‘Super Scooper’ aircraft plays key role in tackling NC wildfires with water drops
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NORTH CAROLINA (WLOS) — Amid recent wildfires across Western North Carolina, it has been hard to miss the Canadair CL-215T, an amphibious, yellow and red firefighting airplane otherwise known as a “Super Scooper.”
Bridger Aerospace contracts with the U.S. Forest Service and deploys its Super Scoopers wherever needed. Twice in the last month, the Super Scoopers dumped water on multiple wildfires across the region.
“[If] we have a water source nearby, we’re good at putting a lot of water on a fire in a very short period of time,” said Barrett Farrell, a first officer who has been with Bridger Aerospace for nine years.
Farrell told News 13 that the Super Scooper needs a water source at least one mile long. They fly in with two valves open on the bottom of the plane. Then, 1,412 gallons of water are “scooped” into two tanks in a matter of 10-12 seconds.
Woman murdered roommate, poured Mountain Dew on herself to prevent police from getting DNA “Then, we head back to the fire, and when we’re ready to drop, we just hit the button, the doors come open, and away the load goes,” Farrell said.
The drops are surgical; pilots receive a target description in order to dump water on the area that will best support ground crews. Farrell said the company record is 101 drops in one day.
Larry Pierson, deputy fire chief at Swannanoa Fire and Rescue, said a recent fire his crews were fighting would have significantly worsened if air assets were not on the scene.
“It would have run further up the mountain. It would have endangered more structures immediately,” Pierson said. “We would have needed more fire trucks and personnel to protect structures.”
The Super Scoopers did not deploy to the recent Swannanoa fire, but they had a U.S. Forest Service-contracted Chinook and a North Carolina Forest Service-contracted Huey.
The North Carolina Forest Service recently requested increased funding, including the expansion of the aviation budget.
Gov. Josh Stein has also asked for the North Carolina Forest Service to receive more money.
“When you have an operation, you need all the roles,” Pierson said. “If we had a baseball team, we need a pitcher, we need a catcher. You got to have the whole team, and when we have a wildfire in the mountains like this with the debris, having that air assets out there for eyes and water dropping capability feels like it completes the team.”
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