Shortage of planes/pilots hampering firefighting

[Delarage]

I've been hearing about this for years (article below from 2015; problem still not solved)...antiquated firefighting planes. Now add on a pilot shortage and we're even more at risk for losing containment of forest fires. Seems like this could be an easy area of bipartisan agreement---increased funding for pilots, funding for upgraded planes.

Although I'm sure Trump doesn't think too much about it, since it's California.

Whether the shortage hampered the summer’s wildfire battle isn’t easy to gauge, but the concerns come as national, state and local firefighting resources have been outstripped by the unprecedented blazes. And in the long term, wildfires in the state are projected to worsen due to climate change, forestland littered with fuel and more homes in and around wildland areas.

[link:https://jdasolutions.aero/blog/repeat-request-new-firefighting-aircraft/|

[Historic NY]

1. Hundreds of planes sit in the desert....

one the government can give to the state for conversion......

[2naSalit]

2. I lived near a

smoke jumper base for well over a decade and got to know many fire fighters, worked with many in the "services". Those planes that are aging out are long overdue for retirement. Many of those planes are the old P2Vs that have seen many years of military service before they became retardant droppers. In fact, my father flew in many of them because they were planes used by Navy Recon operations like the VP squadrons... they were used as sub-chasers the cold war. That's how old they are. They have been retiring many of them and replacing them with jumbo jets that carry much more retardant.

It's way past time to fund the new tankers but our current regime in office isn't interested in anything other than becoming an dictatorship and siphoning out all the funds of the nation for personal gain. Until that changes, don't expect appropriate attention to most of our needs.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

3. I've been watching to see if any CA Air Guard C130s have joined the fight.

They're based literally right next to the fires in Southern California, and can be equipped with the Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System, which dumps a 100 foot wide swath of fire retardant along a quarter-mile strip within seconds.




When I was in the Hollywood Guard, we weren't allowed to fly fire suppression missions in the state unless every single commercial operation was employed. I don't know if that's still the rule, but I haven't seen a single C130 in all the videos of the current fires.