One week ago, a C-130H from the 302nd Airlift Wing deployed to help firefighters fight several fires across the state of California.
“Two C-130s are conducting assigned missions. The 146th Airlift Wing are flying two aircraft the first week. They were replaced by one aircraft from the 302nd Airlift Wing, and one from the 152md Airlift Wing,” Colonel Greg Berry, 302 Air Expeditionary Group (AEG) -Wildland Fire Fighting Commander said.
The C-130 from Peterson Air Force Base is equid with a US Forest Service Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems, also known as MAFFS. According to Colonel Berry C-130s with MAFFS capability are called up to help asset with fighting wildfires every summer.
The requests come from the National Interagency Fire Center and is approved by the Department of Defense. Though crews are not always called up to help fight a specific fire. Sometimes C-130s work on several different fires in one day.