At this year’s Aerial Fire Fighting conference in Nimes, France, Fire Boss LLC signed a historic fleet order with Air Tractor Europe. The order consists of eight Fire Bosses with an option for an additional eight. The first delivery is scheduled for late 2022.
Rafael Selma, General Director, of Air Tractor Europe said “We at Air Tractor Europe were the early adopters of the Fire Boss. Since 2003 we have delivered over 75 across Europe. With this order, we are positioned to further expand into markets that recognize the advantage of initial attack and want lower operating costs than other scooper tankers in the market.”
“This unprecedented order solidifies acceptance of the initial attack strategy for aerial firefighting in Europe. It is the economic and ecological choice to successfully combat wildfires” said Clint E. Clouatre, Vice President of Marketing and Sales for Fire Boss, LLC followed by Stephen Johnson, Global Sales Director for Fire Boss LLC, “Our partner, Air Tractor Europe, is leading the way for the success of the Fire Boss in this territory and are key to new countries utilizing this efficient platform.”
Key points
- The Fire Boss is a modified AT802F, manufactured by Air Tractor
- The Fire Boss is composed of Wipline 10000A scooping amphibious floats designed and built by Wipaire
- The Fire Response Dispersal System (FRDS) is computer controlled for optimum on-target water dropping utilizing the Gen III Fire Gate
- With this order, Fire Boss will reach the milestone of 160+ deliveries worldwide
About Air Tractor Europe
Air Tractor Europe is the exclusive Air Tractor distributor for Europe, North Africa, and Middle East. The company was established in 1965 and has been an Air Tractor dealer since October 1996. ATE has a large structure ready to provide integral services for the procurement, maintenance, consulting, training, and aerial operation.
Aircraft facilities in Castellón, Spain include an EASA145 maintenance and AT802 repair center with avionics, engines and propeller capabilities, a CAMO+ center, an EASA147 training center, a flight school for land and amphibious training and an FTD Leve 2 simulator for both land and amphibious AT802.
About Fire Boss LLC
Fire Boss LLC is the designer and manufacturer of the Fire Boss, a water scooping system that is installed exclusively on the Air Tractor AT-802. The Fire Boss system combines several airframe modifications, aircraft performance enhancers, and a pair of Wipline 10000 series amphibious water-scooping floats that enable the AT-802 Single Engine Air Tanker to scoop up to 800 gallons in about 15 seconds. Over 145 Fire Boss systems are currently in operation throughout the world. Fire Boss LLC is part of the Wipaire group of companies based in South St. Paul, Minnesota. Wipaire is the largest manufacturer of aircraft floats in the world, having built floats for various aircraft types ranging from 2-seat Piper Cubs up to the 21-seat Viking Twin Otter.
