SVI-NEWS

Your Source For Local and Regional News

Slider

Slider

Highlight Wyoming

Wyoming National Guard activates C-130s to fight LA wildfires

Wyoming Air National Guard Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System-equipped C-130s  (U.S. Air Force photo/Nichole Grady)

 

GILLETTE (WNE) — Three Wyoming Air National Guard C-130s equipped with the U.S. Forest Service’s Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems, or MAFFS, and associated personnel were activated by U.S. Northern Command to support firefighting efforts in the Los Angeles area.

Three C-130 aircraft from the 153rd Airlift Wing will travel to Channel Islands Air National Guard Base in California, where they will provide critical assistance to the state’s firefighting apparatus, according to a press release from the Wyoming National Guard. 

About 40 aircrew members and maintenance personnel will deploy.

“It has been difficult to watch the absolute devastation of the wildfires in California,” said Col. Brian Diehl, the Wyoming Air National Guard’s 153rd Airlift Wing commander, in the press release. “We’re honored to be able to participate in our nation’s efforts to combat these fires and return normalcy to the people and communities of Southern California, and as soon as possible.”

MAFFS are the U.S. Forest Service’s portable fire-retardant delivery systems.  They can be inserted into military C-130 aircraft without major structural modifications to convert them into air tankers when needed.

They can discharge their entire load of up to 3,000 gallons of retardant in less than five seconds, covering an area one-quarter of a mile long by 100 feet wide, or they can make variable drops. Once a load is discharged from a MAFFS-equipped aircraft, and the aircraft lands at a tanker base, it can be refilled in less than 12 minutes.

Let us know what you think!
+1
0
+1
0
+1
0
+1
0
+1
0
+1
0
Share

LEAVE A RESPONSE