10 September 2016 (15:32 UTC-07 Tango 01) 20 Shahrivar 1395/07 Dhu I-Hijja 1437/10 Ding-You 4714
North Carolina Air National Guard photo by First Lieutenant Monica Ebert.
Apparently the U.S. Forest Service and the Department of Defense (DoD) think the 2018 fire season is gonna’ be big because they’ve just added another MAFFS C-130 firefighting unit to their western states inventory.
Nevada National Guard 152 Airlift Wing’s brand new MAFFS C-130H
MAFFS stands for Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System. The Forest Service owns the MAFFS, the DoD (through USAF Reserve and state militias) provides the C-130s and personnel to operate it.
C-130J MAFFS 4, Channel Islands, California
Currently there are three MAFFS units operated by the state militias of California, North Carolina and Wyoming, and one MAFFS Air Force Reserve unit out of Colorado. Since early August MAFFS have already flown 142 firefighting missions, dropping more than 3.5-million pounds (1.6-million kilos) of fire-retardant in Idaho, Nevada and Oregon.
North Carolina ANG photo by First Lieutenant Monica Ebert.
Nevada’s 152 AW High Rollers will be used to augment the units from Colorado and Wyoming, and will be based in Reno. While MAFFS fly missions across the country, the U.S. Forest Service wanted a new MAFFS unit whose home base is in the fire prone Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. The MAFFS equipment is being transferred from North Carolina Air National Guard’s 145th Airlift Wing to Nevada’s 152nd Airlift Wing.
C-130H MAFFS 8, out of North Carolina
This year’s official fire season began MAFFS on-job-training for crews of the High Rollers: “The actual drops have been challenging and exhilarating. It’s a great feeling to see your immediate results whether we are dropping a protective line of retardant between the fire and someone’s property or dropping ‘mud’ directly on flames leaping from the tops of trees in an effort to slow the fire’s progress.”-Lietenant Colonel Tony Machabee, first member of the High Rollers to co-pilot a MAFFS mission
The U.S. Forest Service wants the new 152 AW MAFFS unit ready to launch for the 2018 wildfire season. The Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences predicts that by 2050 the official U.S. wildfire season will be three weeks longer, and for several years now the Pacific Northwest has been dealing with major fires in the official off-season.
Video: 45 YEARS OF C-130 MAFFS OPS. WHO WOULD’VE KNOWN WILDFIRES WOULD BECOME SUCH A PROBLEM?