A Calfire helicopter scooping water during Thursday’s Manila fire. By Andrew Goff.

Calfire press release:

Fortuna –There has been an increase in wildfires in Humboldt-Del Norte Unit. CAL FIRE uses aircraft as a critical element of our initial attack efforts. Our key to safety in the aviation program is use of an Air Tactical plane. The Air Tactical serves the air resource coordinator, keeping the aircraft working the fire in sync. Additional help form the Air Tactcal goes to support the firefighters on the ground as an observer, as well as reconnaissance for early detection of fires when they are small. Our area has long response times for ground resources so aircraft is imperative for the fire fight. 

CAL FIRE DOES NOT use the Air Tactical plane to participate in marijuana eradication. The Air Tactical Plane is used as a firefighting resource to spot fires, route incoming resources and organize the incoming aircraft. This includes coordinating water drops from helicopters as well as air tanker retardant drops, safely and effectively. The increase of wildfires in the Pecwan, Johnson and Weitchpec areas is directly related to the increase of arson in those areas. CAL FIRE continues to investigate each fire and therefore its cause. Other incidents have been directly related to large marijuana grows, started by incorrect wiring of generators or other non-permitted construction. The CAL FIRE Air Tactical plane does respond to all wildfires but DOES NOT aid in marijuana eradication.

CAL FIRE urges the public to take extra precautions while recreating this summer especially since we are in the fourth year of a drought and the fuel moistures are lower than normal. Visit us at www.ReadyforWildfire.org<http://www.readyforwildfire.org/ to be ready for a wildfire and follow us on twitter @CAL FIRE_HUU and get local updates on our webpage http://www.calfirehuu.org.<http://www.calfirehuu.org>