War Games Set to Begin Today in the Pristine Gulf of Alaska

a reply to: burdman30ott6

AMEN!!!!
Put those boots on the grounds with the smoke jumpers out there risking their lives to save our homes!!
We are right in the path of the Card Street fire, and now Cooper Landing ignited last night in two places.
And poor Willow......

Yep, bring them in and put them to work!,!!

originally posted by: woodsmom
a reply to: burdman30ott6

AMEN!!!!
Put those boots on the grounds with the smoke jumpers out there risking their lives to save our homes!!
We are right in the path of the Card Street fire, and now Cooper Landing ignited last night in two places.
And poor Willow......

Yep, bring them in and put them to work!,!!

I agree and I disagree
Sending untrained soldiers onto the fireline will only get a bunch of them killed.
But I do believe that Wildland fire fighting and flood control should be part of the traing for the national guard.
A strong military presence in Alaska is absolutely necessary,.

a reply to: punkinworks10

Most National Guard units, in areas that have large fires, have at least some firefighting training, and the ones that use helicopters have training to use them to help. The Air Force has 8 MAFFS certified aircraft, and multiple crews, but they can only be used when all the other firefighting aircraft that could be used are unavailable.

Interestging this corresponds with the opening of Jade Helm.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: punkinworks10

Most National Guard units, in areas that have large fires, have at least some firefighting training, and the ones that use helicopters have training to use them to help. The Air Force has 8 MAFFS certified aircraft, and multiple crews, but they can only be used when all the other firefighting aircraft that could be used are unavailable.

Limited wild land training will get you killed on the line, but the military could be used in support roles, where the logistics comes in, or to do spotfire checks and such, freeing up firefighters for the main line.
8 aircraft is almost absurd given the size of the country, and unless those light crews fly fires regularly they would be less that effective and really just a wasted resource.
NG and navy choppers have been a valuable asset around here at times.
I've had my ass saved by pink snot drop(ouch that stuff is heavy), and I have a tremoundous amount of respect for fire pilots, and actually all the wild land firefighters, whether they be local, state, fed or even the con crews.

a reply to: rawo6592

It also corresponds to fire season.

a reply to: punkinworks10

Most NG units that I've heard have been for support. Trying to put out contained small hotspots, evacuations, things that don't need specialized training for that can free up the guys that have that training.

That gets into another thread. The MAFFS units were bought and maintained by the Forest Service, which has been rocked by scandals over their air tanker program. They're actually in the process of awarding contracts for next generation tankers to replace their older aircraft. They got several HC-130s from the Coast Guard, two BAE-146s, and several larger commercial aircraft. The AF would supply more aircraft, but the USFS has to supply the tanks for them. Under the agreement though MAFFS can only be used as a last resort after every air tanker is engaged or down for maintenance and no other options are available.

a reply to: Zaphod58
Thanks for info Zaph,

Are the USFS 130's still grounded? We have been lucky so far this year, and I havent seen any aircraft comming out of the Fire Attack base at FYI, so far this year. I expect there will be some big ones later on.

a reply to: punkinworks10

The new H models are still undergoing conversion. I'm not sure about the older aircraft.

So here we go. Massive "Mortality Event" Kills 30 Whales in Alaska