Cal Fire Positions 2 Additional Helitankers In Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — The Cal Fire Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit welcomed two additional Type-1 helitankers to its fleet this fire season and positioned the two contracted aircraft for aerial firefighting operations within the Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit's jurisdiction.

Helitanker 1CH from Columbia Helicopters is based out of Napa County Airport, while Helitanker 37S from Siller Brothers is based out of Sonoma Air Attack base at the Sonoma County Airport. In addition to Cal Fire LNU's own Type-1 Cal Fire Hawk Copter 104 based in Lake County, the region now has three large helicopters allowing for quicker arrival at new fires and the ability to respond to multiple fires at the same time, Cal Fire said Wednesday in a news release.

Further, the aircraft are available for fire assignments in the greater Bay Area and all of California.

Helitanker 1CH, a Boeing CH-47D Chinook, is owned and operated by Columbia Helicopters of Aurora, Oregon. Helitanker 1CH arrived at the Napa County Airport and has been on contract since June 16. The helitanker holds up to 2,800 gallons of water on a fixed tank, which is permanently attached to the aircraft. The fixed tank system also provides a safer operation since it does not have a bucket hanging underneath the helicopter while in flight.

Helitanker 37S, a Sikorsky S-64E Skycrane, is owned and operated by Siller Brothers out of Yuba City. Helitanker 37S arrived and has been on contract since July 1. This helitanker holds up to 2,000 gallons of water on a fixed tank. According to the Siller Brothers, "the S-64E helicopter features three experienced pilots – a command pilot, copilot and aft seat pilot, whose job is to guarantee precision on every job."

"These respective 2,800- and 2,000-gallon water droppers will enhance CAL FIRE’s operations, ensuring that these mission-critical resources are always available to respond to emergency fire events and operate safely in the field," Cal Fire Spokesperson Tyree Zander said. "They will be additional firefighting resources that will help to address complex initial attacks and large fire support operations. This will not only increase our initial attack strength dramatically but will also reduce the time in getting these valuable resources to our large fires as well.

"CAL FIRE LNU welcomes both Helitanker 1CH and 37S to the Unit and we look forward to working with both helitankers this year."