July 03, 2024

OREGON, USA — Oregon is on track to see some of the warmest weather seen since last summer, and that means fire danger is going to be extremely high as well. Fire crews from around the Portland metro area spent the day on Tuesday getting trained to better communicate on the ground —and in the air.

There are already hundreds of wildland firefighters trained to be on the ground this wildfire season, but many of them spent the day on Tuesday learning how to communicate with pilots.

Pilots of what is described as an amphibious single-engine air tanker, also called a fire boss.

“Capacity is 800 gallons. It takes 10 to 15 seconds to skim across the water at 60 to 65 miles per hour,” said Aaron Vince, a pilot. 

The two planes flew into the Hillsboro Airport to help dozens of firefighters, who will be battling wildfires across Oregon this summer. During the training session on Tuesday, they flew over Hagg Lake to fill their planes with water. Nearly looking like they land on the water — but the planes just skim the top of the water to fuel up.

“It’s important to get these folks who are first time firefighters to talk with the pilots of the aircraft,” said Neil Laugle, the state aviation manager for the Oregon Department of Forestry. “It can be a nervous energy when you’re trying to put out a fire and talking to the pilots.”

Laugle said that making sure the men and women on the ground are in good communication with one another is key.

KGW spoke to firefighter Wally Waibel, who has been fighting fires for over a decade. He said conditions on the fire lines can change without a moments notice.

“More so now than in any other time of my career, the fire environment is changing. We’re requiring more resources and aviation is becoming more important for us,” said Waibel.

Having the ability to have this training now, will better protect those once it’s time to fight flames.

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