Coulson Assets Doing the Needful, As Always

Cedar City Air Base (KCDC) has been pretty busy with Utah’s wildfire situation, and crews are still hopping all across the Southern part of the state.

In the last week alone, tankers have been stocked with 360,000 gallons of retardant, spread across 146 sorties. All in all, there are 8 different fires in the local area, spread across Southern Utah and Northern Arizona: As of July 16th, the list includes Monroe Canyon, France Canyon, Forsyth, Washington, Bridge Creek, Deer Creek, Mica,  and Diamond Canyon wildfires.

Utah headed into this summer fairly prepared, with all their equipment in position in anticipation of a busy season. Cedar City Airport is home to the Interagency Fire Air Center, nesting place for some of Coulson Aviation’s familiar fleet. In June, they showed off one of their 737 Fireliners and C-130s, Tanker 137 & 138. Given the unfortunate distribution of those current fires, the Fireliner is a good fit for the job, able to ‘commute’ and drop loads at a speed unattainable by the smaller rotary-wing aircraft.

Understandably, crews are putting an emphasis on firefighting wherever the greatest threat to communities is found. So far, about 79,000 acres have been burned, and some areas of wilderness, like the Monroe Canyon and Deer Creek, remain at sub-10% containment. But crews are staying busy, and containment could hopefully get easier later this week if the weather cooperates.

FMI: www.utah-fire-info-utahdnr.com