SuperTanker 747 required to fly through more hoops before joining the fight against Colorado's wildfires

Perhaps the biggest obstacles between Colorado’s wildfires and a plane that can drop nearly 20,000 gallons of water at a time?

A software install and Uncle Sam’s seal of approval.

Despite state fire officials recently signing a contract with Global SuperTanker Services LLC to use its Colorado Springs-based Boeing 747 — a former passenger jet retrofitted to carry 19,200 gallons of water or retardant and dispense it in a matter of seconds — the company needs the federal government’s blessing before it can fly fires in the state.

That’s because most wildfires are fought on an interagency basis by multiple entities — state, federal and local — and the landscape itself is a mosaic of property held privately or overseen by the state or federal government.

“We need the carding process to be completed before we can be called on by the state of Colorado, or other entities that would need our services,” Global SuperTanker CEO Jim Wheeler said Friday.

Carding — industry nomenclature for the federal government’s approval process — is currently held up by an onboard software upgrade that the U.S. Forest Service requires the giant plane to have. Wheeler said the necessary software is a “data collection system” that reports on the “parameters of operations of the aircraft.”

“While we believe our system is up to standards and in no way impacts the successful operation or safety of the aircraft, we are working diligently with (the forest service) and the vendor to resolve any issues they have,” he said.

And as to when the Global SuperTanker, which is by far the world’s largest-capacity firefighting aircraft, might start flying in Colorado is not known. Wheeler said he hopes the carding process is completed “very soon, but (we) do not have a specific timetable.”

He did say he thought it likely that the plane, dubbed the Spirit of John Muir, would be in use in the state before the end of the summer. It is currently going through its software certification at McClellan-Palomar Airport in Sacramento.

“We want to be out helping the brave men and women fight fires just as much as they want us there,” Wheeler said. “We hope approval happens as quickly as possible and we are available to those who need us.”

Severe drought conditions that have beset Colorado, especially in the southern half, have helped fuel more than half a dozen fires across the state, making 2018 one of the worst wildfire seasons in Colorado in nearly 20 years. The biggest blaze, at close to 105,000 acres, is the Spring Creek fire in Costilla and Huerfano counties.

Caley Fisher, a spokeswoman with the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control, said Friday she remained hopeful that the Spirit of John Muir would be in operation soon to help tamp down raging infernos that have forced hundreds of people to evacuate and damaged or destroyed more than 250 buildings.

Meantime, Peterson Air Force Base activated two C-130 Hercules planes to help fight fires primarily in Colorado and Wyoming, but also elsewhere in the West. The planes can drop up to 3,000 gallons of water or fire retardant in six seconds, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

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