Stephen Hobbs
The Sacramento Bee
(TNS)
California officials waited more than five years to get the first of several military aircraft they were promised by the federal government to help fight fires across the state.
But once they got it, they waited less than a week to finally use it, sending the air tanker over a fire in Southern California to drop roughly 8,000 gallons of retardant.
On Aug. 26, California became the first state to have a C-130 Hercules air tanker available to fight wildfires. A former U.S. Coast Guard plane, it is one of seven that Cal Fire is supposed to eventually receive.
The agency announced that it first used the plane — Tanker 122 — on Sunday to fight the Record Fire, which sparked earlier in the day near San Jacinto in Riverside County. As of Monday afternoon, the fire had grown to over 500 acres and was about 15% contained.
Cal Fire’s air fleet includes about two dozen tankers which can each hold about 1,200 gallons of fire retardant. The newly acquired plane can carry up to roughly 4,000 gallons.
That larger load helped support firefighters on the ground Sunday, Bryan Baker, a pilot in command, said in a statement.
Baker led a flight crew of three people, according to a Cal Fire news release.
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