Coulson Aviation Fighting the "Antonio Fire" in the Angeles National Forest
Steep terrain and an extremely dark night proved a challenge for ground firefighters and Coulson Aviation’s skilled night mission operators fighting the “Antonio Fire” in the Angeles National Forest.
The fire started in the mid-afternoon on August 3, and news reports said by around 4:40PM it had spread to approximately 50 acres.
Federal, State and County aerial firefighting resources had been responding to the fire during the day. The terrain was steep, making it difficult for firefighters to directly engage.
The United States Forest Service (USFS) requested the assistance of two Coulson Aviation Chinooks as part of the Quick Reaction Force (QRF) program. Both Helitanker 55 and Helitanker 47 were deployed.
Helitanker 55 pilot and Coulson Aviation’s Director of Flight Operations-Rotorcraft Mel said it was a difficult fire, and a challenging night for the crews.
In this case, due to the difficult terrain and what was expected to be a dark night, the Coulson Aviation NVG teams operated over the fire for the last two hours of daylight in order to fully understand what they would be up against during night engagements.
After refuelling and getting kitted out ready for night operations, they resumed the mission.
“The firefight from the air is really doing the job.”
Mel said the day work was necessary for the teams to be able to continue to work at night. Without understanding the terrain and mapping the challenges, the teams would have been limited in what they could do.
This proved the efficiency of the stringent safety procedures and risk mitigation Coulson Aviation has in place for conducting night fire operations.
The aerial resources working side by side, including the two Coulson Aviation Chinooks, undertook a large extinguishing effort throughout the night.
All aircraft were refilling from a reservoir approximately 7 miles away from the fire.
With 2100 gallons on board traveling uphill the CH47D Helitanker flew around a speed of 97 knots, and with an empty belly on the way back to refill, around 142 knots. Travel time was around 5 minutes with refills taking around 2 minutes.
The teams were building lines, reinforcing retardant lines, cooling off the flanks and the “head of the fire”, all before ground crews could safely engage the fight.
The night-time aerial firebombing work kept the fire in check and bought time for the firefighting agencies to regroup and plan the next moves for the following day.
Having two powerful Chinooks working together with other firebombing helicopters proved once again how potent these coordinated efforts can be when in the fight against fire and time.