The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) utilized major air support this weekend to combat the extreme conditions at the northwestern edge of the Basin Complex Fire, near Pico Blanco. CDF’s largest aircraft, a DC-10 Air tanker based in Victorville, CA, has the potential to offload nearly 100,000 pounds of fire retardant in each of its flights. The Air tanker was utilized both Saturday and Sunday afternoons, making one pass next to the fireline on both fly-bys. As of Sunday, the Big Sur Basin Complex fire covered 72,429 acres. Over 2,300 personnel are working the fire, with multiple strike teams near the Big Sur Valley off of Highway One and hand and bulldozer crews building fire lines in both the southern and northern portions of Monterey County. The DC-10 was brought in to help dampen the conditions on the northwest corner of the expanding fire, to support the firefighters on the ground working the firelines. According to Sarah Gibson of the US Forest Service, an Air tanker's retardant helps pre-treat an area prior to the fire's arrival, and makes the forest and underbrush less susceptible to heat and combustion. With an impressive capacity to carry 50 tons of water or fire retardant, the DC-10 was McDonnell Douglas's first wide-bodied commercial airliner introduced in the early 1970s, a tad smaller than the 747 but capable of flying similar long-distance routes. After 31 years of commercial flying with passengers, this particular airplane was converted for firefighting. In its first career, the former passenger jet carried 285 passengers for American Airlines and later held as many as 380 passengers for charter flights flown to Hawaii. It was first put into fire service in July 2006 for test flying, and officially put to work in 2007. The DC-10 is suitable as an Air tanker because its cargo doors open outward, unlike most jumbo jets. But its service doesn’t come cheap — its cost is over $25,000 per hour — a fee to be reimbursed to the State by the US Forest Service in its efforts to contain the Big Sur Fire as it moves towards the more populated areas of Palo Colorado and Cachagua. The DC-10 Air tanker 910 flies with two pilots and one engineer, supported by a spotter aircraft, a Beechcraft King Air, a twin-engine piston airplane. With its brightly painted orange underbelly, the jet could be seen easily throughout Carmel Valley as it descended to its fire-attacking altitude, utilizing a counterclockwise spiral with turns more than a mile wide. A short YouTube video below shows the Air tanker in action at the Zaca Fire, in southern California. In addition to the DC-10, the Big Sur and Indians Fires are utilizing nineteen helicopters, including several Type 3 airships capable of carrying 700 gallons of water or retardant. This is a fluid capacity similar to what many city fire trucks hold. The helicopters are working between the Indians Fire near Hunter Liggett on the eastern edge of the Indian’s fire and at the Big Sur Basin Complex Fire, with three air bases: at Molera State Park, Cachagua and King City. DC-10 Facts: http://www.fire.ca.gov/communications/downloads/newsreleases/2006archive/Tanker910factsheet.pdf

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