Aerial firefighting
Aerial firefighting, also known as waterbombing, is the use of aircraft and other aerial resources to combat wildfires. The types of aircraft used include fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. Smokejumpers and rappellers are also classified as aerial firefighters, delivered to the fire by parachute from a variety of fixed-wing aircraft, or rappelling from helicopters. Chemicals used to fight fires may include water, water enhancers such as foams and gels, and specially formulated fire retardants such as Phos-Chek.
Terminology
The idea of fighting forest fires from the air dates back at least as far as Friedrich Karl von Koenig-Warthausen's observations on seeing a blaze when overflying the Santa Lucia Range, California, in 1929.A wide variety of terminology has been used in the popular media for the aircraft used in aerial firefighting. The terms airtanker or air tanker generally refer to fixed-wing aircraft based in the United States; "airtanker" is used in official documentation. The term "waterbomber" is used in some Canadian government documents for the same class of vehicles, though it sometimes has a connotation of amphibians.
Air attack is an industry term used for the actual application of aerial resources, both fixed-wing and rotorcraft, on a fire. Within the industry, though, "air attack" may also refer to the supervisor in the air who supervises the process of attacking the wildfire from the air, including fixed-wing airtankers, helicopters, and any other aviation resources assigned to the fire. The Air Tactical Group Supervisor, often called "air attack", is usually flying at an altitude above other resources assigned to the fire, often in a fixed-wing plane but occasionally in a helicopter.
Depending on the size, location, and assessed potential of the wildfire, the "air attack" or ATGS person may be charged with initial attack, or with extended attack, the ongoing response to and management of a major wildfire requiring additional resources including engines, ground crews, and other aviation personnel and aircraft needed to control the fire and establish control lines or firelines ahead of the wildfire.
Equipment
A wide variety of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft are used for aerial firefighting. In 2003, it was reported that "The U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management own, lease, or contract for nearly 1,000 aircraft each fire season, with annual expenditures in excess of US$250 million in recent years".Helicopters
Helicopters may be fitted with tanks or they may carry buckets. Some helitankers, such as the Erickson AirCrane, are also outfitted with a front-mounted foam cannon. Buckets are usually filled by submerging or dipping them in lakes, rivers, reservoirs, or portable tanks. The most popular of the buckets is the flexible Bambi Bucket. Tanks can be filled on the ground or water can be siphoned from lakes, rivers, reservoirs, or a portable tank through a hanging snorkel. Popular firefighting helicopters include variants of the Bell UH-1H Super Huey, Bell 204, Bell 205, Bell 212, Boeing Vertol 107, Boeing Vertol 234, Sikorsky S-70 "Firehawk" and the Sikorsky S-64 Aircrane helitanker, which features a snorkel for filling from a natural or man-made water source while in hover. Currently the world's largest helicopter, the Mil Mi-26, uses a Bambi bucket.Water and fire retardant bombers
Airtankers or water bombers are fixed-wing aircraft fitted with tanks that can be filled on the ground at an air tanker base or, in the case of flying boats and amphibious aircraft, by skimming water from lakes, reservoirs, or large rivers without needing to land.Various aircraft have been used over the years for firefighting. In 1947, the United States Air Force and United States Forest Service experimented with military aircraft dropping water-filled bombs. The bombs were unsuccessful, and the use of internal water tanks was adopted instead.
The Mendocino Air Tanker Squad formed by Joseph Bolles Ely in 1956 was the first such unit in the United States to drop water and retardant on fires. Based at the Willows-Glenn County Airport it soon led the way for other agencies to form similar squads.
Though World War II- and Korean War-era bombers were for a long time the mainstay of the aerial firefighting fleet, newer purpose-built tankers have since come online. The smallest are the Single Engine Air Tankers. These are agricultural sprayers that generally drop about of water or retardant. Examples include the Air Tractor AT-802, which can deliver around 800 gallons of water or fire retardant solution in each drop, and the Soviet Antonov An-2 biplane. Both of these aircraft can be fitted with floats that scoop water from the surface of a body of water. Similar in configuration to the World War II–era Consolidated PBY Catalina, the Canadair CL-215 and its derivative the CL-415 are designed and built specifically for firefighting. The Croatian Air Force uses six CL-415s as well as six AT 802s for firefighting purposes.
Medium-sized modified aircraft include the Grumman S-2 Tracker as used by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, as well as the Conair Firecat version developed and used by Conair Group Inc. of Canada, while the Douglas DC-4, the Douglas DC-7, the Lockheed C-130 Hercules, the Lockheed P-2 Neptune, and the Lockheed P-3 Orion - and its commercial equivalent, the L-188 Electra - have been used as air tankers. Conair also converted a number of Convair 580 and Fokker F27 Friendship turboprop airliners to air tankers.
The largest aerial firefighter ever used is a Boeing 747 aerial firefighter, known as the Global Supertanker, that can carry fed by a pressurized drop system. The Supertanker was deployed operationally for the first time in 2009, fighting a fire in Spain. The tanker made its first American operation on August 31, 2009, at the Oak Glen Fire. It has since been replaced by a Boeing 747-400. Another wide body jetliner that is currently being used as an air tanker is the modified McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 operated by the 10 Tanker Air Carrier company as the DC-10 Air Tanker. It can carry up to of fire fighting retardant.
The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations operates convertible-to-cargo Ilyushin Il-76 airtankers that have been operating with tanking systems, and several Beriev Be-200 jet powered amphibian aircraft. The Be-200 can carry a maximum payload of about of water, making "scoops" in suitable stretches of water in 14 seconds.
Bombardier's Dash 8 Q Series aircraft are the basis of new, next-generation air tankers. Cascade Aerospace has converted two pre-owned Q400s to act as part-time water bomber and part-time transport aircraft for France's Sécurité Civile, while Neptune Aviation is converting a pre-owned Q300 as a prototype to augment its Lockheed P-2 Neptune aircraft. The Sécurité Civile also operates twelve Canadair CL-415 and nine Conair Turbo Firecat aircraft. Neptune Aviation also currently operates converted British Aerospace 146 jetliners as air tankers. The BAe 146 can carry up to 3,000 gallons of fire fighting retardant. Air Spray USA Ltd. of Chico, California has also converted the BAe 146 jetliner to the role of air tanker. Another modern-era passenger aircraft that has now been converted for aerial firefighting missions in the U.S. is the McDonnell Douglas MD-87 jetliner operated by Erickson Aero Tanker. The MD-87 can carry up to 4,000 gallons of fire fighting retardant. Coulson Aviation unveiled a Boeing 737-300 firefighting conversion in May 2017. Six aircraft have been purchased from Southwest Airlines for the RADS system conversion which was planned to enter service in December 2017. The 737 aircraft is smaller than the C-130Q which allows for a wider range of airfields to be utilized. Britt Coulson further stated the aircraft will be able to retain the current seat and galley configuration for tanker operations. On 22 November 2018, the 737 was used for the first time to fight a fire near Newcastle, Australia.
In July 2022, Airbus tested the aerial firefighting capacity of the A400M using a roll-on/roll-off kit comprising a 20-tonne water tank and piping allowing the load to be expelled from the end of the cargo ramp.
Comparison table of fixed-wing firefighting tanker airplanes
All links, citations and data sources are listed in the paragraph above. For accident and grounding citations, see paragraph below table.| Make and model | Country of origin | Category | Water/retardant capacity, US gallons | Notes |
| Air Tractor AT-802F | United States | Light | ||
| Air Tractor AT-1002 | United States | Medium | ||
| AN-32P Firekiller | Ukraine | Medium | ||
| AVIC AG600 Kunlong | China | Medium | In development | |
| BAe 146 | United Kingdom | Medium | ||
| Beriev Be-200 | Russia | Medium | ||
| Coulson Aviation-Boeing 737 FireLiner | United States | Medium | ||
| Boeing 747 Supertanker | United States | Heavy | No longer in service | |
| Bombardier Dash 8 Q400-MR | Canada | Medium | ||
| Canadair CL-215 | Canada | Medium | ||
| Canadair CL-415 | Canada | Medium | ||
| Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer | United States | Medium | No longer in service | |
| De Havilland Canada DHC-515 | Canada | Medium | ||
| Douglas B-26 | United States | Medium | No longer in service | |
| Douglas DC-4 | United States | Medium | No longer in service | |
| Douglas DC-6 | United States | Medium | no longer in service | |
| Douglas DC-7 | United States | Medium | No longer in service | |
| Embraer C-390 Millennium | Brazil | Medium | ||
| Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar | United States | Medium | No longer in service | |
| Grumman S-2 Tracker | United States | Medium | ||
| Ilyushin Il-76 | Russia | Heavy | Largest active waterbomber aircraft | |
| Lockheed C-130 Hercules | United States | Medium | ||
| Lockheed L-188 Electra | United States | Medium | ||
| Martin Mars | United States | Medium | No longer in service | |
| McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 | United States | Heavy | ||
| McDonnell Douglas MD-87 | United States | Medium | ||
| North American B-25 | United States | Medium | No longer in service | |
| P-2V Neptune | United States | Medium | No longer in service | |
| P-3 Orion | United States | Medium | No longer in service | |
| PBY Catalina | United States | Medium | or for the Super model | No longer in service |
| PZL-Mielec M-18 Dromader | Poland | Light | - | |
| ShinMaywa US-2 | Japan | Medium |
Category legend: Light: under, Medium: under, Heavy: Greater than
Other former military aircraft utilized as firefighting air tankers in the U.S. in the past included the B-17 and the PB4Y-2, a version of the B-24.