Cal Fire adds massive military cargo plane to its fleet

Cal Fire showed off its first C-130H air tanker this week. The unveiling featured the first seven planes to be converted into firefighting aircraft. CapRadio's Tony Rodriguez says it's the largest plane in Cal Fire's fleet.

The Coast Guard cargo planes have been repurposed and modified to bolster CAL FIRE’s aerial capabilities.

The C-130H carries a massive load of fire retardant, making it a powerful tool for fighting California wildfires.

Cal Fire Deputy Chief Chris Jurasek says this capacity gives CAL FIRE a critical advantage.

"With the ability to carry a larger payload and to supplement our S2 Fleet, they do have the ability to not have to reload as often and that is one of the benefits of having a larger tank, "Jurasek said.

Changes made to the planes include a firefighter red paint job and installing the retardant release system that allows precise drop control. Air tanker captain Chris Wilson says the new tankers can carry more than three times the amount of fire retardant compared to their smaller planes.

"It's more retardant being delivered in one drop our S2s can drop up to 1200 gallons per drop this can drop 4000 gallons," Wilson said "We have to sequence these in between copter drops. So we will have multiple tankers assigned to an incident.”

The first plane is operational, with the remaining six aircrafts to be stationed across California.