Why do FIREFIGHTS have the aircraft drop retardant?
The retardant is added to the water (wonder what it costs) and then the aircraft drops the retardant just outside of the fire to hopefully contain it. Plain water can be dropped directly on the fire (even from altitude) and it will extinquish or at least cool the fire.
The three requirements for fire are: fuel, oxygen and heat. Lowering the heat because of the water turning to steam absorbs many calories of heat and will eventually put out the fire.
Why are we not using our existing fleet of air tankers to their capacity?
First of all: The air tankers are used primarily for ground support; they have to be called out by the ground commander. CAFIRE and L.A. County prefer to use little helicopters with County and State pilots when necessary and only call in the supertankers when really really necessary.
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