Each of the aircraft can carry eight to ten Smokejumpers and their initial supply of gear. Aircraft commonly used in smokejumper operations include DeHavilland DH-6 300 series Twin Otter, Shorts Sherpa C-23A, Dornier 228 and CASA 212. Have a fire aviation news tip? While this new aircraft will predominantly be used as a lead plane, it is also used to provide pilot training, natural resource activities and personnel transport. Lake Tahoe USFS's Tweets. Helicopter pilots often perform bucket drops to assist in fire suppression, as in this National Park Service operation in the Grand Canyon. California just had its largest fire ever, and it was in the month of December, notes Hale, whose company has four pilots. First Air Force (Air Forces Northern), USNORTHCOMs Air Component Command, is the DoDs operational lead for the aerial military efforts. Official websites use .gov Enter your email address to subscribe and receive notifications of new posts by email. Chile has no infrastructure for supervising, using, or refilling large or very large air tankers and they were unfamiliar with the concept of lead planes. They are managed by Headquarters Individual Reservist Readiness and Integration Organization, located at Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado, and serve over 50 separate major commands, combatant commands and government agencies. It returned on February 13 after dropping on many wildfires in the South American country, making as many as seven sorties in a day each with19,200 gallons of water enhanced with an additive to help make the water more effective, since long-term retardant was not available. The Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) released the list of provisionally selected waitlisted candidates for the post of RRB ALP (Assitant Loco Pilot) on 29th June 2022. South Lake Tahoe, California fs.usda.gov/ltbmu Joined April 2009. COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - A U.S. Forest Service lead plane C90 King Air breaks away as a Modular Airborne Firefighting System-equipped C-130 begins dropping retardant on a section of the Waldo Canyon fire near Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Whether managing a wildfire, earthquake, tsunami or Kardashian wedding, the command & control of any large incident demands the same skill sets.