Aerial Fire Attack Teams In Oklahoma Help Put Out Wildfires

The Bureau of Indian Affairs stationed two teams of aerial firefighters in Northeast Oklahoma this week, with the expectation they would be needed to fight wildfires. A team based in Bartlesville worked a fire in Osage County Wednesday. Another team based in Okmulgee worked a fire near Henryetta Thursday.

Each team has three aircrafts and support staff to keep them supplied with fire retardant and fuel. A command plane flies above the others to coordinate air drops and communicate with ground crews.

“They can only see here, but when you're up here, you've got this and that going on. You're able to give them some intel, maybe there's some structures, or something at risk we need to concentrate on," said Reese Kerbow.

Kerbow is from the Bureau of Indian Affairs helped coordinate the traffic.

The planes that make the drops are crop dusters modified for this mission. Each one holds 800 gallons of fire retardant. They respond to fires at 150 miles an hour, dropping their load in just a few seconds, from doors on the bottom of the tank.

Pilot Heath Baker said, “The retardant is thick, it's a thick liquid, and it's sticky, so it doesn't run off, it doesn't evaporate and it clings to things.”

The team was waiting in Okmulgee for their next assignment but could just as easily be called to go anywhere in the country. The fire crews come from all over the country, and they respond coast to coast.