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Forest Service pilots <br>put fires in the hot SEAT

Fire pilots David Dilley, left, and Dan Bossard stand ready for ground crews to call them in to lay down more slurry over the Trick fire in Tule Canyon, approximately 17 miles southeast of Williams. The fire was declared 100 percent contained Sunday, but some firefighting resources will remain in the area to douse hot spots and for mop-up operations.

More than most forest fires, the Trick fire, which burned nearly 5,550 acres approximately 17 miles southeast of Williams, required tremendous air resources to combat flames along the steep walls of Tule Canyon. That’s where the single engine air tankers, known as SEATs, came in.

At first, the steep walls of Tule Canyon kept firefighters from attacking the flames directly. So the only way to get at the fire was from the air.

Crop-dusters from Pierce Aviation in Buckeye were called in, along with helicopters from various agencies around the Southwest, to dump water and slurry on the fire.

Pierce’s crop-dusters arrived Aug. 25 and dumped more than 4,000 gallons of slurry within a few days. The trip was just one more stop for a crew that’s had a very busy fire season.

“I haven’t been home since March,” said Kenny McKinny, director of operations for Pierce Aviation. “We’re usually the first planes to the fire.”

Over the past few months, McKinny and his crew have helped firefighters in Arizona, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, Washington and Nevada.

Slurry slows a fire’s progress, allowing ground crews to dig containment lines and perform back-burns. At one point last week, McKinny’s planes were hitting the fire every 18 minutes, he said.

McKinny, a former police investigator, has led Pierce’s firefighting operation for about five years.

Dan Bossard, the team’s lead pilot, has been fighting fires and dusting crops for more than 30 years.

“It’s been a fairly busy summer all the way around,” he said.

The Ayres Turbine Thrush planes the pilots fly carry up to 500 gallons of slurry. Pierce sent three of the crop-dusters to the Trick fire.

“This aircraft is like flying a race car,” said Ben York, an airline pilot on leave for the summer to fight fires. “This type of flying is much more dynamic situation than flying over flat fields.”

In addition to the crop-dusters, helicopters also flew countless runs, dumping thousands of gallons of slurry and water on the fire.


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