By CHRIS ROSENBLUM
State College Centre Daily Times (Pennsylvania)
RUSH TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Under gray skies and a steady rain, the red-and-white Air Tractor 802F firefighting airplane sat on the Mid-State Airport runway. Friday’s weather grounded a demonstration flight for state Bureau of Forestry employees.
Nobody seemed upset.
Two months of little precipitation have left local foresters and forest firefighters concerned about wildfires this season. They say forest-floor oak leaves that never got packed down by snow this winter could become prime fuel for blazes.
The state’s wildfire season typically lasts from March to May, when leaves finish emerging, but north-central counties saw small blazes erupt in February. Recently, a fire near Sandy Ridge in Rush Township scorched 355 acres.
“It has been a very dry March,” said Wayne Wynick, an assistant district forester who assists regional firefighting air operations from the Moshannon Tanker Base at Mid-State. “We’ve had fires going probably a week earlier than we usually get.”
Centre County received just 2.6 inches of precipitation — 44 percent of normal levels — during the past two months, according to AccuWeather in Ferguson Township. Areas in eastern and central Pennsylvania are especially behind in short-term rainfall, with some areas seeing 50 percent to 75 percent less snow and rain than normal.
Eleven counties, mostly in the state’s south-central and northeastern regions, have burn bans in effect, according to the forestry bureau. Centre County has no countywide restrictions, but neighboring Clearfield County instituted a voluntary ban last week.
On Friday, Joe Miller prepared for future flames.
Miller, the tanker base manager and a forest firefighter for 33 years, briefed personnel from western state forest districts about coordinating water and foam drops from the Air Tractor aircraft’s 800-gallon tank.
Resembling a souped-up crop-duster, the plane will fly out of Mid-State Airport for the next 38 days, responding mostly to calls within 50 miles of its base.
“The times we’ve had to use (aircraft such as the Air Tractor), they’ve been worth their weight in gold,” Wynick said.
Miller said the Air Tractor can dump its load in one fell swoop called a “salvo,” spread it out over a quarter-mile or any combination in between. Also, he said, it’s more durable and reliable than many vintage tankers, such as the converted World War II Navy patrol plane out of Mid-State that crashed 10 years ago.
But no matter what they’re flying, pilots take risks when making a run on burning woods or fields. More die in the line of duty than ground firefighters, Miller said.
“It’s by far the most hazardous work,” he said. “That’s why we conduct this safety briefing, so everyone can be on the same page and give the pilot the information he needs.”