Mike Morgan, who leads the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control, said the Firehawk is the most versatile tool the state could have purchased. The Firehawks are expected to be in service for upward of three decades, though they do require a lot of maintenance. “We want to make sure that we have the air support we need when we have a fire - and then we’re going to look at the most efficient way to get that.” “We’re always going to analyze cost benefit,” he said.

Polis said his administration doesn’t have plans to buy more Firehawks or other firefighting aircraft in the near future. The Alaska Department of Natural Resources also owns a number of wildfire-fighting planes. The Washington State Department of Natural Resources owns nine helicopters that battle fires. Reuters reports that a Cal Fire aircraft can reach most fires within 20 minutes. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, for instance, owns a fleet of more than 50 aircraft, including a mix of airplanes and helicopters. Other states have much larger wildfire-fighting aircraft fleets. But those planes can only track blazes, not put them out. The helicopters join two single-engine Pilatus PC-12s in Colorado’s aerial firefighting fleet. The second chopper could be ready to go as soon as next summer. The first Firehawk is expected to go into service in the coming weeks once testing and finishing touches are complete. The Firehawk will operate year-round, though the state will have to hire and pay pilots and is responsible for the choppers’ maintenance. State fire officials estimated earlier this year that it would cost about $2.5 million annually for an additional 150-day contract for a large air tanker, such as a British Aerospace 146. But we can also do it, which is a lot better value for taxpayers on an ongoing basis, by purchasing some equipment that is good for decades.”

“We do some of that through contract work. “We need to be able to control our aerial capacity,” Polis said before signing Senate Bill 161 at Centennial Airport hangar beside Colorado’s first Firehawk, a hulking chopper painted red and white and emblazoned in the state logo. In 2020, for instance, when Colorado had the three largest wildfires in its history, the state struggled to secure the aircraft it needed because there were also fires burning in New Mexico, California and several other states. Some of those air resources are pooled regionally, meaning that the rented helicopters and airplanes serve multiple states at the same time.īut that’s become an issue as climate change causes dangerously dry conditions across the Western U.S. Instead, it relies on contracts with private aerial firefighting companies to respond to blazes across the state.

Right now, Colorado has no operational, state-owned aircraft that can drop water and retardant on fires. Colorado doubles down on its move away from relying on rented aircraft to fight wildfires Close

Cal fire helicopters