Reserve C-130s helping fight California fires

Published Oct. 23, 2007
302nd Airlift Wing Public Affairs

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- The 302nd Airlift Wing has launched two firefighting C-130H3 aircraft to battle the raging wildfires in southern California.

Two additional C-130s are also going to support the operation.

The National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho requested Department of Defense assistance in fighting the fires which put the wheels in motion for mobilization of the reservists from Peterson.

Crews from the 302nd loaded the Modular Airborne Firefighting Equipment onto two of their Lockheed Martin C-130 cargo aircraft. The Air Force Reserve Command unit will furnish enough crews to sustain its two firefighting aircraft throughout each daylight hour to help battle wildland fires currently ravaging national forest and private properties in California.

Last year, the 302nd's MAFFS mission at Peterson was activated by the U.S. Forest Service to fight wildfires in the Pacific Northwest. The 302nd flew 18 sorties against fires in Idaho, Nevada and Oregon, dropping 48,600 gallons of retardant. (Air Force Reserve Command News Service).