{"id":18415,"date":"2025-08-01T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/fearless-the-air-tankers-that-help-fight-wildfires\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:04:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:04:36","slug":"fearless-the-air-tankers-that-help-fight-wildfires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/fearless-the-air-tankers-that-help-fight-wildfires\/","title":{"rendered":"Fearless: The air tankers that help fight wildfires"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Two
Two Erickson Aero Tanker MD-87s sit at the Durango Air Tanker Base at the north end of Durango-La Plata County Airport on Tuesday ready to go into action at a moment\u2019s notice if needed for a wildland fire. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Tucked behind Durango-La Plata County Airport lies the Durango Airtanker base \u2013 a hot swath of asphalt that for the past several weeks was home to three very special airplanes.<\/p>\n

The three repurposed passenger jets \u2013 one Neptune BAe 146 and two Erickson Aero Tanker MD-87s \u2013 were modified to carry 3,000 gallons of fire-retardant slurry each for fighting wildfires, and just happened to be stationed at the base when three wildfires broke out in and around Durango within hours of each other on Saturday, U.S. Forest Service spokesperson Lorena Williams said.<\/p>\n

The aircraft were used in coordination with firefighters combating the blazes on the ground, she said. They helped slow the advance of the fires, allowing crews on the ground to dig fire breaks and protect valuable assets like houses and infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\"Two
Two Erickson Aero Tanker MD-87s and a Neptune Aviation Services Inc. BAe 146 sit at the Durango Air Tanker Base at the north end of Durango-La Plata County Airport on Tuesday ready to go into action at a moment\u2019s notice if needed for a wildland fire. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cSome people get this impression that we\u2019re dumping right onto the head of the fire, and that\u2019s not necessarily true,\u201d Williams said. \u201cYou\u2019re putting it basically along the edge of the fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another misconception people have, she said, is that the fire retardant is an end-all be-all. The retardant only works wet, she said, and if firefighters can\u2019t get into an area where the slurry was dropped before it dries out, its effectiveness is nullified.<\/p>\n

\u201cRetardant is not a line because it dries and then it\u2019s game on again,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Williams said that pilots drop a line of retardant near a wildfire as they fly over the blaze. That, she said, raises the humidity in that specific location, which brings the temperature and the intensity of the fire down. That in turn allows firefighters to get in and dig a fire line, which slows or halts the spread of the fire.<\/p>\n

\"One
One of two Erickson Aero Tanker MD-87s sits at the Durango Air Tanker Base at the north end of Durango-La Plata County Airport on Tuesday. It takes eight to 10 minutes to fill a tanker plane with 3,000 gallons of retardant. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

But, Williams said, so much more goes into a plane dropping slurry on a target than meets the eye.<\/p>\n

Whenever a wildfire occurs, a fire traffic area is set up, in which multiple aircraft respond to the same fire in specific formation, she said. A smaller spotter plane is sent to circle high above the blaze clockwise in order to keep an eye on and provide detailed instructions to the tanker planes, which fly in counterclockwise circles below. That combination, she explained, avoids any risk of mid-air collisions and pinpoints where the tanker planes should drop their load.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of us working under the same protocols to make sure there\u2019s no mid-air collisions, and that everybody is doing the same thing,\u201d said Ryan Swakon, a pilot with Erikson Aeor Tankers.<\/p>\n

Swakon said Erikson contracts with the Forest Service to provide the slurry-dropping MD-87s to firefighting agencies across the country. They also hire the pilots who respond to the fires, who are specifically trained to fly wildfire missions.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything you could possibly think of comes into play with dropping retardant on a fire,\u201d Swakon said. \u201cAs a pilot, you\u2019re learning how to fight fire, and then how to drop a target on fire, and what\u2019s going to go on within the fire traffic area.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to knowing how to fly in step with other aircraft responding to a blaze, the pilots need to know how to respond to changes in wind direction, topography, smoke and vegetation type at a split-second, he said.<\/p>\n

\"Ground
Ground crew members at the Durango Air Tanker Base get some steps in on Tuesday during downtime as they walk around the base at the north end of Durango-La Plata County Airport. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Kathi Arnold, who had to evacuate from her home on County Road 318 during the Rim Road Fire on Saturday, said these tanker planes helped save her house. In the middle of packing her car to evacuate, fully anticipating that her house would burn down, Arnold watched as tanker planes swooped in and dropped slurry in the path of the advancing blaze. That bought firefighters enough time to get in between her house and the fire, dig a fire line and save her home, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlanes started coming immediately, one after the other, and they stopped the fire halfway down the hill on the backside of my property,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"An
An Erikson Aero Tanker MD-87 drops fire retardant on the Rim Road Fire on Saturday burning south of County Road 318 southwest of Ignacio. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Williams said the response to the three wildfires in Durango over the weekend was heavily dependent on the three tankers. For the Elkhorn Fire specifically, she said, the fire started near the Celadon and Elkhorn neighborhoods. With the slurry dropped by the tankers, fire crews were able to draw a line between those homes and the blaze.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe retardant has been critical for slowing down the fire\u2019s forward spread long enough to get firefighters in on the ground to dig hand line,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ve really relied on air tankers with our strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams said that, like the firefighters on the ground, the pilots at the controls of the tankers are exceptionally brave. She said that their job is nonstop when they are on a fire, and that the precision, timing and dedication they have is remarkable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can only imagine what it\u2019s like to be a tanker pilot,\u201d she said. \u201cThey follow a line that has been marked for them, and they just release the load until it\u2019s out, and then they take off again. Those pilots are really exceptional. And fearless.\u201d<\/p>\n

sedmondson@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"The
The area where the fire retardant is mixed and pumped to air tankers at the Durango Air Tanker Base at the east side of Durango-La Plata County Airport is seen Tuesday. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The air attack plane, which flies above air tankers and helicopters coordinating drops of fire retardant and water during fires, sits at the Durango Air Tanker Base at the east side of Durango-La Plata County Airport on Tuesday. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The area where the fire retardant is mixed and pumped to air tankers at the Durango Air Tanker Base at the east side of Durango-La Plata County Airport on Tuesday. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Specialized aircraft helped quell initial spread of recent blazes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18416,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,84],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-18415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-wildfire"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18415"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20576,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18415\/revisions\/20576"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18415"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=18415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}