{"id":27546,"date":"2024-05-21T02:11:27","date_gmt":"2024-05-21T08:11:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/air-tanker-base-opens-for-what-fire-official-say-could-be-another-active-wildfire-season\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T00:04:50","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T06:04:50","slug":"air-tanker-base-opens-for-what-fire-official-say-could-be-another-active-wildfire-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/air-tanker-base-opens-for-what-fire-official-say-could-be-another-active-wildfire-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Air tanker base opens for what fire official say could be another active wildfire season"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Firefighters
Firefighters from multiple agencies attended the 2024 fly-in at the Durango Air Tanker Base, operated by the San Juan National Forest, on Monday. The Mesa Verde Helitack aircraft was one of the craft on display. (Reuben M. Schafir\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Durango Air Tanker Base opened May 15 in preparation for what fire officials say is likely to be an \u201caverage\u201d wildfire season.<\/p>\n

With a snowpack that barely peaked above 30-year median levels and has melted rapidly since mid-April, the intensity of Southwest Colorado\u2019s fire season still depends on many factors, such as the ferocity of the summer monsoons and wind.<\/p>\n

\u201cKeep in mind an average June here is an active fire season,\u201d said Toby Cook, deputy fire staff officer with the San Juan National Forest. \u201cSo, average doesn\u2019t mean that we won\u2019t be in a fire season, average could be a very active fire season.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Firefighters
Firefighters from multiple agencies attended the 2024 fly-in at the Durango Air Tanker Base, operated by the San Juan National Forest, on Monday. Among the aircraft there was a new jet, one of just two in the country used for air attack operations. (Reuben M. Schafir\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The forest operates the base at the Durango-La Plata County Airport during fire season. Air tankers and other firefighting support aircraft use the base to refuel and restock on retardant. It also is home to the forest\u2019s Durango Helitack crew.<\/p>\n

At a fly-in event Monday, members from various partner agencies involved in fighting wildland fires gathered to familiarize themselves with the various planes, helicopters and drones they may encounter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re open and ready,\u201d Assistant Air Tanker Base Manager Dave Hautamaki said.<\/p>\n

The base is open through September, unless fire season draws on longer than expected.<\/p>\n

\"A
A Flight For Life helicopter was one of four aircraft at the Durango Air Tanker Base on Monday. (Reuben M. Schafir\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

One of three multi mission aircraft owned by the state\u2019s Department of Public Safety sat parked on the tarmac Monday, as well as a Flight For Life helicopter and the Mesa Verde Helitack aircraft, which was rigged with a short-haul system to transport humans below the helicopter on a tether.<\/p>\n

The only major difference from last year is an upgrade to the air attack plane that coordinates aerial firefighting of wildland fires. This year, fire managers will use a faster Cessna Citation jet, which can keep pace with the newer generation of air tankers. Most air attack modules still use twin propeller planes which cannot arrive on scene as quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to have aerial supervision on scene before we\u2019re doing tankers,\u201d Hautamaki said.<\/p>\n

No air tankers \u2013 the aircraft that dump fire retardant or water on wildfires \u2013 have been called to the base yet.<\/p>\n

Preparation for the fire season has been \u201cpretty standard,\u201d Cook said.<\/p>\n

High winds or monsoons that produce lightening but only a little bit of moisture could result in more wildfires this year, while heavy rain and minimal winds could keep blazes at bay.<\/p>\n

Currently, fuel conditions are OK.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings are drying quickly, but we\u2019re in a really good conditions right now,\u201d Cook said.<\/p>\n

\"Fire
Fire managers will use a faster Cessna Citation jet, which can keep pace with the newer generation of air tankers. Most air attack modules still use twin propeller planes which cannot arrive on scene as quickly. (Reuben M. Schafir\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

This week, fuels managers opted to expand the footprint of the lightening-caused Spruce Creek Fire northeast of Dolores<\/a> for the purposes of hazardous fuels reduction, which lowers the risk of future catastrophic wildfires.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so hard to predict what we\u2019re going to have,\u201d Cook said. \u201cThe best we can do is just being prepared.\u201d<\/p>\n

rschafir@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fly-in a chance for first responders to familiarize themselves with various craft<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27547,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[350,28,199,84],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-27546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-fire","tag-headlines","tag-san-juan-national-forest","tag-wildfire"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27546","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=27546"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80098,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27546\/revisions\/80098"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27546"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=27546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}