Coulson Aviation In Malibu to Help Local Firefighters

Firebombing aircraft operating under the Quick Reaction Force (QRF) program in Southern California successfully supported the Los Angeles County Fire Department, and the Los Angeles Fire Department putting the recent Malibu area fire. This fire was in the area of Tuna Canyon and Las Flores Heights roads, and has been dubbed the “Flores Fire”.

Two LACoFD helitaks and an LAFD helitak were supported by the LA County-based QRF Chinook Helitanker 61 and Chinook Helitanker 47 from Orange County with the Coulson C-130 Tanker 131 operating from Lancaster AirBase.  

The helicopter fleet successfully worked the fire along with large air tankers. The multiple aircraft and teams operated under the guidance of the LACoFD helicopter coordinator who had the key role to direct air traffic and ensure safe and effective fire operations. 

The Flores fire was close to the Topanga Canyon, meaning it was also close to the helicopter water refilling site ‘69 Bravo’. Being so close to a water source meant the turnaround time (travel to water source, hoverfill & return) for the helicopters was extremely short, which helped expedite fire suppression efforts. 

Coulson’s Helitanker 61 Pilot Kevin, said 69 Bravo has four dip tanks, and because it was stationed just above the fire within a mile, the teams were able to hover fill and get into a circle of continuous drops. 

Coulson Helitanker 47 returned to its Orange County base after arriving at the fire, and C-130 Tanker 131 returned to base after delivering two 4000 gallon loads.  

With all these aircraft operating unison it was a busy air space. 

“We needed to stand off at the dip sites on three separate occasions to allow for air tanker drops,” Kevin said. 

“We ended up flying for 2 hours, getting 15 drops in. We were asked to refuel and return which the team did after changeover with the night crew.”

The night crew were deployed back to the fire to operate another 1.5 hours, dropping another 10 loads of water.  

The QRF is designed to operate 24/7 in support of firefighters and communities, aiming to keep small fires under control and/or extinguished. Under the QRF, large helitankers can operate as one force, supplemented with specialist aircraft providing real time information and working with other agency aircraft as required.