SOUTHERN OREGON, —Spring has barely arrived, and one Oregon county has already declared a drought with more potentially on the way. With the start of fire season on the horizon, we’re learning about how one Oregon business hopes to help firefighters attack fires through the air, at night.
“At this point, the only thing we can’t do really is fly at night, if we are able to get to that point it really could be a game-changer for us,” said ODF spokeswoman Natalie Weber.
The Oregon Department of Forestry – Southwest District, is gearing up for what could be a busy fire season. One advantage ODF would like to have this summer is something it currently can’t do – fight fires from the air when their activity dies down, at night. That’s when there’s decreased heat and higher humidity.
“Any time you can put resources on a fire at night, you do have a good chance of making progress on it because the fire behavior itself will naturally die down,” said Weber.
Weber says its aircraft have to land before nightfall due to safety reasons.
A Sacramento-based company called Aerial Hydrant says it might have a solution to make night flying operations more efficient. Division Chief, Jeff Liggett has been fighting fires for decades. He says the company designs and develops fill tanks, for firefighting.
“With a very rapid response water system for helicopters to allow helicopters to be more efficient in the initial attack,” said Liggett.
Liggett says the 20 foot long, 8 foot wide, 7-foot deep water tank is built to hold 55 hundred gallons of water that a helicopter can lower a bucket into or drop a hose into to fill. It also has interior and exterior lighting to increase safety in night flying operations. Given the region’s fire history, Liggett hopes the company can be a part of the solution, to get ahead of fires before they grow.
“The use of heavy helitankers at night is absolutely potentially a game-changer like fires that occurred here in 2020 or the Bootleg Fire in Klamath County,” said Liggett.
Weber says ODF is in the process of getting a type one helicopter that would have night flying capabilities, but the timeline is unclear.
On Thursday, Aerial Hydrant will be at a fire conference in Anderson, California. That’s where ODF and Cal Fire will see the water tank in action with helicopters.
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