HEMET, Calif. – The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protections’ Hemet-Ryan Air Attack base is one of 19 tanker bases located throughout the state, providing initial attack fire support for an area of more than 17,000 miles.
Crews here are a close-knit group of firefighters and support staff, including pilot Mike Venable, a 40-year veteran who comes from a family of flyers.
“My grandfather started a crop dusting business in the 40s,” said Venable about one of the airport runways. “That crop dusting business grew into a firefighting air tanker business and we used to operate large PBY’s, DC 4’s, C-130s.”
While there can be a lot of downtime between fire calls, there is always prep work to be done in order for the pilots to be airborne as quickly as possible. Pilots have under five minutes when a call does come in to take off, but so far this year things have been relatively quiet.
“We've had an extremely slow fire year so far,” said Venable. “Up to this point, this would probably rival the slowest year we've had in 40 years.”
Venable explained that the objective of the initial attack response team is largely one of containment.
“The state's motto is to try to keep fires at less than 10 acres,” Venable said. “We tend to direct the fire into places where the fire will naturally go out which allows the firefighters, the bulldozers, the people on the ground to get in there and actually put it out.”
Venable said air support crews tend to be “lifers,” but recently many have hit the retirement age and prompting Cal Fire to seek new recruits.
“There’s a big pilot shortage, worldwide,” Venable said. “We've had a lot of retirements, so we are hiring lots of new young people.”
Spectrum News 1’s interview with Venable was interrupted by an actual fire call for a vegetation fire threatening 500 acres and at least one structure. True to Venable's word, the aircrafts were wheels up in under five minutes.
As first responders, the air crews will make initial assessments and complete any fire retardant drops for containment. However, when a fire becomes a complex, or large-scale event, teams here will make way for larger tankers, which will do the heavy lifting.
“We will show up on the first or second day and then by the time you know there's a plan put in place and the larger equipment comes, we will tend to be put back into our initial attack zones and be ready for the next new fire,” said Venable.
California is ramping up funding for fire crews and equipment as it copes with the potential for bigger and more frequent fires. The search for the next generation of pilots is underway.
For more info on Cal Fire's wildfire preparedness, visit the website here.
