Park Fire – CAL FIRE Air Leads the Response by Flying Countless Missions



The Park Fire is 12% contained after burning 357,341 acres as of noon on Sunday, July 28, according to Cal Fire. Officials say the fire grew exponentially late Friday into Saturday morning due to steep terrain and high winds, moving around four to five thousand acres per hour. The fire has forced evacuations in multiple Northstate counties.

CAL FIRE’s world-renowned aviation program responds to thousands of wildlands fires throughout California each year. CAL FIRE’s current aviation fleet includes Grumman S-2T airtanker, Bell UH-1H Super Huey Helicopters, Sikorsky S-70i Helicopters, and North American OV-10A (& 1 D Model) Bronco Air Tactical Aircraft. These aircraft, highly skilled pilots, and aviation support staff are strategically located throughout California at our 14 air tanker bases, 10 CAL FIRE helitack bases and one CAL FIRE/San Diego County Sheriff helitack base. Aircraft can reach the most remote State Responsibility Area (SRA) fires in approximately 20 minutes, with the goal of keeping 95% of fires at 10 acres or less. CAL FIRE’s fleet of more than 60 fixed and rotary wing aircraft make it the largest civil aerial firefighting fleet in the world.

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26 thoughts on “Park Fire – CAL FIRE Air Leads the Response by Flying Countless Missions”

  1. Holy sheep dip…. zoom in/zoom out, shake it this way, shake it that way, more zoom in zoom out zoom in zoom out…. dang it boy… that's not how it's done. You had such a great spot, awesome subject matter but seriously, you need to work on your camera skills. It was so jerky I thought I was playing at 1.25 or 1.5 speed and literally checked but nope, it was at standard speed but jerking all over…
    Consider a Tripod, smoother pans and as for the constant zoom in/zoom out…. not every few seconds…. OY! I need a Dramamine now…

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  2. TO ALL OF OUR BRAVE PILOTS AND GROUND CREWS PLEASE DONT OVER DO IT IF YOU ARE TIRED TAKE A BRAKE IF YOU NEED A REST TAKE IT WE NEED YOU MORE NOW THAN EVER BEFORE IM NOT A PILOT I LOVE AVIATION I LOVE STUDYING IT AND LEARNING SOMETHING I WILL NEVER USE SO PLEASE TAKE IT EASY ON YOURSELVES WE NEED YOU AND WE SUPPORT ALL YOU DO THE UNSUNG HEROS OF THE SKY

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  3. Thanks for all of the comments thus far. Let me just say I was EXTREMELY impressed with how hard the CAL Fire folks were working to put out the Park Fire. I was amazed at the aircraft they have at their disposal and how busy they were at trying to tame this blaze. It is something I will never forget. There was also a KC-10 tanker in the pattern but wasn't able to get any shots – really wish they still had the 747 to help put these out. Hoping they're able to get this fire under control ASAP!

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  4. They got many Super Scoopers that don't have to go to an Airport to reload

    In Canada & Europe there lots of lakes so Scoopers can refill easily in minutes but not many Air Tankers that have an hour turn around time! I thought CAL Fire had a few Super Scoopers

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  5. I flew 60s for most of my military career, and conducted numerous missions with the bucket putting fires out in the restricted impact areas. It isn’t easy to carry, especially filled. If I remember it was 500 gal filled, @ approximately 7lbs/gal = 3500lbs +/-. In heat and higher altitudes, it was like controlling an elephant

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  6. Cal Fire & all the agencies are do a fantastic job of keeping the Kern Valley from going up in smoke! From Kernville Airport the water dropping helicopters have kept many fires from getting out of control. I've had 2 fires less than a 2 miles away that could have been disastrous.

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