As multiple major fires burn around the state, Cal Fire is sending in air support to help firefighters on the ground.
“So far this year, we’re … probably at least 163,000 acres above what we were last year,” Tyson Federici, a Cal Fire apparatus engineer, told FOX40.
This year, they are sending out massive air tankers earlier than ever before to help knock down flames up and down the state, Cal Fire said. “Without them, I think we’d be seeing our fires get a lot bigger a lot quicker,” Federici said.
Cal Fire’s Aviation Headquarters runs a 24-hour operation out of McClellan Air Park, making sure each tanker is fueled, maintained and filled with retardant to be ready at a moment’s notice.
Tuesday, crews filled tankers with 180,000 gallons of retardant alone.
Since the beginning of June, they’ve dropped 1.3 million gallons of retardant on fires across California.