For nearly 20 years, the Texas A&M Forest Service has been using Gillespie County Airport as a staging area for fighting fires around the state.
They recently arrived at the airport and plan to stay as long as they’re needed.
Cynthia Foster, planning and preparedness department head for the Texas A&M Forest Service, said they help fight fires all over the state. The closest airport that offers the same service is in Abilene.
“Gillespie County has the best airport in the state,” Foster said. “They are the most accommodating to our crews and it’s a great base. The location is great, the people are great and everyone in the community is very helpful.”
At the airport, Texas A&M Forest Service currently keeps an Air Attack scouting plane, two single-engine air tanker (SEAT) planes that drop fire retardant and one helicopter that dumps water in specific locations. This fleet services fires around Texas.
They show up when the land is more susceptible to catching fire and usually stay until October.
“Last year, we arrived in the middle of August and left mid-October,” Foster said.
Gillespie County is chosen because of its prime area.
A central location
Texas A&M Forest Service has been using the Gillespie County Airport as a staging area on and off since 1996.
“It’s a very strategic location for us,” said Larry Mars, a retired U.S. Forest Service pilot from Arkansas. “We can easily and quickly get to most places out of here.”
Last year the planes dropped 100 loads of fire retardant solution during that time. So far this year, they’ve dropped six loads.
Two single engine tankers, which have around 1,300 horsepower each, carry the red fire retardant to help maintain fire lines. The fire retardant is red so ground crews with bulldozers can see where they need to help extinguish the fire.
The aircraft used can come from all over the country, Foster said, but they try to pull local aircraft whenever possible. Two to four additional aircraft may be added, depending on the amount of fires.
The Texas A&M Forest Service fleet can fight fires in any weather during any time, except the helicopter which can’t fly at night.
“It is all visual flight; we don’t fly instrument, typically,” Mars said. “Even with the smoke, we like to see where we’re going.”
Retardant
The tank at the airport holds 7,000 gallons of the retardant, which is around 65 plane loads.
Fire retardant ingredients can vary by year, Foster said, but this year’s batch consists of 85 percent ammonium polyphosphate (fertilizer), Attapulgus clay (hardener), iron oxide (coloring) and performance additives.
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