In the first critical hours of the wildfires that swept through wine country this month, firefighters struggled to defend homes without the help of water-dropping aircraft.

Fire officials said there were no helicopters or planes capable of slowing the fast-moving fires the night of Sunday, Oct. 8, as flames swept into Sonoma and Napa county neighborhoods, eventually destroying more than 5,000 structures and killing more than 40 people.

It was not until the next morning that aircraft were able to move into the fire zone, they said. The problem, officials said, is that there are no firefighting aircraft in the region capable of flying at night.

Officials say that in the case of the wind-whipped wine country fires, they doubt more air support that night would have made a major difference, but they say it’s a resource gap they plan to fill going forward.


WOULD NIGHT DROPS HAVE HELPED?

‘Like trying to stop a tornado’

“The idea that a helicopter or night flying air attack would stop a fire in the middle of night is really is a misconception,” said Cal Fire’s assistant director of planning, Daniel Berlant. “Aircraft have slowed down fires when conditions are right, but ground crews are the critical force.”

Other fire experts agreed, saying the force of the winds and flames were so intense that water drops probably would have done little to halt the flames during those first critical hours.

“Stopping a wildfire of this ferocity and intensity is like trying to stop a tornado,” said Robert Baird, director of fire and aviation management for the U.S. Forest Service in California. Night flights can be “hugely beneficial,” he said, but “there is a huge limitation when the wind is blowing.”


L.A. NIGHT DROPS HAVE SAVED THE DAY

‘It really depends on the fire’

Night flights have made a big difference in other cases, and some departments have increased those capabilities.

The Los Angeles Fire Department now has seven aircraft capable of night flights, and the agency has used them to halt several dangerous fires before they spread to residential areas.

In 2008, the department got attention for a daring night flight that threatened upscale homes as well as the Getty Museum in Brentwood.


Just this week, a brush fire in Griffith Park barely had time to get bigger than an acre before helicopters drenched it with precision water drops and ground crews snuffed what was left.

LAFD spokesman Brian Humphrey said the night attack can make a big difference, but there are significant limitations during a huge wind-whipped blaze.

“The issue of air attack: This is the sad thing, it’s not succinct,” Humphrey said. “It really depends on the fire.”

The issue of air attack: This is the sad thing, it’s not succinct. It really depends on the fire.


LAFD spokesman Brian Humphrey

The Atlas fire in Napa County was spotted by chance by a passing California Highway Patrol airplane pilot. It also showed up minutes earlier on a weather satellite images. Within 15 minutes, the satellite shows the blaze exploding, doubling in size and more in intensity.

The Tubbs fire in Sonoma County began about the same time. But it moved more slowly, taking an hour before mushrooming and making its run toward Santa Rosa, destroying whole neighborhoods.

There are only two helicopters in the region capable of night flight, both operated by the California Highway Patrol. Essentially flying ambulances, neither is equipped to drop water nor fire retardant, and the craft spent the first night of the Atlas fire airlifting trapped residents out of harm’s way.


Cal Fire, the state’s primary firefighting agency, has no aircraft capable of night flight. The U.S. Forest Service has one, based at Angeles National Forest. The rest are largely operated by county and city fire departments all in the south, including Santa Barbara, Ventura, Kern and Los Angeles counties and the city of L.A.

None of Cal Fire’s helicopters can fly at night because they have single engines, increasing the risk of danger if that engine should fail, Berlant said.

Cal Fire planes and helicopter pilots were told before dawn to be prepared to head to the Napa and Sonoma fires Monday morning to help battle the fires, Berlant said.

Incident commanders on the Atlas and Tubbs fires did request night-flying helicopters, and one was sent north from the Kern County Fire Department. But it did not get there until Oct. 9, the second night of the fires, Berlant said.


NEW RESOURCES FOR CAL FIRE

More aircraft that can be used at night on the way

Cal Fire intends to require night-flying capabilities on a fleet of new helicopters that will eventually replace 12 Vietnam War-era military choppers. It received authorization last year to spend $12 million for the first replacement but has not yet bought that aircraft.

Wildland firefighting expert Bill Gabbert, who retired after 33 years with the National Park and U.S Forest services to publish an online news outlet, Fire Aviation, said agencies lose some of the most critical hours by not staffing night and pre-dawn flights.

In some cases, dropping water on fires at night can be effective because temperatures are cooler and winds are calmer than during the day. But Gabbert said these drops are less effective during nights of heavy winds.


Night flights have been an issue of debate in recent years. After the deadly Station fire hit L.A. County in 2009, a Times investigation found the U.S. Forest Service misjudged the threat posed by the blaze and did not allow water drops the first night. A federal audit in 2011 called on the Forest Service to develop a strategy for when planes and helicopters should be flown at night. The agency now has a night-flying chopper in the region.

A lack of water-dropping helicopters also became an issue in San Diego after the massive 2003 Cedar fire burned thousands of homes. Since then, the region has increased it firefighting aircraft arsenal.

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