Wildfire Research Network Crusades for Aerial Firefighting Funding

Add Feedback

Share |

One of the missions of Tony Morris and his Wildfire Research Network (WRN) is to educate the government and the public about the need for funding for aerial resources to effectively fight wildfires. Founded in 2004 and based in Topanga, California, this 501(c) non-profit organization has networked with wildfire research experts nationally and internationally to raise awareness about wildland firefighting issues, including the need for funding and legislative support. One of the major focuses of their work has been to highlight the important role of aircraft in wildfire suppression and to underline the current limitations of aerial firefighting resources in the United States, stressing the need for funding to improve them and increase their usage in our country.

Through their extensive research, the WRN has concluded that wildfires are not attacked soon enough with aircraft. Their wildland firefighting experts explain that if wildfires can be extinguished in their initial stages with aerial attacks before the wind spreads them, the damage done to property will decrease significantly. Tony Morris, one of the founders of the Wildfire Research Network, became involved in his crusade for wildland firefighting funding for this reason. In 1993 his home was threatened by the Malibu-Topanga Fire, and he explains, "I wanted to know why helicopters couldn't put out the fire when I knew they were small early on…and I was quite naïve. The winds came up and everything else burned out of control. The fire went to the ocean. That was a terrible fire, but it got me involved in what I do now." Morris and his colleagues are working to make lawmakers and private investors realize that devoting money to improving current aerial firefighting technology and making it available to agencies in wildfire prone areas can save Americans millions of dollars in lost property.

Besides making firefighting aircraft widely available for first line response to wildfires, the Wildfire Research Network believes that an increase in federal and private funding will solve other problems that aerial firefighting currently faces. For example, many agencies with aerial firefighting capabilities do not have the ability to fight fires at night because they cannot afford the equipment and training needed to do this. The night vision goggles required for night drops cost $12,000 alone. The Los Angeles County Fire Department and San Diego Fire and Rescue Department are the only two agencies in wildfire-prone Southern California that have these capabilities, while other agencies such as Cal Fire do not have the funding available to retrofit their helicopters with night-drop equipment.

Also, current aerial firefighting systems have limited efficiency during high winds. Firefighting aircraft that are currently in use are not able to make effective drops at low speeds in winds over 35 mph. Also, if the conditions do not allow them to make their drops less than a few hundred feet above the fire, the retardant that they are carrying is not 100% effective. The expense to design aircraft that will overcome these problems is large and more than firefighting agencies have available and more than manufacturers have been willing to spend.

Similarly, modern-day air tankers do not have the capacity to carry enough fire suppressant to attack the heads of large fires. They typically carry only 3,000 gallons, which is not nearly enough. Through private investors, two former wide-bodied commercial airlines, a DC-10 and a 747, have been retrofitted to carry 12,000 gallons and 20,000 gallons respectively. With the proper funding, air tanker manufacturers could make tankers of this magnitude widely available to aerial firefighting agencies.

As Tony Morris explains, "It all amounts to money. It all amounts to resources. We basically have to commit on a federal level to basically fund aircraft that can do the job." Despite the recent downturn in the U.S Economy, Morris and his network of over 120 wildfire researchers, pilots and business owners concerned about wildland firefighting are resolute in their mission to obtain increased funding for aerial firefighting. Morris says, "We will testify at various key hearings of either a county such as San Diego County or if we have to go up to Sacramento, and we have made it clear that having these assets is saving millions of dollars. We have to have them. We'll have to find the money. There is nothing really more important than saving lives and property, and you have to have these assets, so you have to work it out."

In the meantime, firefighting agencies will take the best steps they can to extinguish wildfires given the resources they have. For example, San Diego Fire and Rescue has signed an agreement with Cal Fire to do night drops in areas of San Diego County that are normally covered by Cal Fire, since Cal Fire does not have the means to do this. Also, the Los Angeles County Fire Department has rented Super Scooper airplanes from Canadair and has housed an air crane helicopter operated by Erickson Air Crane for the past 14 years, and will continue to do so. Each year, these aircraft come from Canada and are stationed at the Van Nuys Airport from the beginning of September through the end of December, and up to January in some years, to help protect Southern California from the wildfires that plague the state each year.

For more information about the Tony Morris and the Wildfire Research Network, please visit www.wildfireresearch.org.

To watch a video about San Diego Fire and Rescue's night-drop capabilities, please click here.