WASHINGTON — In the face of an aggressive wildfire season and a shortage of winged firefighting aircraft, the U.S. Forest Service has added four heavy helicopters.
Two of the aircraft are owned by a California company, one by an Oregon company and the other by a Florida company. The helicopters will be available for use across the United States.
This brings the number of helicopters to 34, the level it was at in 2011.
“The addition of these helicopters to our aviation fleet will increase our ability to respond quickly and aggressively to fight wildfires and protect lives and property,” said U.S. Forest Service chief Tom Tidwell in a prepared statement. “We will continue to mobilize our firefighting assets when and where they are needed as we respond to a very challenging wildfire season.”
Earlier this month, the Forest Service signed a contract for seven new air tankers; three will be available this year.
Congress and President Obama gave the department authority to fast-track firefighting aircraft purchasing earlier this year when wildfires in New Mexico and Colorado exposed the inability of the department’s aged fleet to combat the fires. They also made $24 million available for those purchases.
In March, Tidwell told Congress that the department had only 11 air-worthy tankers, which is down from 43 a little more than 10 years ago.
In addition to the massive wildfires, national attention was turned to aerial firefighting ability early this month when a firefighting plane crashed in Utah, killing both men on board.