Videos: Up Close Refilling of a Bombardier 415 Superscooper

My bad. It is my understanding that when air assets are called in an Air Boss is assigned to coordinate them. Whenever CDF (Now CalFire) is managing the fire that usually means someone is in the air over the fire directing the drops. The spotters marking with smoke was an observation of the videos on the Rim fire.

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Yeah, I saw that - but I downloaded the video and watched it in "frame-by-frame" - the bird got out of the way, but I bet he is still nervous abut it!

Sure looked like it.

Having been inside a CL-415 and living right by where they are built, I can confirm that the they do mix the water with a retardant foam inside the tanks. Also, the tanks are vertical along the sides of the aircraft, not flat. Yes, they do not carry much, but it is more that a helicopter with a bucket scoop. They are also much faster than the CL-215 before it, faster than any helicopter, and can refill on any body of water at least 5,000 ft long within seconds.

When your only tool is a hammer, everything tends to look like a nail. The Bombardier is a Canadian tool better suited to wetter climates where an abundance of lakes makes reloads more convenient. Western wildfires tend to be a different animal. That said, an extra bucket in the bucket brigade is welcome.

Of course the CL-415 are perfectly suited to fight fires in the boreal forest of Canada with the abundance of lakes. You are never more than a few minutes away from a place to scoop up another load, but from what I see on maps, this is also the case for the Colby fire. Therefore the turn-around time for a CL-415 for this fire can not be equalled by any other type of aircraft, be it a helicopter or a S2. The same cannot be said about many of the brush fires in southwestern USA, I agree.

The CL-415 does have an on-board tank for retardants to be mixed in with the water they scoop up. This tank is big enough to allow them 13 runs at the fire before going back to base. I have no idea if this retardant is the same that Rob is talking about, maybe you can clarify it?

As for precision dropping, I know our Canadian pilots, like the ones in the video that are from Quebec, do a pretty good job. I remember seeing a video where they put out a truck fire on Trans-Labrador gravel road before it start a forest fire.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ijn-EACq8Kc