Airmen's support of California fires goes into seventh day

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Luke Johnson
  • 302nd Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AFPN) --  Airmen of the 302nd Air Expeditionary Group here have launched their seventh day of support missions July 2 in a coordinated effort to control wildfires in northern California. 

Operating out of McClellan Airfield in Sacramento, the Airmen fly C-130 Hercules aircraft equipped with the Modular Airborne Firefighting System, which can drop up to 3,000 gallons of fire retardant per mission.

The 302nd AEG aircraft units include two Air National Guard units -- the 153rd Airlift Wing from Cheyenne, Wyo., and the 145th Airlift Wing from Charlotte, N.C. -- and one Air Force Reserve unit -- the 302nd Airlift Wing from Peterson Air Force Base, Colo.

Also fighting the fires throughout California are Navy and Marine aircrews also assigned to the 302nd AEG.

The Marine Medium Helicopter Training Squadron 164 and Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 268 based out of Camp Pendleton, Calif., and Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 465 based out of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego are flying CH-46 Sea Knight and CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters equipped with 2,000-gallon specialized firefighting buckets and are deployed to Naval Air Station Lemoore, Calif.

Navy Reserve helicopter assets are from the Helicopter Sea Combat Support Squadron 85 based out of Naval Air Station North Island, Calif. The squadron is flying MH-60S helicopters with 420- and 360-gallon specialized firefighting buckets.

The joint force operations in California are part of a unified effort under U.S. Northern Command to provide assistance to the U.S. Forest Service, the California Department of Forestry and Protection, and the National Interagency Fire Center.

The California National Guard 146th Airlift Wing Airmen from Channel Islands Air National Guard Station, Calif., are also providing support to NORTHCOM missions by transporting personnel, cargo and equipment for the other Modular Airborne Firefighting System units.

Officials from NORTHCOM continue to closely monitor the California wildfires to anticipate additional requests for Department of Defense assistance to local, federal, and state civil authorities and will launch as many missions as officials require to battle the wildfires.

To date the military airborne assets in California have flown approximately 140 missions and dropped close to 287,000 gallons of fire retardant since June 26. Fire information is current as of 12 p.m. July 2. 

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