NORTH COAST, Calif. — Cal Fire’s Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit, or LNU, has welcomed two additional type-1 helitankers.
The helitankers arrived on July 1, 2022.
Cal Fire has positioned two contracted type-1 helitankers used as exclusive use for aerial firefighting operations in the LNU.
Helitanker 1CH from Columbia Helicopters will be based out of Napa County Airport, and Helitanker 37S from Siller Brothers will be based out of Sonoma Air Attack base at the Sonoma County Airport.
In addition to the unit's own Type-1 Cal Fire HAWK "Copter 104" based in Lake County, the region will now have three large helicopters not only arriving quicker to any new fire but can send local aircraft to multiple fires occurring at the same time.
These aircraft will be available for fire assignments in the greater Bay Area and all of California.
As rapid fires spread and concurrent wildfires will continue to be the norm, and areas throughout the state previously thought to be immune to large and damaging fires are proving to be as vulnerable as areas with active fire histories.
Cal Fire said the entire state is at greater risk of major fires than at any other time in recorded history.
Read more on this story at the Lake County News
