Nearly five years ago, Congress told the U.S. Air Force to convert seven surplus Coast Guard aircraft into firefighting tankers for California’s fire protection agency. It never finished the job. Now, California just wants aircraft. Period. “We were fortunate this year to have a fire season that wasn’t like we’ve had in previous years,” said Ken Pimlott, now-retired chief of Cal Fire. “But it’s coming back, this is only one year. We can’t afford to lose any more time getting these aircraft retrofitted.”
California Sen. Alex Padilla and Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona, put a bipartisan provision in a 2024 defense spending bill to send the C-130 aircraft to Cal Fire immediately — done or not. Still, it’s not guaranteed to make it into the final version of the bill. “The constant uncertainty and lengthy delays from the Air Force in retrofitting and transferring the seven planes to California have unnecessarily hampered our fire suppression capabilities as we face increasingly frequent and severe fire risks,” Padilla said. He thanked the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who helped launch the effort to get the aircraft to California in 2018.
Read more at the Sacramento Bee
