Wildland firefighting and aircraft, my two obsessions. Figure some of you ex-wildland guys would find it an interesting read. I was sad to see Tanker 85, the PBY leave Deer Park. The Fire Boss looks like a capable replacement.

http://northspokane.kxly.com/news/environment/83971-fire-boss-starts-its-60-day-contract-deer-park

Fire Boss: 800 gallon capacity, the first load can be retardant if requested. Spendy though compared to the PBY $$$$.


The good 'ol PBY.. Nothing beat the sound of those radials echoing off the canyons as it approached.

We still have retardent red streaks going across the roads and houses from our big fire here a couple weeks ago, no one is complaining though! The fire bombers saved half of Pocatello. Sure makes aviation more appreciated I'd guess.

I wasn't super impressed with the attachment gear, with the use of cabanes to the spreader bars. Poor engineering if you ask me, but then again I am wearing a PK Floats Polo shirt.

-Levi

Nice article, it's interesting that they can count lightning strikes now days. Sometimes when I ride with the DNR rangers we take a strike map from the night before & cruise the area for smokes. Found a tree once that had been hit early that morning, the maps are amazingly accurate.

What's a Cabane? I think Wip builds a pretty solid float setup.