C_A_M_2015_05_

looking underneath the helicopter than the

pilots, while it is the other crew member that

actually releases the water. The MILCO often

recommends drop speeds depending on how

concentrated they want the drop: the slower

the drop speed, the more concentrated the

water is on that drop. For spot fi res or other

areas where they need a more concentrated

amount of water, they therefore use a slower

approach and drop speed, putting more water

on each square foot of ground. Or, by using a

faster drop speed, they can spread the water

out over a greater distance.

‘Whether we return to North Island each

evening depends on how far away the fi re is

located’, St Louis added. ‘If we are fairly close,

we will return to base because that makes

maintenance much easier. If not, we fl y or

drive maintenance personnel to the aircraft.

Our maintenance personnel are used to

working in two- or three-aircraft detachments

and [they] know [which] parts may be needed.

We are currently working on building small

standardized maintenance kits that could be

taken on fi re missions’. All of the helicopters

have rescue hoists, so if required they can

undertake a useful secondary mission of

casualty evacuation or rescue for fi refi ghters

who get injured or are trapped by the fi re.

Feeling the heat

With pre-mission preparation and briefi ngs

complete, the crews prepare to swing into

action. ‘We can re-fi ll the water bucket from

a number of sources’, explained Sevier. ‘We

can use sea water if necessary but prefer fresh

water — it’s easier on the equipment and on

the land we drop on. We can also re-fi ll from

‘pumpkins’, large portable water tanks that

can hold several thousand gallons. The crew

chief is watching the dip site closely as we

approach it, looking for debris or anything

that could snag the bucket or jam it. The rotor

downwash can also catch the empty bucket

and throw it around. [So] we rely on the crew

chief to tell us when to lower down [in] a

hover over the water and make sure the bucket

is fi lling correctly. We can fi ll the bucket more

by lifting quickly, which stretches the sides of

the bucket and allows us to carry more water.

This depends on the available power.

‘Leaving the dip site we are doing power

checks to make sure we are safe with the

amount of water in the bucket. [On] the fi rst

water pick-up of the day, we do a practice

pick and drop the water immediately to

make sure the bucket is operating correctly

and give us an idea of our max water load

for the bucket. When we are working with a

MILCO, he will be fl ying close to the dip site,

and we then form up on him and follow him

to the fi re where we will be dropping. Once

all the military helicopters have dipped and

dropped at least once, we go into a daisy-

chain formation where there is a procession

of helicopters dipping and dropping at regular

intervals’. He added: ‘Every day we are on

a fi re, we get a briefi ng from Cal Fire on the

primary and secondary dip sites. That way we

can quickly change dip sites if necessary.’

Depending on the size and speed of the fi re,

the crews may do an indirect or direct attack

on it. An indirect attack is used to pre-treat

(or drench) an area before the fi re arrives to

help impede the progress of the fl ames. Or it

can be a ‘direct attack’, which means actually

dropping the water straight on to the fi re. The

pilot at the controls has to be careful not to fl y

too low or slow as the rotor downwash can fan

the fl ames and spread the fi re. Crews generally

tend to drop from 30-40m and at around 50kt

airspeed.

‘Working in the heat of a fi re in mountainous

terrain is challenging’, said St Louis. ‘We have

worked fi res in very steep canyons. Often

the wind pushes the smoke over the head of

the fi re, obscuring the area where we want

to drop the water. We may have to fl y under

the smoke plume or in limited visibility. So,

we are constantly re-analyzing the safety of

fl ight operations as conditions over a fi re can

change very rapidly. The heat from a fi re can

defi nitely affect our available power margins’,

he added. ‘The smoke and soot can [also]

affect the performance of the engines. We

closely monitor the engine temperatures for

any degradation of performance. Once we

shut down at the end of the day we do a water

wash to clean out the engines. So far, I have

not seen any engine degradation due to soot or

ash on the fi res I have fought.’

During these operations, the US Navy crews

try to refuel at a military site so they can

‘hot-refuel’. Avoiding an engine shut-down is

always preferable as it minimizes maintenance

problems.

HSC-3 is now covering the live-fi re ranges

on San Clemente Island, off the southern

California coast, tackling any range fi res

ignited by ordnance. Here they operate

more freely, without any civilian fi re crews

involved. Live-fi re scheduling is well planned

and the squadron can detach Bambi Bucket-

equipped helicopters to the islands

as required.

However, it’s the big fi res in the populated

areas that really make the headlines.

‘Whenever we get notifi cation that we might

be sending aircraft to work with Cal Fire, a

lot of pilots and aircrews start showing up in

operations to see if they can get the mission’,

Sevier summed up. ‘The crews who have

done it defi nitely enjoy the mission and

working with Cal Fire. Since we are a training

squadron, it is nice to do an operational

mission once in a while.’

Decked out in bright pink water-based paint,

these MH-60S Seahawks of Helicopter Sea

Combat Squadron (HSC) 3 are operating

from MCAS Camp Pendleton, California,

while assisting the California Department of

Forestry and Fire Protection.

US Navy/MCS1C Joan E. Jennings

An MH-60S in action up

in Ventura County near

Point Mugu. US Navy/

Kimberly Gearhart

Barry D. Smith

LCDR Kelsey St Louis

and LT Dan Rosborough

at work. US Navy/

MCS1C Chris Fahey

US Navy/

MCS2C

Sebastian

McCormack

http://www.combataircraft.net May 2015 85

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