Did Chester get shut down for some reason? The S-2’s were going there for reload and now they are going to Redding.
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Don’t know, but it’s dang windy right now just outside of Greenville. Could be “sportier” up in Chester.
I believe I saw 2 sets of 2 S2T’s (thats a lot of 2’s), one pair was heading to Chester and one pair was heading to Redding.
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Tanker 89 just landed at chester and the air tractors are still flying out of there right now.
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The sole airport fuel truck in Chester is currently not in service, so the S-2s will make a bunch of runs to Chester for retardant then one to Redding for retardant and fuel. It also means we can’t take any heavy tankers.
Source: The guy who operates and is trying to fix said rather ancient fuel truck.
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The Cal Fire S2‘s 90% of the time will return to a Cal Fire base with a CAL FIRE mechanic to get fuel instead of stopping at airports with no Cal Fire mechanic. This is in case there’s any issues they’re not stuck at a base shut down with no mechanic. they’ll continue to get retardant load return until they’re out of gas and then stop at the state base.
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Chester must be the other 10% then, because they always get fuel here during the entire duration of working a fire, especially if it saves an additional 30-90 minutes on a round trip to Chico or Redding. If the fuel truck had been operational, the thirty-ish stops we had yesterday by S-2s would’ve included probably eight or nine fuelings, depending on pilot preference. (There also would’ve been some more trips in by T181 and possibly a few C-130s if fuel had been available.)
We’ve only had two breakdowns that I can recall, one overnight during the Park Fire and the other about five years ago.
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I knew the guy who had the fuel concession in Chester for years. He said that every day tankers flew on the 2012 Chips Fire was one less year he’d have to work before retirement. Homie needs to buy a new truck.
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Additionally the S2’s require AWI (alcohol water injection) which to my knowledge Chester or any non state base doesn’t have. If the temps for the day require the injection for takeoff then they would have to return to a state base.
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That was Dan English. There is no private fuel concession/FBO since he retired (right after the Chips Fire, of course), it’s purely a county operation now.
And yes, the airport desperately needs a new fuel truck - the current '89 F800 was long on hours when it was bought nine years ago. I’ve raised this issue repeatedly with the county over the past five years that I’ve been in a position to do so. I could go on at serious length about it, and have done so with various officials, to zero effect. I’m honestly not even sure if four out of five Supervisors are aware there’s a tanker base here (I’ve only ever seen one set foot at the airport in eight years), and just think it’s the same as Gansner or Nervino.
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Chester has AWI, I’ve seen them roll the cart out many times.
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T140 is reloading out of Chester! Didn’t realize it was a C130 capable base.
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They’ve been coming in here (Chester) again for about three years, after a long absence. T123 in 2023 was the first (firefighting) C-130 here in a long time, based for about a month and four or five others from Coulson as well as CalFire’s T118 (IIRC) have been here at least once each.
The Coast Guard occasionally dropped by with theirs in the mid-to-late 2000s when they were still had them full time at McClellan. (They haven’t responded to my suggestion to come in with the C-27s yet).
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What is the difference between a Standard and Restricted Type 1 Copter?
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**Type 1 Helicopters **
I actually had a Type 1 CH-47 pickup a hotshot crew in1994 fires above McCall, ID before sunset due to no other copters available. Crew was on a 12 shift with no provisions for staying on overnite in 25-35 fall weather.
I had to justify it with AirOps before it happened. Was written up as life safety for hotshot crew.
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Uh-60 and CH-47’s from 40th CAB were also used in 2020 creek fire for rescues.
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I never understood the restricting of Military aircraft, went they good enough to fly Military personnel and equipment. Does it have to do with records after they left service?
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Completely different specifications and requirements. What a military requires (just not the US) is not anywhere close to or the same as what the FAA or civilian authorities require.
The aircraft are purpose built to specifications for the military. When they are repurpused to civilian use. The FAA has to recertify the aircraft.
Even parts for military aircraft are in some cases built differently, with different tolerances etc.
So just because the UH-60, HH-60, MH-60 and the S70i are all the same family “Blackhawk / Firehawk” the parts are not interchangeable.
A lot of it boils down to liabilities and exposure.
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As far as I remember, they were not retired airframes but active duty pressed into service for the rescues.
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I’m just saying it’s good enough for our service members but not good enough for our firefighters?