Palisades resident Patrick Golling discusses his household’s response to the California wildfires throughout an look on ‘Varney & Co.’
A mess of planes and helicopters are serving to battle the Los Angeles space wildfires.
Wildfires have been raging within the Los Angeles space for every week, with 5 fires presently lively in Los Angeles, Ventura and Riverside Counties as of late Friday afternoon, in accordance with the California Division of Forestry and Fireplace Safety (Cal Fireplace).
Cal Fireplace presently has over 60 planes and helicopters inside its firefighting fleet — and plane from its fleet have been closely concerned within the ongoing effort to fight the flames from above.
A firefighter stands on high of a hearth truck to battle the Palisades Fireplace whereas it burns properties on the Pacific Coast Freeway amid a robust windstorm on January 8, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Apu Gomes/Getty Photos / Getty Photos)
It makes use of Rockwell OV-10 planes “as the primary command and control platform on wildland incidents,” in accordance with Cal Fireplace’s “Firefighting Aircraft Recognition Guide.”
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These planes can function at a most velocity of 258 miles-per-hour.
Cal Fireplace additionally counts three King Air A200 twin-turboprop planes amongst its “air tactical aircraft.”
On its pages devoted to the Palisades, Eaton and Hurst Wildfires, Cal Fireplace famous that “numerous firefighting air tankers from throughout the State are flying fire suppression missions as conditions allow.”
The division makes use of Grumman S-2T and Lockheed C-130H planes as air tankers.
Their goal is “rapid initial attack delivery of fire retardant on wildland fires,” in accordance with Cal Fireplace.
A CalFire airplane drops hearth retardant over the Davis Vineyard throughout the Glass hearth in Napa County’s St. Helena, California on Sept. 27, 2020. (JOSH EDELSON/AFP through Getty Photos / Getty Photos)
The latter sort of plane can carry 1,200 gallons, whereas the previous has the capability for 4,000.
Cal Fireplace is residence to Sikorsky S70i Cal Fireplace Hawk and Bell UH-1H Tremendous Huey helicopters as nicely.
A Cal Fireplace helicopter prepares to drop water on a wildfire close to a big residence within the Emerald Hills close to PG&E’s Edgewood substation in Redwood Metropolis, Calif | Getty Photos
Each can “quickly deliver up to a 9-person Helitack Crew for ground firefighting operations and quickly transition into water/foam dropping missions,” per Cal Fireplace.
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The Sikorsky’s fastened tank matches 1,000 gallons of water or foam. In the meantime, the Tremendous Huey has the capability for 324 gallons for buckets and 360 for its fastened tank.
Through the ongoing wildfires within the Los Angeles space, plane not owned by Cal Fireplace have additionally been seen contributing to the firefighting efforts.
As an illustration, 10 Tanker Air Service stated Monday on X it has “flown over 37 hours and dropped over 260,000 gallons of retardant to serve the LA area and the Palisades.” It operates large McDonnell Douglas DC-10 tankers.
A airplane drops hearth retardant throughout the Eaton Fireplace close to Altadena, California, US, on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. (Benjamin Fanjoy/Bloomberg through Getty Photos)
Canada has lengthy supplied a pair of Canadair CL-415 Tremendous Scooper planes by a lease and, in accordance with a Friday press launch, two extra will likely be headed to Los Angeles to help.
A brilliant scooper water-dropping firefighting plane flies to get water from the Pacific Ocean at Will Rogers State Seaside in Los Angeles, California, US, on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. | Getty Photos
These plane “scoop water from oceans, lakes and reservoirs which can be dropped as regular water or be mixed with a foam retardant,” in accordance with Cal Fireplace.
The Air Nationwide Guard has flown C-130 Hercules planes “equipped with Modular Aerial Fire Fighting Systems” to the Los Angeles space, the place they’re working missions.
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Three of the wildfires presently lively within the Los Angeles space started on Jan. 7, together with the Palisades, Eaton and Hurst Fireplace.
The Palisades Fireplace — the biggest — has scorched over 23,700 acres since then and was 17% contained as of late Friday afternoon. The Eaton and Hurst Fires have 35% and 97% containment, respectively.
Plumes of smoke are seen as a brush hearth burns in Pacific Palisades, California on January 7, 2025. (DAVID SWANSON/AFP through Getty Photos / Getty Photos)
Two others — the Auto Fireplace in Ventura County and the Scout Fireplace in Riverside County — emerged this week, impacting almost 60 acres mixed.
Hundreds of buildings have been broken or destroyed by the wildfires. At the very least 24 individuals have misplaced their lives.
