Military aerial firefighters to train in Albuquerque

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KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, New Mexico --  The skies over central New Mexico will be dotted with military C-130 aircraft from April 30 through May 4 as the Cibola National Forest and the Air Force Reserve's 302nd Airlift Wing, based at Peterson AFB, Colo., host the annual training and recertification for military pilots flying firefighting missions at Kirtland.

The military aircraft are equipped with the Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System, which allows them to drop fire retardant or water on wild land fires. Flight operations will be based at the Forest Service Albuquerque Air Tanker Base here.

About 300 air and ground personnel from the 145th Air Wing, Air National Guard, N.C.; the 146th Air Wing, ANG, Calif.; 153rd Airlift Wing, ANG, Wyo.; and the hosting unit from the 302nd Airlift Wing of the Air Force Reserve, Colo., will participate in the training.

Employees from civilian land management agencies including the USDA Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs and North Carolina State Forestry will also take part. The week includes both classroom and flight training for military flight crews, civilian lead plane pilots and various support personnel.

MAFFS, a cooperative effort between the military and civilian land management agencies, provides additional airborne firefighting capability during periods of high wild land fire activity to help protect and safeguard people and property throughout the U.S. during the annual fire season.

The C-130s are equipped with special slide-in MAFFS units which allow them to drop up to 3,000 gallons of retardant on wild land fires. A total of eight MAFFS units are available and the military aircraft operate through U.S. Northern Command, which plans, organizes and executes homeland defense and civil support missions based on an agreement with the Department of Defense.

During the training, the MAFFS air tankers will drop approximately 500,000 gallons of potable water on these drop sites in the Cibola National Forest with the distance from the Albuquerque ATB:

· Manzano Mountains, located approximately 32 air miles southeast

· Gallinas Peak, located 63 air miles southeast

· Magdalena Mountains, located 70 air miles southwest

· Zuni Mountains, located 68 air miles west

For further information on the MAFFS training session, contact MAFFS Public Information Officer Andrea Martinez at 388-8211.