The U.S. Forest Service will conduct its annual training for military MAFFS C-130 air tankers the week of May 6 over southern Wyoming and northern Colorado.
Last year, the entire MAFFS fleet was activated to help fight deadly wildfires, including the Waldo Canyon Fire. It was the first time in the planes were called into service.
During similar training in Colorado Springs , Lynn Ballard, military liaison with the U.S. Forest Service explained yearly training on the special C-130鈥檚 is necessary to keep crews ready the moment they're needed. 鈥淚n the past we had a pretty significant fleet. And that鈥檚 deteriorated because a lot of the old air tankers are too old, and they have stress cracks and they鈥檙e just not airworthy,鈥� Ballard said. 鈥淚f we do have a significant fire season, and those are being used, then we have that capability to bring eight air tankers into the system.鈥�
The will take place over areas including the Canyon Lakes Ranger District northwest of Red Feather Lakes. Area residents may see low flying C-130鈥檚 during the day. The training will include crews from the from Cheyenne and the from Charlotte North Carolina.
There are currently around on exclusive use contract with the Forest Service. Officials say if needed up to 25 planes can be called up, and when those are fully committed they will rely on the U.S. Military鈥檚 MAFFS equipped C-130鈥檚.
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It takes just five seconds for the C-130鈥檚 to drop their 3,000 gallon load of slurry or water. The Air National Guard says , retardant from the MAFFS system covers an area one-quarter of a mile long and 60 feet wide.
The MAFFS equipped planes are based around the country including at the Air National Guard鈥檚 in Colorado Springs . The MAFFS program was created in the 1970鈥檚 after a major fire in California overwhelmed the air tanker fleet of the U.S. Forest Service.
