evan Yee/Staff Photographer (2 -- color -- ran in Valley edition only) A C-130 drops retardant re·tar·dant adj. Acting or tending to retard. Often used in combination: flame-retardant pajamas for children; a fire-retardant security chest. in the Browns Canyon area near Chatsworth. Joel P. Lugavere/Special to the Daily News (3 -- color -- ran in Valley edition only) Canadair 415 Superscooper (4 -- color -- ran in Valley edition only) Sikorsky Skycrane (5 -- color -- ran in Valley edition only) Los Angeles County Fire Department Firehawk (6 -- color -- ran in Valley edition only) Lockheed C-130 (7 -- color -- ran in Valley edition only) A message of hope and determination is painted on a wall near a home destroyed Saturday by the Old Fire in San Bernardino. Brett K. Snow/Staff Photographer (8 -- color -- ran in Valley edition only) Smoke settles in the trees behind several burned homes in the Scripps Ranch neighborhood of San Diego on Monday. Denis Denis, king of Portugal: see Diniz. Poroy/Associated Press (9 -- 10 -- color -- ran in AV edition only) An air tanker, above, leaves Fox Field in Lancaster on Monday, destined des·tine tr.v. des·tined, des·tin·ing, des·tines 1. To determine beforehand; preordain: a foolish scheme destined to fail; a film destined to become a classic. 2. for the Simi Valley Fire. At left, pilot Chris Holm, left, reviews flight plans with Bussard Grant of the U.S. Forest Service after arriving from Missoula, Mont. Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer Box: (1 -- ran in Valley edition only) AERIAL ARMADA SOURCE: Daily News research Jon Gerung/Staff Artist (2 -- ran in Valley edition only) FIRE FACTS |
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