Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems

Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems (MAFFS) are military C-130 transport planes that can be converted to serve as fire fighting airtankers. The C-130 can carry 3,000 gallons of fire retardant. The CAL FIRE S-2T airtanker carries 1200 gallons.

MAFFS are requested only when all other fire service aircraft are committed to major, extended incidents. They are considered a 24-hour resource, meaning that when ordered, it will be at least 24 hours before they can be expected on duty. When ordered, MAFFS must be taken from their regular military duties and then fitted with fire fighting airtanker equipment.

There are eight MAFFS in the United States. Two are stationed in California, the rest around the nation. All eight have been committed to California fires in the past.

MAFFS Mission Report

July 7th, 2008

Today’s Topic: Exactly how does one order 3,000 gallons of fire retardant to be delivered by a massive C-130 cargo plane?

When a firefighter needs another fire engine or hand crew to assist extinguishing a wildland fire, the ordering procedures are relatively simple and typically handled by a single, local dispatch center, known as the Emergency Command Center (ECC).

But when you are dealing with a very specialized and relatively rare aerial firefighting tool (there’s only eight in the entire country), the level of complication in the ordering process just went up by an order of magnitude. There needs to be careful coordination of these valuable assets to ensure that the protection of life and property values gets the highest priority.

In the case of the current McClellan air tanker base activation, requests for one or more of the MAFFS comes from the northern or southern operating centers to the local Amador-Eldorado Unit (AEU) ECC in Camino, California. The AEU dispatch relays the information to the “McClellan Air Tanker Base” where Fire Apparatus Engineer Dusty Martin, from that unit, completes an order form, which is then hand-delivered to the military dispatch trailer, know as MAFFS Operations.

There one of the people such as Technical Sergeant Patti Findley obtains the “launch codes” and then someone hand-carries that information directly to the MAFFS aircraft being dispatched. Findley says it is the job of MAFFS Ops to “launch and recover” the planes, basically meaning make sure they fly to the correct fire and that they safely return to the base. The Ops staff also sets up refueling and retardant reloading for the aircraft.

Put another way, one of the Operations Officers in the MAFFS Operations dispatch trailer, Major Woody Houlihan, said that it is their job to “coordinate the aircraft on the ramp.” This “ground control” task ensures that the eight massive C-130’s maneuver around the ramp—which is what they call the tarmac—in an orderly fashion: in other words, so they avoid a nasty incident that would require reams of paperwork to explain.

Instructions such as “MAFFS 3 move to Phantom 4” is the type of radio traffic that sounds somewhat cryptic but is nothing more than telling a particular plane where it is safe to taxi to.

This complex task of coordination and tracking of aerial and ground movement of these MAFFS aircrafts is repeated hour after hour and day after day. When you see these very large planes flying as low as safely possible to protect someone’s cherished home, it is the result of the hard work of many people along the way.

Click here for MAFFS retardant drop totals (through 7/6)

United States Northern Command

Previous Mission Reports

Volume 1 - July 1, 2008

Volume 2 - July 2, 2008

Volume 3 - July 3, 2008

Volume 4 - July 4, 2008

Volume 5 - July 5, 2008

Volume 6 - July 6, 2008

Volume 7 - July 7, 2008

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