Pilots attack fire from the air

A BBR vacationer watches a helicopter dip water from the pond for a fire run.

Two Weyerhauser helicopters have been flying in and out of Sisters Airport, fighting the Cache Mountain fire and assisting forces to save homes on Black Butte Ranch.

The Weyerhauser team came to Sisters on Thursday from Eugene and Chehalis, Washington. Their primary purpose was to protect Weyerhauser land.

However, property lines did not stop them from battling the fire as it approached Black Butte Ranch Sunday afternoon.

"There is an agreement between the Forest Service and Weyerhauser, that we will help each other out," said pilot Manuel Bravo, who was trained to fly by the Peruvian Air Force.

"This is a different type of fire than we normally fight," said pilot Dick Black of Eugene. "Being that we don't get many (fires) around homes, and that this is a joint effort fire."

Air and ground crews are coordinated by an "air attack" plane which flies around the site. According to LTC Timothy C. Kelly, State Aviator Officer with the Oregon Army National Guard, the vessel is usually a civilian plane, which is leased by the Forest Service.

It monitors fire conditions and coordinates the many different planes, air tankers and helicopters involved in battling a forest fire. At any one time there can be 10 to fifteen helicopters on a forest fire.

Helicopters carry a container that can hold up to 150 gallons of water. There are two types of containers, collapsible and hard-cased. The containers are controlled by the pilot, who positions them over a fire and releases the water.

Water is replenished by dipping the container into a lake or a tank.

"This is a really nice base camp compared to most of them," said Kelly referring to Sisters Airport. Kelly and his crew were at Sisters Airport to deliver the governor, who arrived Monday morning to review the fire.

The National Guard has 5 helicopters fighting fires throughout the State. None were fighting the Cache Mountain fire at press time.

The most important thing to the pilots, according to Bravo, is safety. Two pilots are assigned to each helicopter who fly solo, no more than six hours a day. Limited visibility restricts pilots from flying at night. Daily and scheduled maintenance is performed by ground crews at night.

"You have to know a lot about fire behavior," said Bravo, "You can get in a lot of trouble if you don't watch for wind, turbulence or weather. A fire has its own weather phenomenon."

Most times the pilots are flying less than five hundred feet above ground level, in constantly changing conditions. The Weyerhauser crews train one week a year on fire behavior, two weeks on agricultural operations and another week on basic emergency training.

Their primary job for Weyerhauser is to fertilize and spray trees. On an average day they fly maybe 2 to 3 hours. During a forest fire they fly near their regulated 6 hour limit. This allows them plenty of time to sleep, eat and refresh themselves.

"After a while it gets pretty repetitious," said Kelly.