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Water supertanker lands in Israel
The American firefighting aircraft nicknamed the Supertanker has landed at Ben Gurion Airport to help fire crews on the ground and in the air to extinguish a series of fires raging around the country, especially in the hills surrounding Jerusalem. (www.ynetnews.com) المزيد...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
Now ain't that special, We send a super tanker to Israel, when the largest tourist area in America is burning up.....namely the Great Smoky Mountains! ARE WE GETTING DUMB & DUMBER OR WHAT???
Did we send it? Which fire started first?
Keep in mind that the tanker is a private organization, not a government entity, so they are free to go where they are contracted to go.
You might ask your federal representatives why they do not fund federal firefighting appropriately in order to budget for the use of resources such as the super tanker. While at it, why not ask whether fires could be considered disasters for funding as are hurricanes & floods so the USFS does not need to redirect planning and proactive funds to plug fire fighting budget deficits.
During a wildland fire incident there will usually be multiple aircraft working. Turnarounds of less than forty-five minutes will probably be acceptable by the air operation managers. Land,load,wheels-up, back to the fire, forty five minutes, best guess?
What's the turnaround time for the supertanker? I remember borate bombing with TBM Avengers used to see a significant amount of air time in transitting from the load site to the dump site and the time on the ground to load the tank.
Good for Israel. They saw the need and the International community responded. Fire Tactics 101: The water scoopers drop water, directly on the fire about 200-300 feet of fire line is cooled and partially extinguished per drop. Twice the coverage for the Russian scoopers. The 747 is a fire retardant line builder, indirect attack. The fire moves into the milk shake consistency liquid and is "retarded" for hours while ground crews move into build mineral fire lines/water and hoses. Depending on the coverage level required for holding the fire, two (grass) to eight (brush-timber) gallons per 100 square feet, the 747 can treat effectively up to 1.2 miles of (grass)fire line per drop. On the Hafia Incident using water or chemically enhanced water (foam or gel) the coverage level was maximum. 747 direct attack probably cooled and extinguished about 2000 to 3000 feet of fire line.