Aerial firefighting units recertify, maintain mission during fire season

  • Published
  • By Capt. Corinna Jones
  • 302nd Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs
GOWEN FIELD, Idaho --  For the first time in the history of the military's modular airborne firefighting system program, the 302nd Air Expeditionary Group's Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard MAFFS-equipped C-130 Hercules aircraft are operating on two fronts after wildfires broke out in Texas just before the annual MAFFS certification training began in Idaho.

Four C-130s are staged at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, flying daily aerial retardant drop sorties to support the National Interagency Fire Center while four other aircraft are assigned to the U.S. Forestry Service's annual MAFFS recertification training in Boise, Idaho. Under normal circumstances, all eight MAFFS aircraft and the Airmen who fly and maintain them, attend the annual training.

Currently the Air Force Reserve Command's 302nd Airlift Wing from Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., and the California Air National Guard's 146th AW have Airmen and aircraft deployed to Texas providing aerial support to contain wildland fires.

Simultaneous to the actual firefighting missions in Texas, members from the Colorado and California units along with aircraft and members from the North Carolina Air National Guard's 145th AW and the Wyoming ANG's 153rd AW are operating and training out of the 302nd AEG staging area at Gowen Field, Idaho. The Airmen supporting fire suppression operations in Texas will be recertified at a later date. Each of the four MAFFS C-130 wings are required to have a minimum five certified crews for each MAFFS unit bringing the total MAFFS certified Airman to 40 crews.

This year, all MAFFS equipped C-130s will be using the MAFFS II system in certification training and in actual firefighting missions. Different from the legacy MAFFS system which was used from the early 1970s until 2009, MAFFS II is a self-contained aerial firefighting system which can discharge 3,000 gallons of water or fire retardant in less than five seconds, covering an area one-quarter of a mile long by 60 feet . Once the load is discharged, a MAFFS unit can be refilled in less than 12 minutes.

Training for and flying actual MAFFS drops missions on wildland fires can be extremely challenging and dangerous. It requires all operators to be highly proficient. "The Air Force Reserve and the Air National Guard members who are trained to fly the MAFFS mission are our most experienced," said said Col. Jay Pittman, the 302nd AEG commander.

From Gowen Field, the aircraft's MAFFS systems are loaded with thousands of pounds of water, take off and then follow a lead aircraft across the Idaho plains to make their practice fire retardant drops. Civilian personnel from the U.S. Forest Service, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Bureau of Land Management are part of and provide support to the annual recertification week training.

"The MAFFS partnership between land and natural resource management agencies and the military is very important because it provides a way to boost suppression efforts during periods of high wildfire activity," said the 302nd Airlift Wing's Lt. Col. David Condit, who is the director of the Air Force Reserve Command's aerial firefighting program and is the 302nd AEG deputy commander.

From 2000 to 2009, military C-130s with MAFFS systems provided additional fire suppression support to the U.S. Forest Service by delivering a total of approximately 9.1 million gallons of retardant on wildfires, an average of about 910,000 gallons per year.

The MAFFS systems are owned by the U.S. Forest Service, a cooperative partner with the National Interagency Fire Center based in Boise, Idaho. The Forest Service is the lead federal agency for these firefighting efforts, and the Department of Defense is flying in support of the interagency wildfire suppression mission.