Modular airborne firefighting system training

The U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Military’s annual air tanker Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System (MAFFS) training is taking place until Friday.

Flight operations are based at the Cheyenne Air National Guard Station (ANGS) in Cheyenne. The training, sponsored by the U.S. Forest Service, includes classroom sessions, flight training and recertification for military flight crews, civilian lead plane pilots and various support personnel. It also invokes MAFFS support specialists and aviators from the military and federal agencies.

Military C-130s equipped with U.S. Forest Service slide-in MAFFS units can drop up to 3,000 gallons of retardant or water to aid in wildfire suppression. These trained military personnel along with the MAFFS equipment are activated to supplement the civilian air tanker program during periods of high wildfire activity throughout the nation. They were deployed in Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho and California during the 2012 fire season.

During the annual training and re-certification, the MAFFS training aircrews drop potable water on remote target sites in the Laramie and Douglas Ranger districts of the Medicine Bow National Forest and the Canyon Lakes Ranger District on the Roosevelt National Forest, as well as military ranges. On the Laramie Ranger District, drops are one mile south of Highway 210 and the Yellow Pine Campground on Pole Mountain; on the Douglas Ranger District around Laramie Peak. For the Canyon Lakes Ranger District, drops are in the Deadman area northwest of Red Feather Lakes. Area residents may see low flying C-130s during the day.

Military personnel involved in the training include air and ground personnel from the 153rd Airlift Wing from Cheyenne ANGS (host unit), and the 145th Airlift Wing from Charlotte, ANGS, North Carolina. The military authority for the MAFFS program was created in the early 1970s to support wild land firefighting through an agreement with the U.S. Forest Service. The military aircraft are requested by the National Interagency Fire Center and activated through the U.S. Northern Command, based on an agreement with the Department of Defense.

According Aaron Voos, public affairs specialist for Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests and Thunder Basin National Grassland, the best spot to view the aircrews dropping water is along Telephone Road (Forest Road 712), which is off of and north of the Happy Jack Highway (Highway 210) between Laramie and Cheyenne.

 

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