Firefighting tanker makes stop in Pocatello

A large fire requires the need of really big help, in the form of a very large air tanker known as Tanker 910.

The aircraft was called into duty to help get the Soda Fire under control.

The aircraft can carry up to 12.000 gallons of fire retardant, and only takes 30 minutes to reload.

Its a VLAT, which stands for very large air tanker.

Jesse Bender with the Bureau of Land Management said the aircraft made its first drop of fire retardant Wednesday night, and all went well.

“One application, or in multiple depending on the request,
of the needs of the fire. So they have the capacity to drop a partial load or they can drop the whole thing,” said Bender.

The multiple resources of fire support plays a big role in putting out large fires.

When the 910 Tanker dispatched, it joined up with other aircraft’s which, are all dropping water.

“You got seats, aerial supervision is present. Over the incident, they’ll stack the aircraft at different levels. So the aerial supervision will be at the highest level, typically, then you drop down to the tankers and the lowest level of the incident, you have the helicopters. So everything is very tightly orchestrated as to where everything is at,” said Robert Barnes, aviation officer.

The Tanker 910 used to be a passenger liner. It was converted in the 80s to VLAT.