Wildfire Air Tankers Grounded

[BEER980]

Federal government won't use air tankers due to crashes fighting forest fires

By IRA DREYFUSS
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Just as the 2004 wildfire season is opening, the government on Monday grounded an aging fleet of 33 former military tankers that had been among the biggest weapons in its arsenal for fighting the blazes.

The Forest Service and the Interior Department terminated contracts with private companies for use of the planes after the National Transportation Safety Board determined their airworthiness could be not assured. Three such planes crashed between 1994 and 2002, killing seven crew members. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth said that, in the wake of the NTSB report, continuing to use the tankers posed "an unacceptable risk" to aviators, ground firefighters and communities near the blazes.

The fixed-wing planes, some of them as old as 60 years, had been used primarily in initial attacks on fires and protecting buildings when fires were moving toward urban areas, said Dan Jiron, a spokesman for the Forest Service. He said the government still has the use of 491 other aircraft, including smaller fixed-wing planes and helicopters. "It's serious, but we will be able to do our job," Jiron said.

The rest of the story here

[azsnowman]

Yup.....heard this on the news last night and also on the USDA Forest Service website for the SW Fire Managment Resource Pool....this of course comes at the time when we are entering what is predicted to be, "The WORST wildfire season in modern times!"

Dennis

[azsnowman]

Here's a link to follow through out the wildfire season:

http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/fire/

Dennis