Area firefighters received a close-up look at one of the most innovative and efficient airborne fire suppression systems in the world when Dauntless Air brought Fire Boss 216 to Wood County Airport last Wednesday. 

The static display was part of the training and certification conducted annually during controlled burns at the Mill Creek Ranch in central Wood County. Live demonstrations were scheduled for later in the week. 

The first thing which strikes one upon seeing the Fire Boss is its size. Certainly the two wheeled floats amp the size of the aircraft a bit, but the airframe itself is large for a single seat aircraft. The 60-foot wingspan doubles the overall length. The build is based on the largest crop-duster in the world, the Air Tractor 802.

Air Tractor builds the base aircraft in Olney (northwest of Forth Worth). The story of the firm and its founder, the late Leland Snow, is a proud history of the development of agricultural aircraft.   

The basic Air Tractor is modified to optimize it for the fire suppression mission. 

As pilot Shannon Bower explained, “We don’t fight the fire, we suppress the heat and flame so that the ground crews can fight it.” To do this, the aircraft scoops 800 gallons of water from a nearby body of water and airdrops it at the request of the incident commander.

That process is repeated over and over until the aircraft is forced to go off-station due to fuels limits or weather changes. According to Dauntless Air, 90% of the wildfires in the United States occur within easy reach of a water source which can be tapped by Fire Boss aircraft.

Dauntless Air operates 21 Fire Boss aircraft. They are stationed in three groups of seven at Cleburne (just south of Dallas),  in Idaho and Minnesota.

Business Manager Dan Carroll explained that the aircraft are usually contracted through a state or federal agency. “In Texas, the Texas Forestry Service would usually be the contracting entity,” he said.

What exactly an agency contracts for is a whole lot more than 800 gallons of water. Dauntless usually flies in a flight of four aircraft or at a minimum in an element of two aircraft. With on-station times which can reach 3.5 hours and with a nearby water source, the Fire Bosses can have a major impact on how a wildfire is brought under control.

The aerial tankers use a combination of keen engineering, skilled piloting, planning and communications to effect a fire. 

The aircraft fill their tank by skimming across the top of the water – at 65 knots – and allowing the water to flow through a scoop into the tank. A series of increasing diameter piping allows for rapid intake of 800 gallons.

“We can usually top off in 12 seconds,” Bower stated.  

Once clear of the water’s surface, the flight lead communicates with the air tactical advisory coordinator, who identifies where the load will be dropped. The two most common methods for releasing the 6,800 pounds of water are in a spray pattern 100 yards long and 60 feet wide or in a single salvo drop. The salvo drop releases the entire load in 1.5 seconds. 

Bowers described in detail the piloting implications of suddenly losing 6,800 pounds of load from the aircraft. In order to counteract the lift effect, pilots must force the nose of the aircraft down at the moment of release (and while already flying near treetop level). It is no doubt a finely-tuned dance.

Each Fire Boss is also outfitted with a Forward Looking Infrared system which can pinpoint the heart of the fire or hotspots should the pilot need further information to line up a drop. Deliveries are usually done downwind.

Radio communications with the tactical coordinator or incident commander are conducted with military-like brevity.  Radio calls such as “Good Drop, Bad Drop, Double up, Tag and Extend, Step Left or Step Right,” are examples of the lingo in use for suppression missions.

The element or flight will fly the profiles in formation. The standard release time between aircraft working together is generally 8 seconds. 

Long before aircraft report on station, significant mission planning is required. Most critical in this research is identifying an adequate and useable body of water as close to the fire site as is prudent. Bowers described the greatest danger during the scooping operation as submerged trees and other obstacles. Dauntless requires water free of hazards to a depth of four feet and a nominal one mile stretch of clear water. 

Research into local weather patterns and topography are logically also major concerns.

Carroll stated, “Proper preparation is critical to mission success.” Bowers likewise offered, “Mitigating risk to the aircraft and to the firefighters we are supporting is what it is all about.”

Thirty-four firefighters attended the briefing last Wednesday. In addition to Wood County firefighters, neighboring departments from Reklaw, Ennis, Longview and Greenville – among others – were represented.

Their questions to the Dauntless Air team reflected the nature of their work. Issues such as weather minimums, communications procedures and stand-off ranges were discussed. At the end of the session it was clear that those firefighters on the front lines had a valuable asset to wield in the battle against wildfires.