West Virginia National Guard Below: A loadmaster from a UH-60 participating in training observes a water
Story by Edward Wrinston Four members of the West Virginia National Guard’s Company C, 1-150th Assault Battalion are in California flying aerial wildland firefighting missions to help combat the massive North Complex and August Complex fires burning throughout nine counties in the northern part of the state.
pickup. Right: Members from the West Virginia National Guard are not hard to spot with the WVU neon paint on the side of their UH-60 Black Hawk
AF 30 | aerialfiremag.com
Maj. Evan Dale, Chief Warrant Officer 3 James Kearns, Staff Sgt. Ed Dillon, and Spc. Jack DeAngelo deployed to the region earlier in September to assist local and federal officials in containing and putting out the North Complex Fire, which has burned more than 300,000 acres. The crew was also recently tasked to assist with the August Complex Fire. Which, to date, has consumed more than 949,000 acres.
Dozens of large-scale fires, many caused by lightning strikes and fed by ongoing hot, dry and windy conditions, continue to burn throughout the western United States, including California, Oregon, Washington, Montana and Idaho. “Our mission here is to assist ground crews by conducting precise water drops on target from our helicopters to protect and save lives and property,” stated Dale. “We are flying California National Guard MH-60M Blackhawks, the exact models we have back home, and utilize ‘Bambi Buckets,’ which can accurately drop up to 660 gallons of water on designated and targeted fire lines per run.” “We typically try to position the bucket around 30 feet above the tree line before releasing our water for maximum precision and effect,” said Dillon. “That means putting the helicopter just 60 feet or so above the tree line and often flames. Getting that close to the fire brings several safety concerns – from smoke reducing our flight visibility, to the
