CHANNEL ISLANDS AIR NATIONAL GUARD STATION, Ca. - It's simply RISKY BUSINESS! That's how National Guard pilots best describe the dangers faced while attacking the Southern California fires from the air.
Airmen from four separate states make up the 135 members of the 146th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron as they continue to battle six major fires in Southern California that have already burned an estimated 380,000 acres and destroyed more than 2,600 homes and structures.
"This is one of the most dangerous missions out there," said Lt. Col. George Cardwell of Camarillo, Calif., who is the wing executive staff officer for the 146th Airlift Wing, the squadron's higher headquaters. "They are flying at the edge of the envelope."
Over the past eight days, the 146th EAS has flown 74 sorties and dumped more than 207,600 gallons of fire retardant using U.S. Forest Service Mobile Airborne Fire Fighting Systems or MAFFS as they call them. The systems are rolled on to the National Guard and Reserve's C-130 H Model Hercules aircraft, each carrying 3,000 gallons of fire retardant.
"The retardant is like Pepto-Bismol for the fire," described Les Becicka from the U.S. Forest Service that has six MAFFS supporting the fire fighting mission. "It coats the fuel of the fire and prevents further burning."
According to Lt. Col. Steve Anderson of Laramie, Wyo., a pilot with the 187th Airlift Squadron with the Wyoming Air National Guard, to be effective he must maneuver his aircraft within 150-200 feet above the target and slow down to almost an aircraft-stalling speed of 115 knots.
"Each drop covers a 100 by 1,500 foot strip as the entire 3,000 gallon load must be released in one pass," said Anderson.
Lt. Col. Glen Bourne, Ojai, Calif., is the commander for the 146th EAS and interacts with the U.S. Forest Service MAFFS liaison officer to carry out the assigned mission.
"We are always interested in preserving the resources, but when you are fighting a wildland-urban interface it is more than that; it's people's houses, its people's lives that are affected," said Bourne.
Bourne said the MAFFS mission is very complex but it always seems to come together.
"Everyone comes from different places and become totally focused and that is an amazing thing," he said. "It always seems to work."
Photos from the air highlight the effectiveness of the MAFFS as a bright orange line of retardant separates the green untouched forest and blackened earth covered with silver ash.
Bourne said there are eight U.S. Forest Service MAFFS spread among four units based out of California, Colorado, North Carolina and Wyoming. Each state has two MAFFS that normally remain in the states to support local incidents unless requested through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact. All three additional states responded to California's EMAC request, bringing the six additional MAFFS to the Channel Islands-based unit.
According to Bourne, before the recent fires the California Air National Guard knew they would be unable to perform the MAFFS mission due to the scheduled refurbishment of its new C-130 J Model aircraft.
"We knew we would not be able to fly MAFFS this year, so our participation has been to provide support," said Bourne. "Being available to pick up equipment for the operation, fly across country to pick up personnel, or whatever the requirements may be, so we don't tie up the other units as they perform MAFFS operations."
Rodney Windell, Abilene, Texas, U.S. Forest Service MAFFS liaison officer, is the forest service agent responsible for the overall MAFFS operation.
"I try to be the first person on the ground and the last one to leave," said Windell, who spends most of his time solving problems along with the senior military commander.
"This activation has been easy because we have been operating from the Air National Guard base," said Windell, who stated operations on a civilian field can become more challenging due to the coordination of resources like fuel, water usage, and landing fees.
"The operations here have been absolutely flawless, really smooth," said Windell. "The biggest challenge has been the amount of smoke and the amount of [air] traffic out there."
Windell has been involved with the MAFFS mission for more than 10 of the 30 years of its existence, and said this activation has been one of the most efficient operations to date.
"Everyone is focused, professional, cooperative, and doing the job," he said. "It's gone very smooth."
Windell, who served in the National Guard years ago, attributes the success of the mission to the performance and support from the National Guardsmen and Reservists he has worked with over the past week.
"I love working with the National Guard and it's one of the reasons I got involved in the program," said Windell. "They are a great bunch of people who have that "˜Can Do' attitude."
Staff Sgt. Chad Wellman, Cheyenne, Wyo., is a loadmaster with the 187th Airlift Squadron, Wyoming Air National Guard, said that it takes about a year to get fully qualified to perform the MAFFS mission.
Wellman arrived in California on Monday, Oct. 29, as a member of the replacement crew for the first Wyoming team that has been fighting fire since early last week and is anxiously waiting to participate in his first mission.
"I feel like there is more of a cause to our mission because you are trying to save someone's home rather than just forest and maybe even someone's life," Wellman said.
The dangers of the mission do not shake the confidence of these airmen because he said his full-time job back home as a Cheyenne police officer and his trust in fellow Guardsmen have removed any apprehension.
"It is dangerous to a point, but we have some very skilled pilots, skilled crews, and our maintenance crews make sure everything is right," he said.
Tech. Sgt. Lamont Wood of Colorado Springs, Colo., a load master for the 731st Airlift Squadron, U.S. Air Force Reserve, based at Peterson Air Force Base has been on 14 missions since arriving last week.
"We have been really busy. There wasn't a spot in the sky where you could look at and not see an aircraft helping fight the fire," said Wood. "It was really intense to see all the coordinated effort it takes to make this operation work."
Lt. Col. Brian Ratchford, Morrisville, N.C., a pilot for the 156th Airlift Squadron, North Carolina Air National Guard, has been flying MAFFS missions for more than seven years and arrived in California on Tuesday, Oct. 23, and has flown 15 MAFFS mission since his arrival.
"The biggest challenge has been the number of tankers in the area," said Ratchford, who added that during one of his missions there were 10 aircraft carefully sharing a five-mile area of air space. "But everyone understands how important this mission is and is willing to step up and make it happen."
Ratchford said that he was impressed at how people come together to do the right thing.
"I am always so impressed by how Americans can handle the worst situations with such grace," he said. "Folks around here are losing their homes and the memories associated with them and yet they seem to cope with it and know they will get it back."
But what Ratchford said the most valuable observation over the past week was the responsiveness of fellow Guardsmen and the Air Force Reserve.
"At the snap of your fingers you can get so many people out here ready to do this job - drop whatever is going on at home, whatever is going on in their life and make it happen," he said. "I take a lot of pride in the kind of response you can get out of the National Guard and Reserve."