Aerial firefighting force stages at Joint Forces Training Base
Civilian helitankers will work from Cal Guard base during height of Southern California’s fire season
Story and photo by Col. Richard Lalor
Joint Forces Training Base Public Affairs
July 15, 2022
LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. – Joint Forces Training Base serves as Cal Guard’s major emergency management hub in Southern California and is the home of Los Alamitos Army Airfield – the only military airfield in Los Angeles and Orange County.
The installation's critical mission as a flexible sustainment platform to launch first responders and their equipment enhances the base’s strategic importance to approximately 17 million residents subject to a year-round threat to their lives and property from devastating wildfires.
The Orange County Fire Authority has recognized that importance and selected the base as a staging location for elements of an aerial firefighting quick reaction force (QRF) in partnership with the Los Angeles County and Ventura County Fire Departments.
Now in its second year of operation, the civilian QRF includes two Boeing Chinook CH-47 helitankers – the world’s largest fire suppression helicopters that can each carry up to 3,000 gallons of water or retardant – and a Sikorsky S-61 helitanker with a 1,000-gallon capacity.
A Sikorsky S-76 intelligence-reconnaissance helicopter and mobile retardant base equipped with hover filling tanks round out the fleet assets.
The helitankers can operate day and night and make up the world’s first fully nocturnal wildfire aerial task force. One helicopter is being deployed in each county and will be available when called upon by any of the partner fire departments.
With financial assistance from Southern California Edison, the QRF will be in operation for 165 days this year. During its first year of operation, the QRF assets deployed on more than 50 incidents and dropped nearly three million gallons of water and retardant, saving an untold number of homes, structures and lives in 2021.
“This is the latest building block in the Cal Guard’s robust partnership to protect lives and property throughout the state,” said Maj. Gen. Michael Leeney, commanding general of the California Army National Guard’s 40th Infantry Division, which is headquartered on the base. “Here at JFTB, we look forward to supporting Orange County Fire Authority for as long as our support is needed.”
A civilian CH-47 Chinook helitanker drops water during an aerial firefighting demonstration, July 5, at Joint Forces Training Base, Los Alamitos. The tanker is part of a civilian firefighting quick reaction force contracted to Southern California fire agencies which will stage at Joint Forces Training Base and other locations in Orange, Los Angeles and Ventura counties during the height of Southern California's wildfire season.
A civilian CH-47 Chinook helitanker drops water during an aerial firefighting demonstration, July 5, at Joint Forces Training Base, Los Alamitos. The tanker is part of a civilian firefighting quick reaction force contracted to Southern California fire agencies which will stage at Joint Forces Training Base and other locations in Orange, Los Angeles and Ventura counties during the height of Southern California's wildfire season.
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