Largest Helitanker To Aid Southland Firefighters, Edison Funded
LOS ALAMITOS, CA — The largest heavy-lift fire helicopter in the world has come to help support firefighting across southern California, thanks to a grant from Southern California Edison. According to the Orange County Fire Authority, it could not have come at a better time.
The National Weather Service has forecasted hot, windy weather through the end of the year, and more than three million acres already burned in the state.
In 2019, SCE provided funding for a 1,000-gallon capacity helitanker that assisted with about 20 wildfires, most of them significant incidents. The new Coulson Chinook, funded by SoCal Edison, is capable of making water drops of up to 3,000 gallons, a spokesperson for OCFA tells Patch. By comparison, the existing OCFA helicopters can carry approximately 350 gallons.
Southern California Edison has funded the CH-47 twin-engine, tandem-rotor, heavy-lift helicopter for 83-days starting Thursday.
The helitanker, leased and operated by Coulson Aviation, Inc., will be available around the clock to counties serviced by Southern California Edison, including Orange, Los Angeles, Ventura, Riverside, and San Bernardino, OCFA Chief Brian Fennessy tells Patch.
On Wednesday, the OCFA held a demonstration alongside a traditional fire helicopter, showing the vast difference in the new heavy-lift helicopter's water-dropping power.
"This Very Large Helitanker will deliver a very powerful punch and make a significant difference on the fire line," Fennessy said upon the introduction of the craft to area fire services. "We are extremely grateful to Southern California Edison for once again providing critical aerial support during the height of fire season."
The state-of-the-art Retardant Aerial Delivery System (RADS) technology and equipment on this Very Large Helitanker (VLHT) allows pilots to adjust water/retardant flow rates for both speed and altitude. It is capable of both day and night vision-goggle firefighting operations. The VLHT has other unique capabilities such as infrared technology, and the ability to hover-fill, even at night, making it the largest and most capable Very Large Helitanker globally.
Southern California Edison contributes more than $2.1 million on OCFA's lease of the Very Large Helitanker during what is already an active and severe fire season. With a combination of fast response speed and higher load capacity, this helitanker will strengthen daytime and nighttime fire suppression activities within SCE's service area and beyond, if needed.
Southern California Edison's president and CEO, Kevin M. Payne, spoke on the helicopter's lease to help rapidly attack wildfires as soon as they begin.
"There is no higher priority for us than the safety of our customers, the communities we serve, our employees and contractors, and the firefighters and first responders who protect them," Payne says. "The intensity of the 2020 wildfires so far, plus the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis, have put pressure on the state's firefighting resources. With that in mind, it is a privilege for SCE to support the readiness of fire agencies such as the OCFA, which are on the front lines of protecting lives, property, and critical infrastructure."
The helitanker lease is part of So Cal Edison's Wildfire Mitigation Plan, which also includes enhanced inspections of SCE infrastructure, hundreds of miles of covered conductor lines(insulated power lines), vegetation management to maintain a minimum 12-foot clearance from power lines, as well as hundreds of fire-resistant poles, weather stations, and high-definition cameras in High Fire Risk Areas.
The Very Large Helitanker will be based at the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos.
This article originally appeared on the Los Alamitos-Seal Beach Patch
