And the fact that CALFIRE prefers twin engine aircraft for the obvious reasons. SEATS do not have the best record but that falls on the pilots as much as airframe.
CALFIRE operates 2 full air attack bases in the wine country, Sonoma and Ukiah. It is always the cool glitzy solutions that attract attention.
I think the money would be better spent elsewhere such as education. We can throw as much money as we want at these types of fires, but nothing will work until we help people understand what vegetation management and self responsibility means. The weather conditions that existed during these fires prevented aircraft from flying a good portion of the time anyway.
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