"We're flying over the fire and observing fire behavior from the air; assisting firefighters by advising them how the fire is moving in a certain direction or where it's moving to; and we direct lead planes that are leading the retardant tankers into the fire."
So Air attack, I've been told, is basically an air traffic controller in the sky. You have what's called a platform or a plane that you fly in. I fly with a pilot that has been trained and certified so that they can fly federal firefighters. And it's usually in a twin-engine Beachcraft Baron, where I sit in the copilot's seat and manage all the aircraft or air resources coming into a fire. So the airspace over the fire is totally under my control as the air attack group supervisor assigned to that fire. We're also responsible for watching out for the firefighters on the ground, and assisting them in any way that the air resources can support their firefighting effort. The one facet of air attack that most people are familiar with, of course, is the retardant tankers that we use on the fires. It's what's most commonly seen on television. We also manage the rotors, or the helicopters, to support the firefighters with buckets of water or foam retardant. And so we're flying over the fire and observing fire behavior from the air; assisting firefighters by advising them how the fire is moving in a certain direction or where it's moving to; and we direct lead planes that are leading the retardant tankers into the fire. We advise them as to what tactics we're employing on the fire, and where it would be best to start their retardant drops to prevent the fire from moving beyond a certain point.
It's, to me, the most intensive, stressful position on a fire, because you have so much at your responsibility: the hundreds of firefighters on the ground that you have to be watching out for. You also have various aircraft coming into the fire, both wanted and unwanted. Sometimes there's tourists that see the smoke and want to go see what a fire looks like from the air, and you have to capture that person almost literally and direct them away from the fire as best you can. There are other aircraft that present a delicate situation when you're having to ask a senator to avoid going into airspace for a while until you finish certain missions. But the pilots that we're dealing with, they all understand the hazards and the dangers involved in fighting fire by the air. It's a real exciting opportunity to support a firefighting effort. Like I say, it's the most intense, but also one of the most rewarding things that I've done in my career.