Air tanker base at airport unveiled to aid effort against area’s wildfires
New facility houses tank, container for mixing retardant.
Central Texas’ first air tanker base should prevent a repeat of one of the most infuriating emergency responses to wildfires in recent memory, officials said as they unveiled the facility Thursday.
In 2011, as the most destructive wildfire in Texas history was burning through Bastrop County, the U.S. Forest Service rerouted a huge DC-10 cargo plane from an active California fire to drop flame retardant here. But the plane sat idle for two days on an Austin runway, waiting for a supply of the retardant, which then required ground crews to build a facility to supply the stuff.
“Hopefully that’s a thing of the past,” said Jim Boyle, president of the Lost Pines Property Owners Fire Protection Task Force, as fire officials this week showed off the new tanker base beside an airstrip at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
As spring moves closer, the threat of wildfires looms over Central Texas. Two wetter than normal years have fed an unusually lush tree canopy that can — should the weather dry out — create an unusually large amount of dry brush.
Much of the region’s efforts have focused on helping landowners prepare for a fire. Central Texas is of particular concern, with its hot weather, propensity for drought, sometimes-high winds, abundance of woods and cliffs up which fires can shoot.
“We always say it’s not a matter of if, but a matter of when” the next wildfire rages through the region, said Michelle Tanzola, an Austin Fire Department spokeswoman.
The tanker base is another step in what fire officials say is a marathon of work necessary to properly protect the region.
The Texas A&M Forest Service, which fights fires across Texas, bought the base with $300,000 of state funds. The base consists of a huge, bright red cylindrical tank and a wheeled container that can be hitched to a truck and driven out to an air tanker. Crews mix the retardant’s powder base to the right thickness of foam for use by a tanker.
“If you don’t load it up to the