Cal Fire pilot shortage has planes grounded during wildfires
Following an already long and deadly fire season in California, state fire officials are now dealing with pilot shortages as wildfires continue to burn throughout the state.
Cal Fire says it has had to ground of some of the state’s planes during emergencies because there are not enough people available to fly them.
Their flying schedules showed the agency grounded four of their twenty-three S-2 planes due to a pilot shortfall as major fires burned in August.
Calfire says the shortage of pilots and the grounding of tankers is due to a number of reasons: from pilot fatigue, to retirements, to vigorous training, to aircrafts needing more maintenance due to the now year-round firefighting demands.
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Air attacks played an especially crucial role in combatting the Cranston Fire, which torched over 13,000 acres near Idyllwild and Mountain Center.
“You can see how close we were to losing those houses,” said Idyllwild Fire Chief Patrick Reitz. “Had it gone in and continued to burn, we would have suffered significant loss.”
Chief Reitz added, “Quite frankly, you can never throw enough ground resources at it to slow it to a level where you’re saving anything but a few homes.”
Cal Fire says the shortage has not impacted fire responses.
“The aircraft, regardless if it`s helicopter or fixed wing, will be over that fire when you call 911 — just like it was before,” said Mike Mohler, Deputy Director of Cal Fire.
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