Orange County Fire Authority gets help from SCE to try out helicopters that can fight fires at night

Nighttime aerial firefighting equipment that helped knock down Australian wildfires last year will be tested in Orange County over the next five months.

Starting July 1, the Orange County Fire Authority will run a pilot program with two special helicopters: one that does reconnaissance of ground conditions, any obstacles such as power lines, and where the nearest water sources are, and a second chopper that will be “the first-ever nighttime, hover-filling tanker in the U.S.,” authority spokeswoman Colleen Windsor said.

Firefighting aircraft that can work at night have been responding to wildland fires in Orange County through mutual aid agreements, but the county doesn’t have equipment of its own. Also, officials said existing aircraft in the U.S. aren’t able to refill from open water sources such as ponds and lakes in the dark.

Through a $4 million grant from Southern California Edison, the fire authority will lease the new helicopters from Coulson Aviation – which also provided aircraft for the Australian effort – and the company will provide pilots trained in using night vision goggles and other technology for nighttime flying, an OCFA report said.

“Edison is making significant investments to assist firefighting capabilities across our service area to protect our customers and communities from the ongoing threat of wildfires,” company Vice President of Local Public Affairs Chris Thompson said in a prepared statement.

“This most recent project is an opportunity for Edison to accelerate the first U.S. deployment of this innovative firefighting technology.”

For about five months, the new aircraft will be on call to help fight fires anywhere in Edison’s 50,000-square-mile service territory, Windsor said.

Temperatures and winds tend to drop at night and humidity often goes up, making it a “missed opportunity” for firefighters to get control of a blaze when weather conditions are on their side, Windsor said.

Anaheim, where residents were evacuated and homes burned during 2017’s Canyon Fire 2, now relies on Calfire for air support, Anaheim Fire and Rescue spokesman Daron Wyatt said, but the Edison-funded helicopters “will benefit everybody in the county.”