There can be 30-to-40 large air tankers deployed in a year, about 75% of which are federally contracted aircraft, Gould estimates. The association would like to see contract lengths extended, with more assurance and predictability of contract awards-goals that member companies believe they are more likely to achieve by presenting a united front. Credit: Bridger Aerospaceįederal contracting reform is an early focus of the UAFA. Though fewer in number, federal fires typically affect a larger area than other wildfires their average size from 1991 to 2021 was more than five times that of fires on nonfederal lands.įederal Contract Reform A Bridger Aerospace De Havilland Canada CL-415 tanker in action. There was an average of 60,000 wildfires each year from 2017-21, about one-fifth of which occurred on federal lands, with the balance on lands owned by state and local governments and the private sector, the CBO says. Not year-over-year 2019 was a slow year last year was kind of an average year, but every year we expect that we’re probably going to drop more retardant and fly more hours than we ever have before.” “What does that mean for us as an aviation company-we drop retardant on fires and the trend is definitely up and to the right. “The agencies like to point to the fact that there’s an increased amount of fuel on the ground out there, but there’s no denying that climate change has a lot to do with it,” says Gould, a veteran former ground firefighter and smokejumper. Average annual federal spending on fire suppression was $2.5 billion between 2016-20, it says. The CBO attributes the extent of wildfires to legacy forest-management practices that have allowed the vegetation that fuels fires to grow denser, the impact of climate change creating hotter, drier conditions more conducive to wildfires, and the expansion of urban areas. At the same time, there were nearly 59,000 wildfires in 2021, fewer than the 76,000 that occurred in 1991, the congressional agency states in a June 2022 “Wildfires” report. On average, about eight million acres burned each year in wildfires between 2017-21, more than double the average amount from 1987-91. has increased over the past 30 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Courtesy of Dauntless AirĪverage annual acreage burned by wildfires in the U.S. “By uniting as the UAFA, we can provide a strong and coordinated voice for the entire aerial firefighting community and help create a strategy that reduces risk and health implications to our citizens in fire-prone states.”Īcreage Burned By Wildfires Increases A Dauntless Air AT-802F amphibious air tanker scoops water. “Every aerial firefighting operator is facing similar challenges, and we all see the writing on the wall: If the nation’s aviation management strategies don’t change, we will be unable to meet future demand,” says Dauntless Air CEO Brett L’Esperance, secretary/treasurer of the new association. While wildfires have decreased in number in recent decades, they have grown in size and intensity. “Rough-hewn individuals” accustomed to doing things their own way gave the industry its start, Gould says, but aerial firefighting companies face an evolving wildfire threat that has drawn renewed attention from Congress. “A lot of what is going on in our industry is a relic of how it’s always been in this industry.” “We don’t really feel like we have a seat at the table when it comes to talking about changes that could be made or initiatives that could be put forth to make us more standardized safer,” Gould tells BCA. They operate a variety of firefighting airplanes and helicopters, ranging in size from Dauntless’s Air Tractor AT-802F Fire Bosses to 10 Tankers’ McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 air tankers. Other founding members of the association are Bridger Aerospace, of Bozeman, Montana Dauntless Air, of Appleton, Minnesota Firehawk Helicopters, of Boise and Leesburg, Florida and Neptune Aviation Services of Missoula, Montana. Gould is the president and CEO of 10 Tanker Air Carrier, of Albuquerque. “The wildfire aviation business is a pretty big part of wildfire in the U.S.-that’s a two-and-a-half to $3 billion-a-year business.” “It’s probably long past due that this organization start,” says John Gould, inaugural president of the United Aerial Firefighters Association (UAFA). government $2.5 billion annually to suppress. Aerial firefighting operators have formed a new association to better represent their role in combatting wildfires, which cost the U.S.
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