A record-setting wildfire season requires a record-setting response.
This week, Orange County fire officials unveiled the “Very Large Helitanker,” — a 3,000-gallon capacity CH-47 Chinook — that is now on-hand to assist fire crews battling Southern California’s many blazes.
Considered the largest helicopter water tanker in the world, its capacity far exceeds that of the county’s standard helitankers, which typically drop about 350 gallons, officials said.
“In our view, this is that next generation of helitanker,” Orange County Fire Authority chief Brian Fennessy said at a live-streamed press conference Wednesday. “It’s state-of-the-art. There is no other tanker like it in the world.”
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