Montebello Fire
On August 30th, 2007, a wildland fire broke out in the hills above Saratoga and Cupertino, CA. Dubbed the Montebello Fire, it would grow to 150 acres.
Aerial resources were invaluable in fighting this fire. Three California Department of Forestry UH-1H Super Huey helicopters from the Alma and Boggs Mt Helitack bases flew non stop dumping 300 gallons of water over the fire. Water was picked up via snorkle or using their “bambi” bucket from the Stevens Creek Reservior.
In addition to the Huey’s, Grumman S-2T Tracker Airtankers were called in to drop their 1,200 gallon flame retardant payload. They were staging out of the CDF Hollister base and would cycle back back and forth as they ran low on fuel and retardant.
The Montebello fire brought out 350 firefighters from eight agencies to battle this huge fire.
Threatening the homes of 25 families, firefighters decided to call in TANKER 910, a DC-10 capable of dropping 12,000 gallons of retardant on the flames. Flown in twice from Victorville, CA, TANKER 910 was invaluable in helping suppress this 150 acre fire. This was the first time this particular aircraft assisted in fighting a fire in Northern California.
For more pictures check out my Montebello Fire Gallery
