Busy pit crew: Redmond Air Center tankers battling fires across the Northwest

A 12-minute turnaround as retardant drops aid firefighters on the ground

REDMOND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- With wildfires raging all over the West Coast, much of the air support to help ground crews tackle those blazes comes from or through the air tanker base at the Redmond Air Center, by the Redmond Airport.

When tankers land at the base, they aren’t there for very long.

"The whole process, from the time they park in the pit 'til they're on the runway, is about 12 minutes," base Manager Eric Graff said Thursday.

Each of the planes are filled with about 3,000 gallons of fire retardant.

For each flight, that costs around $15,000 for the load of retardant alone.

But that red retardant doesn't actually put out the flames of a fire completely. 

Instead, the retardant drops slow things down and allow ground resources more access to fight the wildfires.

Those fires served out of Redmond could be anywhere in Oregon or Washington.

"They might leave here in the morning, go up to Washington, help out there,” Forest Service spokeswoman Jean Nelson-Dean said. “Come back here in the afternoon, and then end the day in Klamath falls.”

The two planes at the Air Center early Thursday afternoon were headed to Washington. They're not at Redmond all the time, allowing for flexibility to fight fires all over the Pacific Northwest.

Nelson-Dean said there's another reason those planes aren't headed to the nearby Beachie Creek and Lionshead fires.

"Right now, there's so much smoke in the area that these tankers cannot fly safely in them," she said.

But with shifting winds in the forecast, they may have an opportunity soon.

"We are bringing in more air tankers and getting ready to fly on the fires near us,” Graff said. “Mt. Hood and Santiam."