All fire fighting aircraft gone from Pocatello Air Base

After aircraft accidents have shrunk the size of the nations fire fighting fleet, the Forest Service is trying to rebuild resources.

Close to home, the air attack base in Pocatello is preparing for an active fire season.

The Pocatello Air Attack Base is home to a large fire retardant tanker plane, a number of small and large helicopters, and other air attack planes, but at the moment, none are actually at home.

Every single one of Pocatello’s resources is out helping fire crews battle blazes in other parts of the country.

Aging machines, wear and tear, and some tragic accidents have taken a toll on the country’s fleet of fire fighting vehicles.

There are only 9 large tankers left, and one of them based in Pocatello.

But the Forest Service has announced it’s working to bring in more tankers and contract planes across the U.S.

“They’re available standing by in the country right now. So it’s not quite as bad as some people make it out to be,” Pocatello Air Attack Base Manager Patrick Kane said.

The aircraft usually parked in Pocatello are out working in places like Arizona.

In the next few weeks they’ll return, and members of the air attack base said they’ll soon be needed and likely kept busy when they get back.

“Pocatello area hasn’t had a real great water year, if you look at the hills you haven’t got a whole lot of snow left. We have plenty of water for the farmers and agriculture, but it’s setting up that we could have pretty good fire season,” Kane said.

The Pocatello base can supply more than 100,000 gallons of flame retardant mixture to drop on local blazes, but those in the aerial fire fighting business said the biggest asset of firefighting aircraft isn’t the loads the drop, it’s the eyes in the sky.

“They can see the fire from the air and get a bird’s eye view of what’s going on, the areas the incident commander may not see. And they can offer the engines access points,” Kane said.