PORT HUENEME, CA - Expect a lot of aerial firefighting by California and others states' National Guard forces this year, according to Neal Hitchcock, deputy operations director of Fire and Aviation with the U.S. Forest Service.
Hitchcock made that prediction May 5 to commanders and flight crews from federal and state organizations, including the California National Guard, at the welcome session of the 2008 Modular Airborne Firefighting System (MAFFS) training at Channel Islands Air National Guard Station near Ventura, Calif. His comments indicate firefighting crews might begin fighting actual fires earlier, more often and for longer periods than in previous years.
The week's MAFFS program provided training and qualification of military navigators, pilots, loadmasters and ground crews that might have to fly firefighting missions around the nation this year.
Several media outlets from California and Colorado participated in a May 8 media day. The event began with a morning briefing by California Air Guard Master Sgt. Michael Drake on the MAFFS system and its part in the firefighting mission, and also featured tours of static displays of the MAFFS systems, a C-130J-model aircraft and a U.S. Forest Service lead plane; and a live MAFFS water-drop demonstration. Media were also granted several interviews with civilian and military subject matter experts concerning the MAFFS system and the interagency and interstate cooperation involved in firefighting missions.
Distinguished visitors included Maj. Gen. William H. Wade II, adjutant general of California, and his counterpart from the Nevada National Guard, Maj. Gen. Cynthia Kirkland. Representatives from several U.S. congressional offices also attended, as did National Guard Bureau officials.
Personnel from a variety of federal and state agencies, including Cal Fire, Air National Guard and Reserve units from Wyoming, North Carolina, Colorado and California, the U.S. Forest Service and the National Interagency Firefighting Center joined the men and women of Channel Islands' 146th Air Wing in the MAFFS mission, now in its 35th year. The operation has continued with an unblemished safety record and constantly improving technology, which leaders hope will increase the operation's effectiveness.
MAFFS was created in 1974 in response to devastating forest fires which ravaged Southern California and much of the southwestern United States. The concerted effort by several states' firefighting agencies and National Guard units led to the flying of C-130 aircraft equipped with special apparatus designed for the aerial delivery of flame retardant. The program has proved successful in addressing large forest fires.
Hitchcock says ocean temperature, precipitation anomalies and mountain snowpacks are among the factors considered in predicting the dryness and flammability of forest regions throughout the nation.
"We're setting new records for heat intensity," Hitchcock said of the most recent fires, adding that the potential exists for 2008 to be a very active firefighting year, based on those indicators.
That's why the crews were in Southern California, said Kathy Allred, MAFFS 2008 training director. Allred said by conducting training that simulates dropping flame retardant over seven areas of the Los Padres and Angeles forests, they were preparing for any interagency, real world response to the upcoming fire season.
"Every fire is different," said Chief Master Sgt. Mike Annas.
Annas, who leads the MAFFS enlisted component for North Carolina's 145th Airlift Wing, said that crews can become more proficient at what they do, but due to variations in winds, conditions, topography and a variety of other factors distinguishing every fire, it is always necessary to make corrections.
MAFFS leaders said the aim of the training operation was to encourage or seek the best operational procedures in accomplishing the firefighting mission with concerns for economy, efficiency and safety.
This year's forest fire season runs from June 1 to Dec. 1.