With fire season coming upon us, local, state and federal agencies start coordinating their efforts to make sure they’re all on the same page when it comes to firefighting.

And instead of the summer of 2013, which had several fires burning in Southwest Colorado, they’re hoping for the more quiet seasons of the past two years.

The local U.S. Forest Service air tanker base at the Durango-La Plata County Airport works closely with the other USFS base in Denver and a U.S. Bureau of Land Management base in Grand Junction. There are several other Single Engine Air Tanker (SEAT) bases in the state, as well, including one in Cortez overseen by the Durango base.

Single engine air tankers are small planes that can drop repeated loads of retardant on a fire, making them the workhorses of fighting western wildfires.

On Tuesday, firefighters from local agencies came out to the base for annual training and to check out helicopters from Flight for Life and Mesa Verde National Park.

“We need to coordinate our commitment to safety,” said Richard Bustamante, the fire management officer for the San Juan National Forest. “We can’t all take independent action.” Two regional helicopters are already working on Arizona fires, he added.

Overseeing the SEATS, helicopters, big tankers and myriad other airplanes that might be here this summer is Craig French, the manager of the Durango’s air tanker base.

French has been working with air tankers since 1979 and returned home to Southwest Colorado six years ago after a long stint in California.

He and his staff start business every spring by making sure the flame retardant in the big tanks outside their office window is ready to go. The retardant is slowly recirculated after sitting during the winter, then tested in Montana to make sure it’s still viable.

Although several agencies and offices can be called on to fight a forest fire, it’s important they work as a team, French said.

“It’s not which agency you work for,” he said. “We all pitch in and help.”

In the summer, he and his staff monitor a variety of computers and maps to see which resources are being used where. Every federal government aircraft is equipped with GPS equipment that lets offices monitor where they’re flying.

If the little icons on the screen turn red, that means they are out of contact, but that happens when craft fly in low terrain, French said, particularly helicopters working in winding canyons. He also has to watch which areas have temporary flying restrictions, although those usually take place more on the Front Range than here. Colorado Springs, for example, recently had flight restrictions for visits from a presidential campaign and the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds.

For an observer on the ground, firefighting planes look like they just fly along and drop retardant, but French explained it’s a lot more than that. A lead plane flies in first, particularly if a fire is burning in a ridgeline or canyon, to make sure there is room to make the drop and the planes have a safe exit. Then the tanker follows to drop the retardant. Different kinds of craft fly at different elevations to avoid collisions, as well.

“Everything is controlled,” French said. “It’s well-orchestrated. It’s quite a complicated dance.”