Air Attack is the world leading publication covering the world of aerial fire fighting - fixed wing.
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How did Air Attack come about ?? Well for over two decades I have had the privilege to shoot some of the men and women of this industry at work on the frontlines of fires in New South Wales and Victoria in Australia, California in the United States and in my home country of New Zealand. When fire season comes around air tankers and helicopters are usually on the main TV networks on a daily basis, but do we REALLY know who the people are behind the controls of the Fire Boss, or the 747 Global Supertanker, or the helitack and rappel crews in the back of the helicopters, or the Air Attack Supervisors airborne over a fire in their OV10 Broncos or AS350s – probably not. Do we know what it takes to keep these aircraft fine-tuned and ready to respond at a moments notice, or know anything about the lives of the men and women who dedicate their life to protecting others – probably not. Do we know what goes on in the Ops Rooms of the various despatching agencies around the world – Probably Not.
Well in each issue of Air Attack we will share the stories and backgrounds of some of these people, we will share what it’s like not just on the frontline of the fires, but also what goes on in the ops room, at the mixing tanks or on the training grounds when preparing for the upcoming season. We are sure you will like what we have planned for each issue.
Aerial fire-fighting has grown from a part-time industry to one that in many cases is year-round in some locations. I was recently in San Diego chatting with SDG&E staff and they were telling me that previously they would lease an Erickson AirCrane for three months of the year but because there have been so many fires outside of this window they made the decision to keep an AirCrane in San Diego year-round for the next three years, now that’s a big change from the norm and a big investment. Even down in our neck of the woods things are changing with the seasons getting longer and longer. Our fire season doesn’t usually kick off until around November but when you have fires in the middle of July you wonder just what sort of fire season you are going to have, and indications are fire seasons are getting even more intense. Just look at the size of the recent fires in California and in Queensland, Australia where at one time they had over 113 fires burning. Aerial resources get stretched and no matter how many assets some agencies have – it’s never going to be enough. In each issue of Air Attack we are going to look at the various assets, both fixed and rotary wing there are available out there, as well as delving into the unmanned aerial systems that are starting to make their way into the industry. We will also be examining the technology that is emerging for both those in the air as well as those on the ground.
We need to keep in mind that some of this technology we are starting to see is that which has been developed for the military – but whereas they are fighting people and weapons – in this case the enemy is fire. NVGs are one of those technologies – something LA County Fire Air Ops has been using for a long time, but downunder Emergency Management Victoria have been working with Coulson Aviation and Kestrel Aviation to stand up their first ever night fire-fighting capability with S61s and an S76 lead ship as well as Bell 412s. Moving forward this capability is going to be expanded into the fixed wing air tanker world with Coulson’s C130s. Whether or not it’s a good idea having NVG air tankers working at night is open for debate – and that’s one we will be looking forward to discussing.
