Aerial firefighting planes play a huge role in taming wildfires burning across the west. Bridger Aerospace has two Super Scooper planes stationed near the Boise Airport that are helping to fight fires burning near McCall.
- The Super Scooper fills its two 700 gallon tanks by skimming the surface of a body of water.
- They work with other aircraft and firefighters on the ground to coordinate water drops on wildfires.
( Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
John Plett is one of the pilots of this Super Scooper Firefighting Plane.
“It’s the greatest office you can have, and our main role is to support the ground firefighters.”
John Plett pilot
He tells me he works closely with crews on the ground and other aircraft to slow the momentum of wildfires.
“With water, if it’s a smaller fire, we can put it out. If it’s a real big fire, we can take a lot of heat out of it we’re definitely most effective when we catch the fires when they’re small before they spread and kind of get out of hand.”