A new video gives viewers a taste of what it’s like for airborne firefighting crews trying to hold back the massive fires in Los Angeles.
U.S. Northern Command and the National Guard posted the video to Facebook on Jan. 12, which presents an over-the-shoulder view of a C-130J crew with the California Air National Guard’s 146th Airlift Wing as they drop lines of fire retardant on the mountains above the Pacific Palisades neighborhood on Jan. 11.
Aerial firefighting crews have to fly low and slow to drop fire retardant in the right spot, and the video shows the C-130J scraping over ridge lines as the cockpit altitude warning signal chimes. A curtain of smoke can be seen to the right of the aircraft throughout the video.
At about 12 seconds in, viewers can see the small white lead plane that guides the C-130 to its target. At about 24 seconds, a faint whoosh can be heard as the C-130J releases fire retardant through the Modular Airborne Firefighting System (MAFFS), an 11,000 pound tank that can drop 28,000 pounds of fire retardant in less than five seconds out of a tube sticking out the side of the aircraft. The fire retardant helps keep wildfires from spreading so that ground crews can contain it.
A second shot from behind and between the pilots also captures the drama of the mission, as the windscreen is filled with jagged, tree-covered mountains flashing seemingly right below the aircraft.
Jan. 11 was apparently a busy day for this C-130J crew, as the sound of the MAFFS system releasing can be heard multiple times throughout the video. It takes about 12 minutes to refill the MAFFS system. The crews needed fuel too—a box from Chick-fil-A stands by on the pilot’s left about midway through the video. A separate video shot from the ground shows a 146th Wing aircraft releasing fire retardant.
U.S. Northern Command activated all eight of the Air Force’s MAFFS-equipped C-130s on Jan. 9 to help fight the fires. Over the weekend, all eight flew to the 146th Airlift Wing, base at Channel Islands Air National Guard Station, Calif., located west of the record-breaking Palisades Fire. The other aircraft came from the Wyoming Air National Guard’s 153rd Airlift Wing, the Nevada Air National Guard’s 152nd Airlift Wing, and the 302nd Airlift Wing, an Air Force Reserve unit based in Colorado
“It has been difficult to watch the absolute devastation of the wildfires in California,” Col. Brian Diehl, commander of the 153rd Airlift Wing, said in a Jan. 10 press release. “We’re honored to be able to participate in our nation’s efforts to combat these fires and return normalcy to the people and communities of southern California, and as soon as possible.”
Civilian contractors perform the bulk of aerial firefighting, but MAFFS serves as a surge force. Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder told reporters Jan. 13 that the C-130s flew six MAFFS missions over the weekend, with more missions expected.
First responders made progress on the fires over the weekend, with containment of the Palisades and Eaton fires at 14 percent and 33 percent, respectively. Containment refers to how much of a fire is surrounded by a barrier, such as a river or bare soil, that can stop a fire from spreading further.
But the return of strong winds Jan. 13-15 could hamper those efforts by spreading the fires and grounding aircraft. The lack of air support in the early days after the fires started Jan. 7 was a major hindrance to firefighting efforts.
The C-130s are just one element of the military response to the fires, including over 1,800 California National Guard helicopter crews, military police, and hand crews to work alongside local police and firefighters. More than 15,000 people are fighting the Los Angeles fires, according to Cal Fire.
So far 24 people have been killed and more than 12,000 structures damaged in the fire, though that structure tally might also include vehicles, since telling them apart from small structures via infrared images can be difficult, the Associated Press reported.