Fighting California Wildfires - Mind-blowing Tour of Cal Fire's Aviation Fleet

Comments · 240

• LU

  @luthiermatt · 1 year ago

  You missed the most important part of the Cal Fire aviation system. The dozen or so bases around the state that deploy the OV-10 Bronco control aircraft and several S-2T Turbo Tracker medium tankers. They are on scene in minutes. Get to one of those bases and check out the ops. It's an ingenious system.

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• RO

  @RobWormaldPlus · 1 year ago

  I live near Grass Valley Air Attack base. Every time they launch I feel a little better about paying taxes in California 😅

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• ED

  @EdwardDunlap-p1c · 1 month ago

  aerial fire fighting pilots & crews have more GUTS than other people !

• J5

  @J52_Mac · 1 year ago

  Growing up in central Cali i always loved and still do love watching the broncos flying around during summer watching for spot fires. It’s always been one of my favorite aircraft and even more so after learning about its history as a FAC plane for special forces in the Vietnam war

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• JE

  @jesseclark4591 · 1 year ago

  Cal fire are the baddest of the baddest dudes out there

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• KA

  @KarmaFlight · 1 year ago

  I was in the 126th Medical Company at Mather in Sacramento. We were the first military unit to fly the Fire Hawk. The tanks were made by Aero Union in Chico, California.Many of our Hueys were transferred to CAL Fire for the conversion. Fire fighting is the most demanding flying outside of combat that you can do and is extremely rewarding.

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• NO

  @NoPitBullLeftBehind · 1 year ago

  I love our Cal Fire Aitrak crews, I hate to see them because it usually means something is going wrong nearby, but it's always a comfort knowing they are there. I live in Northern California in Lake County and we have the Boggs Mountain Helitak crew.

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• OF

  @offcy3318 · 1 year ago

  I can always hear the chinooks coming when the ground starts to rumble

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• CH

  @CHRISTO-yp6sr · 1 year ago

  A "Bambi Bucket" slung underneath.

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• JO

  @JohnWoodall-b9z · 3 months ago

  The Information I have Learnt about Cal Fire I have Gleaned from That of None Other than Juan Browne and His YouTube Channel, The Man is a Legend in my Book&apos;s.<br>The Reason I Say that is Because it&apos;s Defining in That Which he Says and Shed so Much Light on the Operations of Cal Fire Systems and They are a Brilliant Bunch of People in the Community.<br>Cheers <br>John Woodall 👍😊❤.

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• CS

  @CS_247 · 1 year ago

  I used to fly with the NAFC in Australia, and altho this was a great &apos;&apos;quick look&apos;&apos; at aerial fire fighting operations, I think after this California fire you should do a more in depth review, as this operation is HUGE. From surveillance to planning to managing multiple aircraft during a firestorm is a mind-boggling operation, akin to and surpassing a military strike. <br>Thank you to ALL those men and women, from loaders to pilots, spotters, and management. We salute you.

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• RO

  @robertbraun7155 · 9 months ago

  I was born and raised in California. Born and lived on Santa Barbara, then we moved up to Redwood City right on Redwood shores. I went to elementary school at Nesbit in Belmont, then in 1980 we moved down to Palmdale California in northern Los Angeles County so my mom could be close to her parents who lived on Pearblossom Hwy. Many times we would watch as the San Gabriel mountains were burning and they would set up an LZ on the corner of my Grandparents land at the hydrant.. Myself and my 3 older brothers would watch as the old Yellow, black and white Bell 212s would load and go right over the top of my grandparents house to the point that you could feel the water &nbsp; that would leak out of the tanks as they would fly up and hit the hot spots and then come back and land to reload. <br>Other times, my father would take us to Fox Field in Lancaster and watch the bombers come in and get reloaded with Phos-Chek.. &nbsp;My father as a teenager helped retro old ww2 planes into bombers for fire support.. Its always been in our blood. We moved to Oklahoma in 1994 just after the Northridge quake. Once here my father and I joined the fire department. It was the best gift anyone could ask for, to be able to go through all of the OSU fire training with my father as an adult. He went on to become chief and then the president of the firefighters association. &nbsp;He fought hard to get new and updated equipment for rural fire departments across the state.. He passed Memorial weekend 3 years ago. It was amazing to see the line of all these rural departments lined up to pay respect to someone who spent a large part of their life helping these rural departments get better equipment. &nbsp;Everything from a page out pager system down to pampers and tankers that were not leftover military vehicles that we had to refurbished.. He was my hero no doubt. He fought hard to make ours and other communities more protected.. Great video. Stoked many memories..

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