The California Air National Guard is demonstrating its versatility once again both in state and off the coast. With the ongoing wildfires throughout the state, now estimated to be more than 210,000 acres impacted, California National Guard (CNG) personnel have continued to provide much needed assistance to the state’s Emergency management Agency (Cal EMA) and the state’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).

The California National Guard’s website reports: “Eight CNG helicopters and one CNG Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System (MAFFS) equipped C-130J airplane are currently supporting Cal Fire requests to support the firefighting operations throughout the state. Six helicopters are battling blazes in Northern California, while two aircraft are dousing flames in Southern California.” Since their activation on August 7, the “CNG helicopter crews have flown nearly 213 hours and conducted more than 531 water bucket missions, dropping an estimated 265,000 gallons, or 2.2 million pounds of water across the state.”

The workhorses for the CNG are the Army UH-60 Blackhawk and the Air Force HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters. Each employs a 660-gallon-capacity collapsible “Bambi bucket” which is operated by the helicopter’s flight crew alongside a CalFire manager. A new version of the bucket is also being employed that “uses electric pumps to speed the process of filling the bucket and enables personnel to use a water source only 18 inches deep.”

Meanwhile, on Labor Day, Guardsmen from the 129 Rescue Wing (RQW) launched a joint operation with the U.S. Coast Guard to rescue two injured fishermen who required immediate attention onboard an Ecuadorian fishing vessel 1,400 miles off of the coast of Acapulco, Mexico. An MC-130P Combat Shadow aircraft and two HH-60G Pave hawk helicopters were forward deployed to an air field in Mexico. The Combat Shadow then flew out 1,400 miles to the location of the fishing vessel.  Two 129^th RQW pararescuemen - also known as “PJs”- parachuted into the Pacific Ocean and boarded the fishing vessel. The injured fishermen and the two PJs were subsequently transferred to a U.S. Coast Guard cutter the Morgenthau which was sailing towards the coast of Mexico.

“This mission demonstrates the adaptability of the Air National Guard to fight wildfires in California one moment and then save the lives of civilians in the Pacific the next,” said Col. Steven J. Butow, 129^th RQW commander. “I am extremely proud of our airmen and their selfless efforts to save the lives of these fishermen.”