The deadly fires that have blackened more than 105,000 acres around Los Angeles prompted authorities to call in the world’s largest fire extinguisher — a Boeing 747 that can drop 20,000 gallons of retardant over a swath of land three miles long.
The plane made its first-ever drop in the continental United States when fire officials summoned it to the Oak Glen fire east of Los Angeles mid day on Monday. After the successful first drop, the Supertanker was called back into action Monday evening where it made further drops on the massive Station fire north of the city which grew to more than 164 square miles and threatened 10,000 homes. Nearly 2,600 firefighters from as far away as Montana are throwing everything they have at the blaze, and on Monday they called in the biggest tool in their inventory.
Supertanker, a 747-100 modified by Evergreen Aviation of Oregon, can deliver more than 20,000 gallons of fire retardant with considerable accuracy using its unique pressurized delivery system. Although Supertanker can’t snake through canyons like smaller aircraft, nothing can touch its payload or its ability to perform multiple controlled drops during a single flight. The Grumman S-2, a dedicated workhorse of California’s airtanker fleet, carries 1,200 gallons. That’s a thimbleful compared to the Supertanker.
“This aircraft can lay down a three-mile-long, football field-wide swath of retardant if needed,” Evergreen’s Rick Campfield told Wired.com. “There’s no close second.”
But is it working at all
Comment by librarianchat — September 1, 2009 @ 8:16 pm
It is a really big, 1 plane won’t fix the problem, but it is helping
Comment by thewere42 — September 1, 2009 @ 9:57 pm
I really like the idea of extinguishing fire by spraying the cntnt from an aeroplane from a height.
Comment by Adam — September 20, 2009 @ 9:50 pm