The Cal Fire / Riverside County Fire Department’s new Sikorsky S70i helicopter wildfire only required one demonstration to Matthew J. Miller’s pilots.
Mirror plunges during the outbreak Coyote fire in southern Banning On June 2, he turned on a switch to open one of the doors of his aircraft’s 1,000-gallon water tank, reducing half the load on the flame. Shortly thereafter, he released the remaining 500 gallons to another hotspot. The spread of the fire was stopped at 75 acres.
If Miller was piloting one of Cal Fire’s Vietnamese-era Super Hueys, he had to spend 10 minutes from combat to drop and reload all the water at once.
“The fire may have been aimed at the race,” Miller said.
On Friday, June 4, at the Hemet Ryan Air Force Attack Base, Cal Fire exhibited one of its twelve Sikorsky aircraft, each costing $ 26 million amid rising temperatures and fire hazards. Two aerial tankers, a helicopter and a base, are responding to fires in the riverside, San Bernardino, Orange, and Los Angeles counties.
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