casey Posted August 2, 2016 Share Posted August 2, 2016 The National Multi-Agency Coordinating Group (NMAC) at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho has mobilized two Department of Defense C-130s equipped with Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems (MAFFS) to assist with wildfire suppression efforts in the western United States. The two C-130 MAFFS will be provided by the 153rd Airlift Wing, Wyoming Air National Guard, based out of Cheyenne, and the 302nd Airlift Wing, Air Force Reserve, Peterson Air Force Base, based out of Colorado Springs, Colorado. The aircraft will initially work out of Boise and are expected to be available to fly wildfire suppression missions by Wednesday, August 3. MAFFS are intended to supplement the contracted air tanker fleet to provide surge capacity when there are not enough large air tankers to fill the requests from fire incident commanders on going fires and initial attack on emerging fires. MAFFS are portable fire retardant delivery systems that can be inserted into military C-130 aircraft to convert them into large air tankers which can drop up to 3,000 gallons of fire retardant on wildfires. Source: http://fireaviation.com/2016/08/02/two-military-maffs-air-tankers-mobilized/ Fire Aviation File photo. Members of the 302nd Airlift Wing at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado push a U.S. Forest Service Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System unit onto a C-130 designated as MAFFS 5, Aug. 2, 2015. It takes about three hours to load and then configure the MAFFS unit in a C-130 aircraft. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Nathan Federico) View full article Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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