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As out-of-control wildfires threatened thousands of Los Angeles residents earlier this month, companies fighting the infernos from the air rushed to send their air tankers and water bombers to the area. It was supposed to be off season.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, has more than 60 fixed-wing and rotor firefighting aircraft, which it considers the largest civilian fleet of its kind.
But the federal government, U.S. states and countries from Australia to Chile to South Korea hire companies that have their own private fleets of specially equipped planes to help control fires.
“I was lucky to have two” planes available to help fight the flames, said Joel Kerley, CEO of 10 Tanker Air Carrier, based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The company has a fleet of four converted DC-10 aircraft, known as large air tankers or VLATs.
A plane falls as smoke rises from the Palisades Fire in Mandeville Canyon in Los Angeles, California, United States, on January 11, 2025.
Shannon Stapleton | Reuters
Wildfire season in the United States typically runs from April to about November, when 10 Tanker and similar companies have 24-hour contracts with the U.S. Forest Service, a federal agency. In 2023, the U.S. Forest Service expanded a 10-year contract worth up to $7.2 billion to 10 Tanker and four other suppliers.
Outside of those months, providers generally call as needed. And demand for their services continues to increase throughout the year, these companies say.
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, forest fires are expected to become even more frequent and severe in the 21st century. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said data appears to show that the area destroyed by wildfires in the United States has increased over the past two decades.
“There are not enough air tankers to go around,” said Kerley, former aviation director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, part of the Department of the Interior.
Flowers and a car are covered in fire retardant as the Palisades Fire, one of the simultaneous fires that have swept through Los Angeles County, burns in Mandeville Canyon, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, USA, on 11 January 2025.
Ringo Chiu | Reuters
Some countries that have faced serious wildfires in recent years, such as Australia, have been building their own fleets of firefighting aircraft. Kerley said they will need to expand their fleets or companies like his will have to grow to meet growing demand.
Kerley said the Palisades and Eaton fires were some of the most difficult to fight. Fueled by hurricane-force winds, they leveled entire neighborhoods like Altadena and were some of the worst ever to occur in California. They were also a reminder to firefighters, government officials and the public that fires could break out when they are least expected.
Those two fires have consumed more than 37,000 acres and damaged or destroyed more than 16,000 homes, buildings and other structures, making them two of the most destructive wildfires ever to occur in California. According to Cal Fire, at least 28 people died.
Kerley said that days into the new year he was asking his teams of pilots and mechanics to travel to fires that he equated to “the Super Bowl” of fire response. 10 Tanker aircraft have dropped more than 273,000 gallons of fire retardant on the Eaton and Palisades fires.
Both fires were largely contained as of Friday, but businesses like Kerley’s were still on call as the Hughes Fire spread rapidly north of Los Angeles, prompting a new round of evacuations.
A tanker truck dumps fire retardant on the Palisades Fire, one of the simultaneous fires that have devastated Los Angeles County, as seen from the Woodland Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA, on January 11, 2025.
Ringo Chiu | Reuters
Since the devastating Los Angeles fires occurred during what is supposed to be the region’s off-season wildfire season, some of Tanker’s 10 aircraft were caught up in routine maintenance early in the battle. And he was not alone.
“We are performing intense winter maintenance on all of our aircraft,” said Sam Davis, CEO of Belgrade, Montana. aerospace bridge, which has a fleet of Canadian-made Super Scoopers that scoop up water while flying over water and dump it near fires. They can make several trips on the same flight.
“It was an effort to get the first plane out,” Davis said.
In November, Bridger reported record revenue and profits for its third quarter, saying that “continued dry weather in the western U.S. kept several aircraft operating into November.” It raised its revenue estimates for the year to $95 million from a previous range of $70 million to $86 million.
Growing fleets of new aircraft is neither quick nor easy.
Kevin McCullough, president of Aero Air, which also supplies tankers, sent some of his MD-87s to the Los Angeles fires. He said it can take about a year and a half to convert a plane into a firefighting tanker.
“It’s not like dropping a tank and doing this,” he said. “You’re completely modifying the plane and turning it into a bomber.”
McCullough said the development of these air tankers was done privately, with the hope that there would eventually be government contracts for their services, but “there were never any guarantees.”
How to fight fires from the air
Specially trained pilots drop water or fire retardant from the air to assist firefighters on the ground. The heavy, bright red fire retardant is usually dropped in front of the fire, blocking the path of the flames.
“The challenge with dropping water or retardant is that when these fires break out, most of the time it’s not in a flat area and it’s not on one of those blue sky, calm wind days,” said Paul Petersen, CEO of United Aerial. Firefighters Association.
Some of these pilots come from military backgrounds, while others come from passenger airlines, 10 Tanker’s Kerley said. The ages of aerial firefighting pilots span decades. It has almost 30 employees.
Eight mechanics are assigned to each of the company’s DC-10s.
“It’s a strange situation in terms of racing,” Kerley said.
A Super Scooper aircraft drops water on the Palisades Fire on Tuesday, January 7, 2025 in Pacific Palisades, CA.
Brian Van Der Brug | Los Angeles Times | fake images
There are also natural forces to contend with: The fierce Santa Ana winds, which blew at hurricane force in early January, helped spread fires in the Los Angeles area and also grounded some planes early in their missions. aerial.
The last DC-10 aircraft rolled off the McDonnell Douglas production line in nearby Long Beach, California, nearly four decades ago, but 10 Tanker aircraft have been re-equipped to accurately carry and deliver 9,500 gallons of fire retardant.
A super-pickup firefighting aircraft is refueled with water from the Pacific Ocean at Will Rogers State Beach in Los Angeles, California, U.S., Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025.
Jill Connelly | Bloomberg | fake images
Water scoops like those used by Bridger Aerospace are manufactured by De Havilland Aircraft of Canada and are also increasingly sought after. These special planes can collect 1,600 gallons from nearby bodies of water.
And some governments are beefing up their fleets by ordering the newest model of the plane, which is under development.
Calgary-based de Havilland said last August it had secured orders for European Union countries for the next generation of the plane, the DHC-515, which it expects to enter operations in 2028.
Previous generations of Scoopers were first built in the 1970s. The new generation of De Havilland plans to improve things like high-temperature cabin air conditioning, water droplet control and anti-corrosion, which helps avoid salt water damage.
“Given the age of aircraft and the impact of climate change, demand will simply increase,” said Neil Sweeney, the company’s vice president of corporate affairs. “What was considered an off-season no longer exists.”
— CNBC’s Erin Black contributed to this report.
