Federal official assures firefighting force ready

MISSOULA – Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey said Friday he does not share Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s concerns that there won’t be enough National Guardsmen or aircraft to help fight summer wildfires in the state this year.

Rey, in Missoula to visit with officials from a private air tanker contractor, said he believes the Forest Service will have enough military personnel and aircraft available to help fight summer fires.

In March, Schweitzer asked the military to return some of the 1,500 National Guard soldiers, along with 10 Guard helicopters, from service overseas, including in Iraq. Schweitzer cited fears of a major summer wildfire season and a lack of personnel to fight the flames.

The troops often are called upon to supplement firefighters, and Schweitzer said he feared the Guard members’ absence during the fire season could be catastrophic.

Rey, who directs U.S. Forest Service policy for the USDA, said the Defense Department has committed two battalions of 1,000 soldiers each to firefighting this year, and they’ve undergone fire training and will be available to help.

“We have adequate aviation assets available to us, not including the National Guard helicopters,” he said. “We think we can backfill so that the lack of the National Guard helicopters is not a problem.”

Rey’s comments came during a tour of Neptune Aviation’s aerial tanker facility in Missoula. The company is partnering with the Canadian airplane manufacturer Bombardier to develop a new family of aerial firefighting tankers.

The plan is to convert 37-passenger commercial aircraft made by Bombardier into tankers capable of carrying about 1,600 gallons of fire retardant.

Rey said the Forest Service realizes the need for alternative craft for fighting fires from the air, but he added that a lot of work needs to be done to develop and certify new aircraft for that use.