Modular Airborne Firefighting System continues Texas fires support

  • Published
  • By Fred Noack
ABILENE, Texas --  Air National Guard MAFFS units from across the United States continue to be staged at Dyess AFB in Abilene, Texas, where they are coordinating their flying operations with the National Interagency Fire Center, the nation's support center for wildland firefighting in Boise, Idaho.

Today crew replacement occurred for the 146th Air Wing of the California ANG, Port Hueneme, California.

On Tuesday, April 26 the 302nd Airlift Wing of the Air Force Reserves from Colorado Springs, Colorado (MAFFS 2&5) will replace the Wyoming Air National Guard (ANG) based in Cheyenne, Wyoming (MAFFS 3) and the 145th Air Wing of the North Carolina ANG based in Charlotte, North Carolina (MAFFS 8). This will allow the Wyoming ANG and the North Carolina ANG to attend annual MAFFS recertification training in Boise, Idaho.

The annual week-long training includes classroom, flight training and recertification for military flight crews, civilian lead plane pilots and various support personnel.

MAFFS is a portable fire retardant delivery system that can be inserted into military C-130 aircraft to convert them to air tankers when the civilian air tanker fleet is fully committed. A total of eight MAFFS units are available for use in C-130 H and J model aircraft.

The military C-130's equipped with slide-in MAFFS units can drop up to 3,000 gallons of retardant or water on wildfires. Trained military units with the MAFFS equipment are activated to supplement the civilian airtanker program during periods of high wildland fire activity.

Congress established the authority for the MAFFS program in the early 1970's to support wildland firefighting through an agreement with the U.S. Forest Service. The military aircraft are requested by the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) and activated through the U.S. Northern Command, based on an agreement with the Department of Defense.

For more information about MAFFS go to http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/aviation/fixed_wing/maffs/index.html