Fighting fire from the air

Boeing Chinook, top, takes off with a water bucket to fight the B & B Complex fires. Photo by Jim Anderson

Over the many years the Forest Service and other government agencies have been fighting fires, they have used every tool they could get their hands on to get the job done -- from the venerable shovel to B-17 bombers.

After World War II, surplus fixed wing aircraft -- such as fighter-bombers -- were plentiful. They were snapped up by enterprising aerial entrepreneurs and modified to carry hundreds of gallons of water, which was then dropped on fires to cool them down so the ground crews could put them out faster.

As soon as helicopters were large and dependable enough to carry men and materials, they too were placed into firefighting service.

As of Sunday, August 31, there were some 18 various makes and models of helicopters stationed at the B&B Complex Heliport in a hay field near Sisters.

They fly daily missions to all parts of the fire. Some, like the awesome Boeing Chinook twin-rotor, which is capable of carrying 700 gallons of water or a 10-person helitack crew, are used to drop water on hot spots to slow the fire.

The Bell Jet Ranger will carry 100 gallons of water, equipment, or four-person helitack crews to fight in specific fire locations. Other helicopters, such as the Kaman K-Max, twin rotor, will haul water, equipment or provide an aerial platform for those who need to get a closer look at what the fire is doing and how best to combat it.

One of the pilots, Phil Fenter, flying for Henderson Aviation out of Junction City, Oregon, is a graduate of Lane Community College pilot-training program. He and his aircraft support equipment move all over the nation, wherever they are needed to fight fire.

Helitack firefighters ride choppers into fire areas that are hard to get to or require quick, mobile response.

Helitack crewmember Fritz Mesenbrink, a "deck coordinator" at the heliport, is the man in charge of movements and safety of the heliport activities. Fritz, a graduate of Linfield College, is with the Kaibab Helitack crew out of Arizona, one of several locations where helitack crews are trained.

To be a member of a helitack crew a person has to pass what is called the "Work Capacity Test" (WCT), which replaced the old "Step-Test" and the 1.5-mile run to prove a person has the stamina to keep going when the need arises.

The WCT is not a piece of cake; it's an arduous fitness field test that consists of a three-mile hike within 45 minutes while carrying a 45-pound pack. Applicants are strongly encouraged to consult with a physician and begin training at least four weeks before taking the field test. Fail and you don't get in.

An applicant for a helitack crew must also have at least one season of fighting fire under his or her belt. Then the hard work begins. You have to train to not only be on a helitack crew, but also a rappelling crew.

While the helitack crews are firefighters, rappelling crews create places for helicopters to land where none have gone before. They rappel into a forest from a hovering helicopter, and with power saws and other hand tools, carve out a clearing large enough for a helicopter to land safely.

These small places are then used for deployment of hotshot crews and other equipment and personnel vital to fighting small fires before they blow up to big ones.

There are three categories, or types of helicopters used to fight fire: Type 1, 2, and 3. Type 1 is the large helicopter, such as the Chinook, and Oregon Air Guard's Firehawk, capable of carrying over 300 gallons of water to the fire.

Water weighs eight pounds per gallon. The Sikorsky Blackhawk can carry 2,400 pounds of water. Not only can it go from point "A" to "B" at almost 100 mph, but once there, it can hover over the exact spot where the ground-pounding firefighters need the drop.

The Type 2 is a medium-sized machine that carries a lighter load, such as the Bell 294, 205 and 212. The Type 3, like the Bell Jet Ranger 206, is the firefighter's general workhorse.

It is nimble and fast, and can get in and out of smaller places at the lowest cost.

In the 1940s, Igor Sikorsky -- an aircraft design genius and father of the present-day helicopter -- foresaw many ways in which his marvelous inventions would be used.

What he may not have envisioned was the way helitack fire fighters and helicopters are used today.