A look at what goes into a wildfire air attack
MESA, Ariz. - So much goes into fighting wildfires from above.
An hours-long flight path above the Cottonwood Fire on Tuesday seen on FlightAware proves just that as it circled the fire over and over.
The plane doesn't have any fire retardant in it – no water either. But, it might be the most important one when it comes to fighting fires from the air.
Behind the controls, Jonnie Vanderhoeven will sit for four-hour missions surveying a fire from 2,500 feet above.
Vanderhoeven is with the U.S. Forest Service's Fixed Wing operations.
"You don't realize all the stuff that goes on behind the scenes," he says.
MORE: Arizona wildfires 2023: What to know about the fires burning in the state
He's in the plane that organizes a busy sky of tankers, lead planes, and helicopters flying above firefighters in the wilderness.
Vanderhoeven spent 20 years on the ground fighting these forest wildfires, using what he learned to orchestrate the skies above.
"I always wanted to be on air attack from day one," he remarked.
During a wildfire, he sits in air attack at 2,500 feet with a bird's eye view.
The DC-10 tankers with fire retardant fly at 1,500 feet and helicopters with water buckets fly at 500 feet.
During a drop over the Diamond Fire burning in Maricopa County near the Sunflower community, he had line crews and helicopters ushered out of the way as a lead plane flies in quickly to let the tanker know where to drop. Once it hits the mark, there it goes.
This is what goes into every wildfire air attack.
At the air base at Mesa Gateway Airport, we saw the DC-10 return to go for another round. Another drop is being overseen by air attack.
"In the full scope of things, I don't think they realize there are 50 people at an air tanker base between the loading, parking pilots, the fuelers getting the fuel for the planes. All that goes into the one drop that happens for three minutes in the woods on the fire line," Vanderhoeven explained.
Wildfire season keeps them busy, of course. Especially this season with several lightning-caused fires burning across the state.