He left Grass Valley last Sunday afternoon and returned this past Friday night—after a long ride north on Interstate 5.
He and the strike team to which he was assigned never saw any action though they could see the fire on the mountainsides around them which is just fine with me. A week in the Southern California mountains was a nice little vacation for him and the crew.
Those of you not in California may not have seen our latest California fire fighting tool on your local news. It’s pretty darned impressive and, from reports, does a fantastic job. It’s a Douglas Aircraft DC-10 jumbo-jet that has been modified as an aerial tanker. It drops a 12,000 gallon load of fire retardant that coats the ground several inches deep for nearly a mile.
There is even a larger air tanker that has not yet been certified for use. We saw it in Washington State several years ago at the Evergreen Aviation Spruce Goose Museum. It was parked at the airport across the street. It's actually a Boeing 747 and carries even more retardant than the DC-10.
Kevin said it was an amazing sight to see this enormous airplane floating slowly down the canyons and then roaring off as it grabbed altitude leaving the fire.
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