Air Tanker 910 Ending Decade Battling Wildland Fire

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Air Tanker 910 Ending Decade Battling Wildland Fire

10 Tanker Air Carrier McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 N17085

10 Tanker Air Carrier Tanker 910 Retires Last Flight Saturday
A DC-10 converted to an air tanker to battle wildfires across the USA is being honored this week as it ends its decade of service.

Its final flight is set for Saturday when the plane is to fly from Castle, Calif. near Merced to Oscota Mich. for dismantling, its operator, 10 Tanker Air Carrier, announced Friday.

Tanker 910, converted to an air tanker in 2004, began battling fires California under a contract with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) in 2006, the company also said in its news release.

By the company's tally, Tanker 910 was used in more than 500 firefighting missions in California and over 750 in the U.S.

They included the Rim Fire, King Fire, Mountain Fire, Zaca Fire, Station Fire and the Happy Camp Complex Fire, the company said.

"We've flown in Nevada certainly many times," safety officer John Gould of 10 Tanker Air Carrier told the RGJ Friday.

"Most of the area in Nevada is BLM land, and I think those guys in the BLM began to understand that it's useful in the large fires in the sagebrush country," Gould said.

Tanker 910 was able to carry large amounts of fire retardant, making it useful in battling large fires, he said.

Tanker 910, an original DC-10 first-generation air tanker, has been based at Castle airport in California since last summer.

"To honor the work the airplane has done on California fires, officials at the Castle airport plan to salute the airplane as it takes off for the last time," the 10 Tanker Air Carrier company said in a statement.

The company plans to replace Tanker 910 with a newer model that will carry the same "910" designation as the plane being retired, the company added.

"That is important for people to know," Gould said of the replacement airplane entering service.

10 Tanker Air Carrier is now in its ninth firefighting season, “We have 30 places in the West where we can operate from, so that depends on where the Forest Service wants us,” Hatton said.

President and CEO Rick Hatton.and two partners originally launched 10 Tanker in 2002 to create a superior firefighting aircraft. They invested about $30 million to modernize the DC-10 and add retardant tankers to its underbelly.

CFN - California Fire News 2013

No comments:

How fires get their names

Every year in California thousands of wildfires start throughout the state. In most cases, the dispatch center sending the initial resources to a wildland fire will designate a name for the fire, but the first on scene engine or fire official can also name the incident. Fires are usually named for the area in which they start – a geographical location, local landmark, street, lake, mountain, peak, etc. Quickly naming the fire provides responding fire resources with an additional locater, and allows fire officials to track and prioritize incidents by name. For example during the Southern California Fire Siege of 2003, the largest wildland fire in California history, the Cedar Fire in San Diego County, was named after the Cedar Creek Falls area where it started. The destructive Old Fire, which burned during the same time period in San Bernardino County, was named after the road along which it started - Old Waterman Canyon Road.

CAL FIRE is the largest fire department in California and the second largest fire department in the United States. CDF - CAL FIRE Firefighters answer the call more than 300,000 times a year. CAL FIRE Firefighters make up the fire department for 30 of our 58 counties in California and more than 100 local communities. We serve as the incident command during many of California’s most serious disasters. CAL FIRE Firefighters respond to many various types and forms of calls ranging from structural fires, to auto accidents, to earthquakes, to floods, to the spilling of hazardous materials, to every conceivable disaster; CAL FIRE answer's the calls. CAL FIRE is the largest fire department in California and the second largest fire department in the United States . CAL FIRE firefighters protect 33 million acres of State Responsibility Area (SRA). We have over 4,000 members within CAL FIRE and CAL FIRE is associated with the California Professional Firefighters (CPF) and the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF).

CFN - CALIFORNIA FIRE NEWS - CAL FIRE NEWS

Saturday, November 15, 2014