CAL FIRE CHANGING THE GAME WITH THE S-70i
When the average person thinks about aerial firefighting, images that come to mind are often of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft dropping water and retardant lines around or directly on fires. Synonymous with those mental images is the familiar sight of some of the most commonly referenced aircraft, the red and white striped aircraft fleet of CAL FIRE, what is recognized as the world’s largest aerial firefighting fleet. Before their rebranding as CAL FIRE, the state’s aviation fleet was not always as extensive. The California Department of Forestry, the name of the agency before being CAL FIRE, has slowly built up its firefighting fleet deployed around the state of California over the years. The state of California is arguably one of the world’s most wildfire-prone areas, with over thirty-three million acres of state and federal forests throughout the state that spans over 163,000 square miles. ➤
AF 12 | aerialfiremag.com
