![]() ![]() This year, for the second year in a row, a paid hand crew of 40 new firefighters will work out of Hemet-Ryan, helping to make up for the loss of inmate hand crew members who are tasked with building fire breaks and assisting during other disasters. Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment Staff. For the first time in its history, CAL Fire is flying night-time air attacks with its own crew and equipment, thanks to its new Sikorsky S-70i FIREHAWK helicopters. Cal Fire went to full seasonal staffing on Monday, Cordova said. New CAL Fire Helicopters Are Game-Changers for Firefighting at Night. Miller and Copter 301 managed to make it through Friday’s event without having to leave for a fire. “The desire to serve the community has always been there,” he said. ![]() Share this: Twitter Facebook Leveraging Technology to Enhance Safety. Then he got the opportunity to join Cal Fire. I highly recommend Heli-1 as they meet and exceed the professionalism and level of serviced required by CAL FIRE. Miller worked as an airline pilot and flies in the Navy Reserves. This was one of the few CAL FIRE helicopters that still has CDF painted on the tail. He flew combat and search and rescue missions for 14 years, evacuating troops while coming under gunfire and plucking people off rooftops after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the tsunami in Japan in 2011. Two of the biggest fires in state history have laid siege to more than a million acres in Northern California, burning dangerously close to Lake Tahoe. Above: A CAL FIRE Super Huey undergoing winter maintenance at the agency’s aviation facility at McClellan Air Field March 24, 2016. A lineup of OV-10 air attack ships at McClellan Air Field, March 24, 2016. The new Sikorsky S-70i helicopters that CAL FIRE has ordered have been arriving one or two at a time over the last year. Miller, 43, grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, and graduated from the Air Force Academy. The OV-10’s are flown by contract pilots working for DynCorp with a CAL FIRE Air Tactical Group Supervisor in the other seat, responsible for managing the incident airspace and coordinating the air tankers and helicopter operations over the incident. “To me, the big boast with this is being able to get these guys home safely,” Miller said, motioning to other firefighters on the tarmac.Īlthough Miller has been a Cal Fire pilot for less than two years, he and the Sikorsky - “My work wife,” said Miller, who is engaged - have a close relationship. They have two engines instead of one and can fly if one gives out, a feature not lost on Miller. 300) and can drop 1,000, 500 or 250 gallons at a time. They fly faster and farther, can carry more people and more water (1,000 gallons vs. “Fires are moving quicker and at a more dangerous rate.”īesides age, the Sikorskys’ advantages over the Hueys are numerous. “The last eight years, we said ‘That’s the worst fire season,’ but the year always ups itself,” said Capt. Our goal is to find the best location for CalFire to establish a new helicopter base. ![]()
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