blues deville Posted August 13, 2018 Share Posted August 13, 2018 I thought I was up to speed with what’s being used these days to fight fires but I will add this Douglas model to my list. Wouldn’t want to flame out my own engines but I suppose this aircraft type/design works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Say Again, Over! Posted August 13, 2018 Share Posted August 13, 2018 Can they do as many passes with biggers jets than a fleet of CL415s can? I understand they can clubber a fire with a huge load of water from the bigger jets but do they have enough airplanes to have a constant supply of drops? Maybe the CL415 is just not suited for this area because of the scarcity of nearby lakes or is it just the USA way of not using something because it's not "American"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blues deville Posted August 13, 2018 Author Share Posted August 13, 2018 6 hours ago, Say Again, Over! said: Can they do as many passes with biggers jets than a fleet of CL415s can? I understand they can clubber a fire with a huge load of water from the bigger jets but do they have enough airplanes to have a constant supply of drops? Maybe the CL415 is just not suited for this area because of the scarcity of nearby lakes or is it just the USA way of not using something because it's not "American"? No expert in this field. My experience is limited to a summer working a DNR contract in Manitoba flying a C337. Saw one fire in 300 hours on my little route around Lake Winnipeg and central MB. However, for most of our Canadian wilderness and associated forest fires finding a source of water isn’t a problem. California of course has a serious water issue so I suppose this type of fire fighting is their only option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kip Powick Posted August 13, 2018 Share Posted August 13, 2018 Interesting...depending on which way your brain acts first. Could be a headset with a mic or, Could be a silhouette of a man wearing a surgical mask Clubber?...Clobber...oh... I see,...... the "O" and the "U" are only separated by one key Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boestar Posted August 13, 2018 Share Posted August 13, 2018 Apparent,y there is a sufficiently large lake adjacent to the fire area which would serve well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Say Again, Over! Posted August 13, 2018 Share Posted August 13, 2018 Kip! Post your next reply in French and let me have at ya! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreatSlave Posted August 13, 2018 Share Posted August 13, 2018 The retardant aircraft and scoopers have different roles and contrary to popular belief, often neither solely focused on extinguishment of a fire of any great magnitude. The red retardant is primarily used for containment, establishing a defensive line just ahead of the fire. The desire is not so much to extinguish fuel that's already burning but more to rob the fire of additional fuel once it gets to the line. It can be used as an initial attack tool to buy containment time until other resources, such as ground fire fighters, helis and heavy equipment can get on scene. Retardant is also used to create protection lines around structures and other values. The scoopers, in my limited experience, are more commonly used to modify fire behavior in support of ground based resources, or to defend the fire lines if there have been excursions through the line or windborne spotting across the line. Much like municipal fire departments working to prevent a house fire that is a total loss from spreading to the rest of the neighbourhood, it's often a more effective use of resources to starve the fire of new fuel rather than attempt to extinguish something that's already fully involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seeker Posted August 13, 2018 Share Posted August 13, 2018 Interesting, two shots of drops with gear down and two with the gear up. In the first shot, with gear down, it looks like the retardant is getting into the gear, in the last shot, with gear down, it looks like the retardant isn't getting into the gear. If there was a choice I would assume that keeping the gear up is better - wouldn't want to be the guy tasked with cleaning everything after the mission is done for the day. I wonder what the parameters are for deciding which option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreatSlave Posted August 13, 2018 Share Posted August 13, 2018 My understanding is that they were having some problems with retardant ingestion into the engines and mitigated the issue with airflow changes by extending the gear during drops. The photos were likely from different periods, before and after the change in their procedures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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