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California firefighters are battling historic fires from the sky using a variety of effective, specialized aircraft that drop water and fire retardants on Los Angeles.
The state’s fleet includes tactical aircraft, air tankers and helicopters. They all have specific roles and capabilities, but they work together as a unit to fight the fires that have raged since Tuesday and they have claimed 10 lives and burned tens of thousands of acres.
According to Cal Fire’s website, the fleet’s more than 60 aircraft and helicopters make it the largest fleet of department-owned aerial firefighting equipment in the world. Its fleet operates from 14 airfields and 11 helicopter bases across the state that can reach most fires in about 20 minutes.
A Super Scooper aircraft drops water on the Palisades Fire on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, in Pacific Palisades, California. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
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Tactical aircraft often lead tankers, with the former providing directions and coordinates to tankers and firefighters on the ground. According to Reuters, most of Cal Fire’s tactical aircraft are North American Rockwell OV-10 twin-turboprop multi-mission aircraft that served in the US Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force until the 1990s.
Then, Cal Fire’s fleet of tankers dump fire retardant on the ground below.
The Grumman S-2T tanker truck, with its two turboprop engines, is the agency’s workhorse and can hold about 1,200 gallons of fire retardant. Cal Fire also operates larger four-engine C-130 Hercules turboprop aircraft, which can discharge about 3,000 gallons per load.
Cal Fire owns a fleet of helicopters, including Bell UH-1H Super Hueys and Sikorsky S70i Black Hawk helicopters. Each of these helicopters can transport water in buckets that hang below the plane to extinguish the flames.
John Mixson, a retiree US Coast Guard The commander of the search and rescue helicopter told Fox News Digital that the buckets, known as bambi buckets, can accurately drop water.
“They can get to any lake or reservoir, and they can lower the bucket into the water and then deliver their payload. So it’s a little more precise than the fixed wing, but it has a little less amount of either suppressor or water.” “Mixson said.
“Helicopters can carry enough water to put out fires, of course, depending on the size of the fire. They can also saturate the ground to prevent the fire from spreading. The buckets vary in size due to the capacity of the helicopter carrying them. Some only 70 gallons, others over 2000 gallons.”
Water is dropped from a helicopter on the Kenneth Fire in the West Hills section of Los Angeles on Thursday, January 9, 2025. (Ethan Swope/AP)
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Two Canadair CL-415 Super Scooper turboprop aircraft have also been deployed to fight the deadly infernos.
The Pentagon said Friday that two C-130 Hercules military aircraft equipped with a fire suppression system are now on site, according to Military.com.
Six more C-130 aircraft are expected to be ready by Sunday. Some of the aircraft had to be retrofitted with fire extinguishing systems because they were used for cargo purposes. The fires have occurred outside the traditional firefighting season.
He scoop airplanes recharge by descending into calm waters and skimming the surface of the water to charge their tanks. They then release the water to put out the fire and repeat the process until they need to refuel.
Super Scoopers have been carrying salt water from the Pacific Ocean, although this is quite rare and is generally avoided because it can damage equipment, infrastructure and wildlife, Frank Papalia, former New York City Fire Department lieutenant and safety expert Global Security firefighting. Group, told Fox News Digital.
Where possible, fresh water is preferred because the salt content is corrosive and can damage equipment such as hoses and pumps.
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Planes draw water from the ocean to put out the Palisades Fire in the mountains on January 9, 2025. (Sandy Hooper/Imagn)
“In this case, your city is burning to the ground, so using salt water isn’t that bad,” he told Fox News Digital.
Additionally, fire hydrants do not use salt water because they are not corrosion resistant, but fire trucks can use salt water. They just have to be close enough to receive it and then require thorough cleaning.
Fire retardant is not poured directly on the fires. Instead, the chemical is dropped in front of the fire, directing its course or slowing its progress and giving ground crews the opportunity to control or extinguish it. Retardants can also be released to protect homes or important sites and keep access roads open.
The substance is usually made from a mixture water, fertilizer, a thickening agent and red dye. The red dye is added so firefighters can see the retardant on the landscape.
The pilots who crew these aircraft are known as aerial firefighting pilots or water bombers.
Mixon says the pilots come from different backgrounds, but many previously served in the military.
They typically must receive specific training on their respective aircraft type to handle its unique capabilities and systems. Most aerial firefighting pilots already have years of flying experience before taking to the skies in a firefighting aircraft.
According to Hillsboro Aero Academy, a flight school based in Oregon, becoming a helicopter pilot involves accumulating between 1,500 and 4,000 hours of helicopter flight time as the pilot in command (PIC), a pilot responsible for the safety and operation of an aircraft.
The flying hours provide aspiring pilots with vital knowledge about aircraft systems, mission training and fire behavior, and candidates must demonstrate they can operate firefighting helicopters in challenging conditions, such as mountainous terrain. They also need technical skills to work closely with ground personnel and other aircraft during missions and knowledge of how fires spread and how to contain them using aircraft.
A tanker truck dumps retardant as the Palisades Fire grows in the hills above Topanga, California, on January 9, 2025. (David Swanson/AFP via Getty Images)
The schedules are similar for future fixed-wing aircraft pilots.
“All crews are highly trained specifically for the specialized mission,” Mixson said. “This is not a secondary mission for the people at Cal Fire or for any of the Department of Defense or Forest Service firefighters. Like the U.S. Coast Guard, they are very, very specialized in what they do.
“It’s very dangerous, very challenging, but they are also very, very trained, exclusively for the specific task.”
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One of the most obvious dangers is low altitude over mountainous terrain in high wind conditions, which is what they are fighting now, Mixson said.
Mixson noted that through smoke, these crews must also avoid other aircraft, terrain and everyday hazards like radio towers.
Strong Santa Ana winds prevented the deployment of firefighting aircraft earlier this week due to safety risks.
Meanwhile, a drone crashed into one of the Canadian Super Scoopersalso. The impact left a fist-sized hole in the water, causing the plane’s wing to fall. No injuries have been reported. Cal Fire said it expects the plane to be back in the air on Monday.
Reuters contributed to this report.
