All language subtitles for B T W S03E02 1080p WEB h264-BAE_track3_[eng]

- This program was made possible
by Wings Over the Rockies,

educating and
inspiring all people

about aviation and
space endeavors

of the past, present
and the future.

Hi, I'm Shahn Sederberg, and
this is "Behind the Wings."

In this episode, we'll take
a look at the innovations

in aviation firefighting.

- Only you can
prevent forest fires.

- Wildfires have been increasing
in frequency, intensity,

and complexity all across
the Western United States

and around the world.

When the fire does new things,

firefighting teams have
to do new things too.

- Anyone can start a fire
and never even know it.

- CAL FIRE in California is one
of the largest fire agencies

in the world with more than
60 aircraft and growing.

- But every year, we
start forest fires.

- Black Hawk helicopters are
converted into Firehawks,

critical data streamed live
between aerial and ground crews,

and night vision goggles
allow pilots to fight fires

from the sky at night.

It's time to go
Behind the Wings.

(upbeat music)

While 2020 was unprecedented,

wildfires had been
intensifying for years.

California aviation
firefighters provide one

of the best examples of how
aviation programs can develop

in response to the
increasing fires.

- My name is Stuart Sprung

and I'm the chief of flight
operations for CAL FIRE.

So this is the CAL
FIRE aviation program.

We are the largest aerial
firefighting fleet in the world.

We provide aerial
fire protection

for the state of California

and the 40 million
citizens that are in it.

Right now, we're at
about 60 aircraft

that we staff throughout 22
bases throughout the state.

And the mandate for those
aircraft is to quickly respond.

We respond them like
we respond fire engines

out of fire stations.

Within five minutes, we try to
get in them and out the door.

We respond to those fires
in our responsibility area

within 20 minutes and keep
95% of them under 10 acres.

Fire seasons used to
be about four months,

and that was accepted

for many, many years
in the fire service.

And in the past several years,

it's become more of a year
round experience for us.

Our fleet certainly has expanded

because of those increased needs

For anyone flying on an airline
over the state can look down

in the forest and see
big swaths of dead trees.

And really, those just turn
into kindling that just,

if there's a fire or it
happens to be something nearby,

they just go up instantly.

So we have a lot of forest
with a lot of trees,

but we also have people
that reside in those areas,

and have homes and whatnot.

All we can really do is say,

"Okay, the threat has changed.

We have to grow with
it and adapt to it."

We're making the
biggest jumps we can

with the available equipment.

- My name is Chief
Benjamin Berman.

I am the helicopter program
manager for CAL FIRE.

There's a definitely
a demand signal

for an aviation fleet of
this size and expanding

about ready to onboard
seven brand new C-130s.

We have 12 CAL FIRE ‘Hawks,
S-70i CAL FIRE ‘Hawks.

I think we've gone through
unprecedented change

in the last I would
say 24 to 36 months

on the rotary wing side.

Going from a type two, we
call it, which is the Huey

to a type one, which
is the CAL FIRE Hawk.

Multi-engine, multi-system,
lots of redundancy,

twice as heavy, twice
as large helicopter.

We're definitely seeing
more of a challenge,

but I know that CAL FIRE

and our inter-agency partners
were definitely stepping up

to that challenge.

95% at 10 acres, those don't
typically make the headlines

and that's something that is
being done in the background.

- With our aircraft
in coordination with
the ground crews,

we get it done.

It's that 5% that we can't
catch. That's too big for us.

That's when we rely heavily
on contract aircraft.

We have hundreds of operators
and hundreds and hundreds

of helicopters and airplanes
that we have available

to bring in and
help us with that.

There is never enough resources.
There's never enough data.

There's never enough
people to mitigate these

where we'd like to.

Obviously, wouldn't have the
season like we did last year

where we burned
four million acres

where the worst season before
that was two million, right?

So in one year, we doubled what
our worst season was before.

Our program is
about 50 years old.

And each of those years has
provided us with education

of how to improve our program
the next and continues to.

- Events today are
much more complex

than they ever used to be.

Decisions that we used to
have hours or even days

to make sometimes are now
having to be made in minutes.

The better
information they have,

better decisions they're
able to make faster.

We take data from
different areas

and different types of
sources and information

and pipe it into a super simple
firefighter friendly tool.

It is entirely common
now especially with
the size and scope

of many of the
wildfires that we have

in the Western United States.

For any given one of them to
have crews coming from dozens

of states in the United
States and internationally.

And to be able to make
it simple for those crews

to see things is really the
heart and soul of what we try

to do at Intterra.

Started doing things with
technology and imaging

and being able to see
things by our perimeters

and hyperspectral imaging and
things we'd never been able

to do before and provide
intelligence to the fire service

that we'd never really had.

The big joke that most
of them will tell you,

is that there's a hundred
years of tradition unimpeded

by progress.

I mean, we literally used
to take an airplane up

with a video camera and
take pictures of the fire,

and then you'd have to land
and go take that video tape in

and do something with it.

And then those pictures,
physical pictures would end up

back at the incident
command tent, 10, 12,

sometimes, 24 hours later,

but the fire is no longer there.

And so really the
intelligence wasn't as good

as it could have been.

We take that data in real-time,

take it right off the
aircraft as it's flying

and put it in the hands of the
firefighters on the ground.

It's one thing to have
a data in a spreadsheet.

It's another thing to be able
to understand what the data

on the spreadsheet
is telling you.

So that's really
what our engineers

and our GIS people are
really good at doing.

- My name is Tom Eldar. I'm a
software engineer at Intterra.

We take data and we present it

in a much more
user friendly way.

So what happens whenever
a plane takes off

to go to fight fires, take
pictures, things like that?

The moment it takes off,
we get notice of it.

We have a mission
created on our end.

If they have a live video feed,

they're able to open
up the mission and see,

"Oh, hey, here's live
feed from the aircraft."

- The firefighting
industry has really glommed

on to the technological
advancements that have happened

in this field.

With a modernizing field,

a lot of different
technologies come into play.

And as soon as you get all

those different technologies
working together,

information turns
into intelligence.

If a fire chief shows
up to a 1,000 acre fire,

draws a polygon,

and he can immediately notify
the entire crew on the ground

where the fire is at
this point in time.

When we put data on the map,

we have to tell a
story and the story has

to help the firefighters make
the decisions on the ground

that keep their community safe.

- We have come leaps and bounds
in just the last few years

of being able to get
information in near real time

or real time into
the hands of people

who have to make decisions.

And the reality is that
we can do things today

that we couldn't do even
just a few years ago.

- The firefighting industry
is changing every day.

New technologies provide
new opportunities

to both air and ground crews.

Critically, fires don't
stop burning at night.

Agencies around the
country are experimenting

with night vision technology
to enable them to fly at night.

In Colorado, CO Fire
Aviation is leading the way

with fixed-wing night
vision firefighting.

- Currently,

there's really very little
firefighting activity

as when the sun goes down.

Now, sun goes
down, we come home.

Get up the next morning,

the sun comes up,
we fight the fire.

The fire doesn't quit at night.

Now, we don't have
to quit at night

because of the night
vision goggle technology.

I first personally started
flying with NVGs in 1982

in the army in helicopters.

(helicopter blades whirring)

And now, it has
kind of progressed

into the fixed-wing world,
crop dusting, for example.

The technology is
there. It's been there.

And it continues to refine.

So we've got this highly
technical apparatus here.

This is just a
standard light fixture,

and we've got a 7 1/2
watt bulb in here.

So we make a little aperture.

And what this does is
simulate moonlight conditions.

I'll show you the helmet
setup and what we do.

So the helmet has
a power source.

I can either power
this side or this side

so that gives me redundancy,

essentially self-contained
on the helmet.

So the night vision
goggle technology,

it goes back several years.

So we're leveraging
the equipment.

We're also leveraging the
experience that we have.

And now, we're putting
that in to the ability

to fight fires at night.

Well, in the evening,
in the nighttime,

we have less humidity.

You actually have probably
better aircraft performance

'cause it's cooler generally,
and you have less wind.

We can take advantage
of those situations

by flying at night having
continuous coverage on the fire.

We're on the fourth year of
actually starting to do this.

So we initiated.

In 2017, it was actually

with the Oregon
Department of Forestry.

"We would like to
look into this.

We know the
technology's out there,

we'd like to look into this.

Would you be
interested, CO Fire?"

And CO Fire said, "Yeah."

We modified one of the airplanes
'cause the cockpit needs

to be modified to
NVG compatibility.

And so that's where we started
in 2017, taking a look,

putting a pilot in the
airplane, flying it around,

Can we do this?

Can we safely drop
retardant at night?

Yes.

Can we do it effectively?

Yes.

We are the first

that is applying night
vision goggle technology

and fixed-wing operations in
night, aerial firefighting,

specifically the single
engine air tankers.

I'm looking through the goggles,

but you can see I'm
looking underneath.

So the design of them,

I'm looking underneath
at the instrument panel,

but outside, I'm looking
through the goggles.

And it's very important
for the cockpit

to be what we call
NVG compatible.

So they're not having an
influence on the goggles.

That's why you see a lot,
that's there in the green light,

because that is a
spectrum of light

that don't affect the goggles.

And so they magnify the light.

- For those of you
that I haven't met,
I'm Zachery Sullivan.

I work for CO Fire.
I'm one of the pilots.

I'm not one of the
night vision pilots

so that's why I'm out
here on the ground.

So we run nine airplanes.

One in Oregon. It's the only
fixed-wing aircraft out there

on a night contract.

We did it last year and
they're gonna stand it up again

this year.

That kind is the
brainchild behind it.

Basically what we want to
do is invite everyone out,

see what we're doing with it.

First thing is I'd love any
of your guys' feedback like,

"Sullivan, this
just don't work."

Or, "Sullivan, clean this up."

Or, "This is a good idea."

So we know how to
improve our program.

And hopefully someday,
we'll start to see

this technology put to use
throughout either this state

or neighboring states.

We think it's coming.

So we just wanna make
sure we have the best way

of doing it out there.

So the first airplane's
taken off at 8:40

so that gives us about 20
minutes to get out there.

The first drop will probably
be coming in at 8:50.

So we'll have a little
bit of daylight.

And then the rest all be at dark

It's a brand new concept.

Literally, the first
place it's ever been done is

in California with a couple
of county agency helicopters.

And that's been going on for
about three years consistently.

We stood up the airplane
in Oregon last year

for the first time.

And we're the first fixed-wing
operator to ever do that.

So it's brand new technology
being implemented.

And these things take time.

It's kind of, we've
taken the philosophy

of a crawl, walk,
run type of thing.

And it just, implementation,

you wanna make sure
it's done the right way.

It's different because our
target altitude is 60 to 80 feet

from the fuel source.

So again, that's not like a 747,

that's flying at 30,000 feet,
a little bit closer, so.

(aircraft engine revving)

There's always limitations.

We can't just go out and fly
through every amount of smoke

in every situation.

But it does give us
again, another advantage

that we don't always
have during the daytime.

Then another misconception is,

"Well, can you see power
lines, cell towers,

all these things out there
that could cause an accident?"

You can see them better
at night than you can

during the day.

It just, everything is so
much better to see at night.

So you've got a home, the
fire's coming towards it.

It's 8:52 PM, which we
have to be on the ground.

With this technology, we can
go a couple hours past that

and go out and we can
paint those houses.

So maybe that will
help save those houses

where otherwise, we can't fly.

There's no chance, right?

We're seeing things that
we've never seen before.

Well, that's why we brought
this out is it's time.

The fire's gonna do
things we are not used to,

it's time to bring in
ways to attack that fire

that we're not used to.

And this is one of those things.

- While CO Fire
is leading the way

with fixed-wing night
vision Goggle firefighting,

helicopters are also an
incredibly versatile tool

in the aviation
firefighting toolkit.

Based on the famous
Sikorsky Black Hawk,

the Firehawk helicopter
is modified to be one

of the most capable firefighting
aircraft available today.

(keyboard clacking)

- My name is Eric Lama.

I'm the Firehawk program manager
here at United Rotorcraft.

I'm in charge of all the current

and future ongoing
Firehawk programs

that we have here
at the facility.

(helicopter blades whirring)

The Firehawk is a
multi-mission helicopter.

It has the capability
of dropping and
inserting firefighters

either at the front line
or even at a firebreak

where they're dropping
people off to go through

and actually start to
prepare the firebreak.

So what the Firehawk
will do for the most part

is they will
transport the firemen

and all their equipment
out, drop them off,

and then the aircraft will
lift off and then go out

and actually start
taking on water

and then coming back and
then work in conjunction

with the firefighters
on the ground

either to suppress
the fire that's there

or support them just in case
something were to pop up

or the firefighters
needed to be removed

from the area quickly.

(siren wailing)

- Just watching what our
customers able to do with this.

We have San Diego
fire, LA County Fire

who really helped drive
the design of this,

now CAL FIRE, Colorado,

I mean, we're just
really excited

to see this platform
entering into the market

and doing what it's doing.

LA County realized that the
Huey just could not keep up pace

with the increasing fires
with the fire intensity.

But the technology just
has advanced so much

from the 1950s.

And it was during
those early designs,

we're sketching designs
on the back of a napkin.

And Denton says, "My son's
got this monster truck.

And if we took that
design of a monster truck

and we jacked up the
struts like that,

we can do the same
with the Black Hawk ”.

That napkin and that
monster truck idea is

what drove the
design of a Firehawk.

- The aircraft has a thousand
gallon water tank on it.

And what that thousand
gallon water tank brings

is it allows the pilot or
the crew to actually meter

that water out of
the tank itself.

It can take on a minimum
of 200 all the way up

to the thousand gallons
and then actually use that

and spread that out to
help spread a fire line.

- So this is the thousand
gallon water tank.

This is obviously mounted under
the belly of the aircraft.

This is the snorkel,
10 foot extendable

and retractable snorkel here.

The steps on the right-hand
side of the aircraft

for the crew to get in
and out of the air frame.

I can't think of
a better testament

than giving the Black Hawk to
a group of 18, 19, 21 year old

that are in the military,

and allowing them
to basically go out

and just use that aircraft
and abuse that aircraft.

And it comes back
everyday wanting more.

It's on the ramp. It's ready
to go the next morning.

It's able to withstand
a multitude of,

I don't wanna say
abuse, but tough wear.

Some of the other operators
have commercial aircraft.

They're not built as robust
as what the Black Hawk is.

That's what gives this Firehawk
the capability to be able

to go out there and
land in rugged areas

and to be able to do the
mission that it does today.

So we have a multitude of
different customers aircraft

in the hangar, and
they do customize some

of the different things,
different radios,

different things,

a lot different equipment
that they use specifically

in their counties or
their fire departments

to help them communicate
with their individual bases

or the local police
departments there.

But the main thing
for the Firehawk

is obviously the
high gear, right?

We take the main landing
gear off of the aircraft.

We jack the aircraft up.

We basically put a
20-inch extension there

with the torque box, allowing
the aircraft to be jacked up

to be able to handle that
thousand gallon water tank.

And what the tank has is
it has a 10 foot snorkel

that's extended and retracted
from the cockpit to allow them

to fill that tank.

The pump will actually
suck 1,000 gallons of water

into that tank in
under a minute.

They get the water as close
as they can to those fires

so that they don't
have to make a bunch

of trips back and forth.

The tank itself has a 45
gallon foam tank mounted

to the back of it.

That's also controlled
via the cockpit,

allowing the pilots to
inject a firefighting foam.

Coming from Sikorsky,

it has the the stroke
attenuating seats for the crew

to allow for crash impacts

so that the seats will
absorb the impact.

We've gotten it down to a
point where we can paint

that aircraft and have
it completely modified

in eight months.

The longer they sit here,
they're not out fighting fires.

They're not dropping
firefighters into the hills.

They're not out dropping water.

- 50% of all fires
can be eliminated

if they're put out within
the first 20 to 30 minutes

before they have a chance
to grow into this big fire.

And if you talk to LA County,

they're gonna say the
Black Hawk basically,

that is the only aircraft
will that give you

that performance capability
and allow you to fly in areas

that no other helicopters can.

- Helicopters like the Firehawk

are undoubtedly valuable tools

for aviation firefighting teams.

But how do helicopters fly?

Next, we'll hear from Camille
Calibeo to find out exactly

how helicopters
take to the skies.

- How do helicopters fly?

Helicopters are very
versatile aircraft.

They can take off
and land vertically

and they can hover,

making them ideal for
a variety of missions

including firefighting
and search and rescue.

But how do they work?

Helicopter stay on the air,
thanks to their rotor blades,

which works similarly
to airplane wings.

Both forms of aircraft generate
lift when large amounts

of air move over the wings
or rotor blades very fast.

When airplanes fly
through the air,

the air travels around
the wing to produce lift.

When helicopters
fly the air travels

around the quickly spinning
rotor blades to produce lift.

When rotor blades are
spinning very fast,

the body of the
helicopter wants to spin

in the opposite direction
because of Newton's third law.

To counteract this, most
helicopters use another set

of blades mounted sideways on
the tail called a tail rotor.

The tail rotor pushes the
tail in the opposite direction

of the torque induced
by the main rotor.

So the helicopter can
fly in a straight line

or maintain a stable hover.

Lastly, helicopters
control their movement

by changing the angle and
or speed of the rotors.

Helicopters' ability to
navigate at slow speeds

and even hover make
them a critical piece

of the aviation
firefighting toolkit.

- Wow. The technology used

in aviation firefighting
is super impressive,

but it does come with a cost.

As states and agencies
consider greater investments

in aviation firefighting,

it's important to look at both
the costs and the benefits.

- The cost that's associated
with for instance,

DFPC's Firehawk, the S-70i
that they're gonna buy.

You look at the initial cost.

Once it's all said and
done outfitted there,

they're paying $24 million plus

just to get that
aircraft out the door,

equipped and ready to go.

Then you start looking
at maintenance.

Are they hiring within?
Or they gonna do,

you look at CAL FIRE,
they hired within.

But it's a multi-billion
dollar operation a year

for maintenance.

You're looking at
a rotor aircraft,

you have a million plus
parts that are trying

to get away from itself.

Helicopters are probably the
most maintenance intensive part

of what we do, firefighting
versus our fixed-wing.

- As we go through
that life cycle

of an aircraft acquisition,

there's definitely lessons
that we learn almost

on a daily basis.

We're utilizing infrared. We're
utilizing real-time mapping.

We're utilizing a lot of
these different technologies

to help us with
better understanding

of what tools to employ.

- We have an acronym
when we talk about SEE.

It's gotta be safe,
effective, and efficient.

In this aircraft, fits
all of those requirements.

It's safe 'cause
it's got two engines.

It's effective if we use it
right, as the right tool.

And we're learning that. We
take all that information.

We mold it to our model
that CAL FIRE uses.

What other states might
use from Washington

to Arizona or Colorado,

I'm sure there'll be looking
at us, watching us what we do.

And they're like, "Oh."

That's probably a model
that we may set up for them

to follow in our footsteps.

- At the end of the day, we
had to make our own evaluation

and look at what was
going on out there.

Everyone was like,
"These are game changers.

They make a huge difference.
And put out just one,

and suddenly the Firehawk
is well worth every penny."

Colorado is in a place,
now is the moment,

we need to make these
investments so that we are ready

and we can protect
Colorado's future.

- Really excited about the
progress Colorado is gonna make.

Thanks to the bill
we signed today

and our legislators
who are here today

in being able to
fight forest fires

and hit them hard early.

- We had the conversation,

"Is it worth the $24
million investment

to bring a Firehawk
to this state?"

And I think we were convinced
by the evidence we see

in California.

And I wouldn't be
surprised if at some point

in the next few years,

we're purchasing
another Firehawk

because we see such a
dramatic improvement

in our ability to respond
early to wildfires.

- Obviously from the fire
season that we had last year,

that brought a lot of
attention to the Firehawk

and to other firefighting
apparatus capabilities

within the state.

And I mean, what we had two
of the largest forest fires

in Colorado history last year.

Had it not been as bad
as it was that last year,

it may not have gone
through as quickly.

Shows that the legislators
of Colorado are dedicated

to its citizens.

The future is kind of unlimited.

I mean, it's kind
of the old saying,

"If you can dream
it, it can be done."

- Reducing CO2 emissions

and greenhouse gas
emissions is something

that needs to happen.

There is hope. This
is not inevitable.

When you can literally
see some of the effect

in the sky, it has an impact.

But I think a lot of us are
also, in this field are hopeful

because we know
that it is possible

to change this trajectory.

- Lightning is still going
to strike in unknown places,

but I think the effectiveness
of what we're learning here

and what we're doing
can be measured.

So five years from now,

we have some data that says,

"Look what we've done. Look
how many lives we've saved.

Look how many
structures we've saved.

Look how many fires we got
put out in the first 24 hours

before they spread."

- Firefighting is
not going away.

But how we do it and
how effectively we do it

and how safely we're able to
do it is going to continue

to change.

- Wildfires won't stop burning.

And aviation teams
are pushing forward

with new techniques
to face the challenge.

Today's aircraft are capable
of delivering heavier loads

at faster speeds with even
more informed strategy.

All of these tools will play
a role in the next chapter,

aviation firefighting.

(upbeat music)