Already; The 2021 Season Is Outpacing National Averages

As the 2021 wildfire season gets underway, aerial firefighters, Dauntless Air has added two new Fire Bosses to the nation’s largest Fire Boss fleet.

Dauntless will put its fleet to work on exclusive use and call-when-needed contracts with the Bureau of Land Management (which shares resources with the US Forest Service), Bureau of Indian Affairs and state fire agencies in Minnesota, Idaho, Washington, Alaska, Colorado and Oregon.

“A growing number of fire agencies are turning to Fire Boss-driven Rapid Initial Attack to contain wildfires faster and avoid the devastation, fossil fuel emissions, health impacts and costs associated with large, complex fires,” said Brett L’Esperance, CEO, Dauntless Air. “We are responding to this increasing demand by expanding our Fire Boss fleet to give fire agencies more access to critical water-scooping aircraft that can work alongside helicopters in the fight against wildfires.”

Central to the Rapid Initial Attack model are amphibious resources—Fire Bosses and firefighting helicopters—that can work in close, coordinated fashion with ground resources, operate out of large or small air bases and scoop water directly from natural sources nearby a fire. In Rapid Initial Attack, these pre-positioned aircraft can arrive on the scene within an hour of dispatch and bombard a fire with water by traveling back and forth between it and a nearby water source. Fire Bosses can scoop up to 800 gallons in approximately 20 seconds. Loads of water carried by Dauntless Fire Bosses can be enhanced using an in-flight gel mixing system, which helps to improve the water’s fire-suppressive characteristics.

Already the 2021 season is outpacing national averages: more than 34,000 wildfires have ignited since January, which is nearly 4,000 fires more than the 10-year national average to date. The increased activity comes on the heels of a destructive 2020 season, when nearly 60,000 wildfires burned more than 10.1 million acres—well above the five- and 10-year national averages. 33 percent of the burned acres were in California, which accounted for the largest number of structures lost in one state—11,473; nearly 7,000 of which were homes and businesses.

“Wildfires are a national security risk that endanger millions of lives and livelihoods every year; they rip through our communities and their smoke has long-term negative health impacts on people living hundreds of miles away from the flames,” added L’Esperance. “We are incredibly proud to help the country combat these threats, especially as climate change exacerbates the length and intensity of each wildfire season. The more we expand our ability to keep unwanted fires small and contained, the more we can reduce overall suppression costs and divert the money saved to critical forest health management initiatives that reduce the wildfire risk in the first place.”

FMI: https://dauntlessair.com