CHICO — Residents accustomed to firefighting air tankers lumbering overhead wondered about the missing roar the day the Camp Fire started.
Where were those retardant-loaded planes, and did their absence play a role in how the fire spread?
They weren’t missing, according to Cal Fire Chico Air Attack Base Battalion Chief Shem Hawkins.
However, the general manager of Air Spray, a company that has air tankers at the Chico Municipal Airport, said his offer to help fight the fire was turned down.
Hawkins said the air attack base personnel were called out earlier than normal to the Chico airport, responding to the 6:30 a.m. fire, with Hawkins going out with his pilot in the air attack spotter aircraft. In front of them, another pilot at the helm of the S-2 was carrying retardant. It was about 8 a.m.
Hawkins said viewed from Chico, the column of smoke from the Camp Fire was “well established and rapidly building.” The winds over the Feather River Canyon were very strong, he recalled.
Hawkins was told by the pilot the winds were “too intense” for the drop, reaching about 50 mph.
He said dropping on a fire with winds over 35 mph is useless. Water turns to mist and doesn’t hit the ground. Retardant is blown off target.
“We could feel (the winds) in the plane. It was really strong,” he said.
Hawkins said the pilot couldn’t deliver his load of retardant near the Pulga area of the Feather River Canyon.
Later that day, there were nine air tankers dropping on the fire when the wind lessened about 1 p.m., Hawkins wrote in a text Saturday, along with six water-dropping helicopters. He said there also were four rescue helicopters from California Highway Patrol and Enloe Medical Center.
“That’s when the wind decreased to accommodate the fixed wing (aircraft),” he wrote in a text.
He said there were five S-2s with 1,200-gallon capacity, three large air tankers carrying 3,000 gallons or more, and one very large air tanker, a DC 10, able to drop 11,600 gallons. The aircraft worked until about 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 8.
Hawkins noted more than 69,000 gallons of retardant were dropped that day.
Focusing on Paradise
In the meantime, Hawkins had called in six heavy tankers from Sacramento and six helicopters, the latter of which were pulling buckets of water out of Magalia Reservoir and dropping along escape routes, particularly Old Skyway and Pentz Road.
“I noticed there was spotting along the east side of Paradise,” said Hawkins. Burning balls of embers were flying the length of football fields, expanding the fire, he said.
The evacuation of Paradise had been initiated.
Hawkins grew up in Paradise and was keenly aware of what was happening there.
“My order was to keep the evacuation corridor open,” he said.
Of the helicopter pilots, Hawkins said, “They deserve medals of honor, flying in that smoke and dropping water around the wires.”
Those helicopters had come from outside the area and continued to pull out of Magalia Reservoir. Cal Fire aircraft from Chico were also pulled in to help.
Seeing the shifting winds covering Chico in smoke, Hawkins moved the helibase to Oroville Airport, where the aircraft were refueling in a tight circuit.
“Chico could have been impacted so we refueled in Oroville,” Hawkins said.
That evening, the eastern part of Chico was evacuated, east of Bruce Road.
Later on, the helibase was shifted to Chester because of the shifting winds.
“(Airplane) pilots have to have three miles of visibility to take off. Chico had been about half a mile,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins’ aircraft was the last firefighting one down that Thursday, landing about 5:30 p.m. after a long, tense day.
Other aircraft
Not long after the fire started, Chico Air Spray general manager Ravi Saip made the offer of his Fire Boss aircraft to Cal Fire. He got a no-thanks message the next day.
Air Spray has maintained several Fire Bosses ready for aerial firefighting, ready to scoop water and douse flames.
Saip lives in Paradise. After the Camp Fire swept through, his home was one of the few on the block still standing.
Saip said it’s been a frustrating experience for his company, which converts aircraft into water or retardant carriers for aerial firefighting.
Air Spray’s Fire Boss aircraft, which have about an 800-gallon water capacity, are available for Cal Fire use under a “call when needed” contract, Saip said.
“Within hours of the fire’s start, Air Spray offered to deploy its firefighting aircraft fleet, which include the water scooping Fire Boss aircraft on the early stages of the fire. Unfortunately Cal Fire once again declined the use of single-engine air tankers in combating fires in their jurisdiction,” Saip responded in an email.
“While other states and countries around the world have embraced the tactical and cost-effective advantage of (these) aircraft, particularly at the onset of a fire, Cal Fire’s operational philosophy prefers the use of different aerial platforms. Air Spray has also offered heavy air tanker support from our Canadian fleet but these assets have not been activated.”
Saip said of the five Fire Boss planes in Chico, two were available on the morning of Nov. 8, plus one other aircraft. Also on call were air tankers at Air Spray’s parent company near Edmonton, Ontario. In air hours, it’s a short flight.
Local pilots and airport businesses, including BT-13 owner and pilot Rene Vercruyssen of Chico, said they saw the Cal Fire aircraft getting out, then being grounded.
While winds were calm on the valley floor, they were vigorous up the Feather River Canyon. Vercruyssen said he heard other pilots saying the winds had shut down aircraft drops.
Asked about the use of the Fire Boss planes, Cal Fire’s Hawkins noted, “We try to shy away from single-engine air tankers.”
Hawkins said helicopters can get into tighter quarters and don’t need the extended approach that the water-scooping planes do.
“Fire Bosses are good in places with large water sources,” Hawkins said.
According to FlightAware flight tracking services, a 747 super tanker flew four times on Friday from McClellan in Sacramento to Paradise. Records noted it made two to three passes before returning. In the following days, more tanker flights originated from McClellan.
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