Water scoopers refilling off the California coast as they battle the Franklin Fire in Malibu is worth a gander.
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The men and women of Cal Fire have their hands full this year. A lot of water last season and a very hot and dry summer have left the Golden State a tinderbox. When a fire starts burning in the Santa Monica Mountains, the winds tend to drive the destruction towards the ocean.
The scoopers are filling up with salt water, which is moving around as they glide through to pick it up, and while beautiful, the maneuver is perilous. The LA Times recently shared a great article on the pilots:
They wash their own planes and pump their own gas. They wear dumpy overalls. Most get paid a fraction of what captains at United and American airlines make, and they die at an alarming rate.
Since 2020, there have been at least 14 fatal crashes of airplanes and helicopters fighting fires in the U.S, killing at least 25 pilots and crew members, according to a Times review of data maintained by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Planes have slammed into burning mountainsides. A helicopter crashed after the hose it used to suck water from a lake broke free and got tangled in the rotor blades.
Previously:
• Watch firefighters rescue rat stuck in manhole cover
