available’, explained LCDR Kelsey St Louis,
HSC-3’s operations offi cer. ‘Most of our
fi refi ghting work is in the San Diego County
area, but we could be called to work further
north as far as Ventura County, north of Los
Angeles.’
‘When the program began, we had a few
pilots with fi refi ghting experience from other
bases like Guam’, comments LT Matt Sevier,
HSC-3’s aerial fi refi ghting program manager.
‘We also used pilots with mountain fl ying
and sling-load experience to build a cadre
of fi refi ghting pilots. We currently have 11
crews trained, and that includes pilots and
the crew chiefs plus aircrew in the cabin.
We use two pilots and two aircrew to fl y
fi refi ghting missions.’
New ‘fi re pilots’ receive classroom training
from both US Navy and Cal Fire instructors,
all of which is part of the MoU. The ground
training is an annual requirement, and the
fl ying portion comprises at least six water
bucket (known as Bambi Bucket) dips and
drops for each pilot. After that, the pilots
have to complete two dips and drops every
180 days in order to maintain mission
currency.
‘With crews rotating in and out of the
squadron about every two-and-a-half years,
we will train up new crews every four to six
months’, says Sevier. ‘We like to have at least
10 qualifi ed fi re crews in the squadron at all
times. As we come into fi re season, May to
October, we try to increase that to 15 crews.
We have fl ight-hour limitations on the crews
fl ying fi res. We will go through two crews
per helicopter if we are fl ying a 12-hour day.
It is a hot, fatiguing mission. Each crew is
limited to six hours of fi refi ghting and eight
hours of total fl ight time per day. We only fl y
during daylight, which can be up to 12 hours
during the summer months.’On call
If the call to action comes, the squadron is
notifi ed via their wing headquarters of a
warning order from Cal Fire. They inform
them where the fi re is located and how
many aircraft might be needed. This warning
order allows the unit to start organizing a
mission before the actual request is made.
This warning might give as much as 24
hours’ notice or as little as a couple of hours.
Squadron operations then swing into action,
assigning crews and helicopters — usually
the squadron’s MH-60S ‘Knighthawks’.
‘We want aircraft that have as little mission
equipment in them as possible to maximize
our water load’, explained Sevier. ‘We also
want to send aircraft that are not scheduled
for maintenance in the near future so we can
stay on the fi re for several days if necessary’.
A pre-mission duty is to apply panels
and three-digit identifi cation numbers in
high-visibility water-based pink paint to the
assigned helicopters — their drab gray colors
mean they tend to disappear from sight in the
smoke around a fi re.
The squadron has two sizes of Bambi
Buckets: a 420-gallon bucket, which, whenfi lled with water, weighs in at 3,700lb, or a
smaller 324-gallon version that weighs 2,900lb
when full. The squadron has fi ve of each size.
Taskings usually call for two to three aircraft,
and each will depart North Island with two
buckets, one of each size, to give fl exibility
and to cater for any malfunctions, without
having to return to base. The temperatures and
altitudes at which the MH-60s are called to
operate can sometimes restrict use of the larger
bucket due to its higher weight and helicopter
performance limits.
‘Once we arrive at the fi re, we land at the
designated fi re helicopter base and shut
down’, explained Sevier. ‘We get a briefi ng
from Cal Fire on the location of the fi re, which
way the fi re is moving, what kind of fuel
is burning and what other aerial assets are
being used. We are then told exactly where
we will be working, what ground crews will
be working in that area so we don’t drop on
them and cause injuries, and who will be
controlling our aircraft.
‘We don’t have the ability to talk on the
same radio frequencies as Cal Fire. So, we are
controlled in one of two ways. We either have
Cal Fire personnel on board each helicopter
with a hand-held radio or have another
helicopter, called the military helicopter co-
ordinator (MILCO), to lead us to and from each
drop using our civilian aeronautical radios for
communication.’
With the standard four-man fi refi ghting
crew on the MH-60S, the pilot in command
is typically co-ordinating on the radios with
the MILCO and determining the best routes
into and out of the fi re area, with the co-pilot
handling most of the actual fl ying. The crew
chief in the back is helping to spot where they
are supposed to drop the water and direct the
pilots on the fi nal approach to the drop point;
they have far better situational awareness‘We can fi ll the bucket
more by lifting quickly,
which stretches the
sides of the bucket and
allows us to carry more
water’
LT Matt Sevier84 May 2015 http://www.combataircraft.net82-85 Navy Firefighters C.indd 84 20/03/2015 11:33