As out-of-control wildfires threatened thousands of Los Angeles residents earlier this month, the companies that fight infernos from the air raced to send their air tankers and water bombers to the area. It was supposed to be the off-season.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, has more than 60 fixed-wing and rotor-wing firefighting aircraft, which it calls the largest civil fleet of its kind.
But the federal government, U.S. states and countries from Australia to Chile to South Korea hire companies that have their own private fleets of specially outfitted aircraft to help tame fires.
“I was lucky to have two” aircraft available to help fight the flames, said Joel Kerley, CEO of 10 Tanker Air Carrier, based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The company has a fleet of four converted DC-10 aircraft, known as very large air tankers, or VLATs.
A plane makes a drop as smoke billows from the Palisades Fire at the…
