As Wildfire Season Nears, the Aging Fleet of Air Tankers Raises Concerns
After a warm and dry winter, another deadly wildfire season is approaching in forests across the country. And, as in years past, the U.S. Forest Service is preparing to fight blazes from the sky with old workhorses, museum-quality air tankers so dated that the manufacturer no longer makes spare parts for repairs.
The aging fleet of large, fixed-wing air tankers fell under intense scrutiny in 2002, when two aircraft built in the 1940s and ’50s broke apart in midair while fighting fires in California and Colorado, killing five crewmen.
Time to retire air tankers
On Friday, the Forest Service signaled that newer air tankers are likely to be long in coming. The agency announced a long-awaited strategy to replace its fleet of 11 large fixed-wing air tankers, provided under contract by two private aviation companies.
“We know we’re going to need to modernize this part of our fleet,” said Tom Harbour, national fire director for the Forest Service, a division of the Department of Agriculture.
Large air tankers are coveted because they can deliver optimal amounts of suppressant on forest fires “and are an important niche,” Harbour said. Yet they are only one part of a mix that includes firefighters on the ground, helicopters and other aircraft.
Wildfires scorch millions of acres every year in the United States, destroying homes and businesses, and ending lives. At least 10 states have suffered record fires since 2000, and with “the changing climate, fire seasons will likely become longer and more severe,” the Forest Service said, making a case for newer planes in its 12-page strategy.
As wildfires have grown in size and frequency, the fixed-wing air tanker fleet has shrunk. Last summer, it included 18 planes, until the contract of a company that provided seven large tankers was canceled because of safety concerns.
Eleven air tankers, with an average age of 50 years, cannot meet the demand for large aircraft at the height of the wildfire season, experts said. A single fire in California or Arizona can require every plane in the federal fleet.