It is Sunday, January 12th, 02:22 hours local time in Los Angeles. The Palisades and Eaton fires are still raging. All weekend all kinds of aircraft have been flying missions dropping water and fire retardants on the raging fires.
So this is a different blog post than most. I've been monitoring the aerial firefighting response this weekend via the ADS-B website whilst listening to SOCAL airspace traffic via LiveATC.net. Combining data from both I've managed to list some of the deployed aircraft, their callsigns and the airfields they operate from. As you can imagine, this is quite a big operation and I'm sure there are many more aircraft deployed than the ones I noted this weekend. If a callsign is between brackets than it is shown on ADS-B but I haven't been able to confirm it via LiveATC.
The photographs I've used to illustrate this blog post are all mine, taken in California between 2018 and 2022. The maps are courtesy of Cal Fire.
The Palisades fire
Camarillo Airport
Camarillo Airport is the airfield most helicopters and light aircraft operate from. I've noted the following aircraft:
A.139 N302FD (FIRE2) to Van Nuys night operations
A.139 N303FD (FIRE3) to Van Nuys night operations
AT-602 N609TA tanking water at Encino Reservoir
B.407 N407GH Helicopter 407GH operating from Santa Monica by the 14th
B.407 N447GH
B.407 N484AS
B.407 N707AH Helicopter 7AH relocating to Santa Ynez 13th
B.412 N412VC
B.429 N491NC Helicopter 1NC night operations
EH-1H N491DF/620 Cal Fire 914 flight 13th
EH-1H N497DF/914 Cal Fire 914 flight 13th arrival from Porterville Municipal Airport 11 January
CH-47F 10-08079 (Guard 801) 11th Schoener 16 13th
CH-47 N238PJ tanking water at Encino Reservoir and Stone Canyon Reservoir
UH-60 N116 Helicopter 116
UH-60M 17-20931 (Guard 831) single mission, departed for Los Alamitos. Returned on the 12th.
UH-60M 17-20933 Guard 833 single mission, departed for Los Alamitos. Returned on the 12th.
UH-60M 20-21168 Guard 830 departed for Los Alamitos. Returned on the 12th.
S-70A N190LA possibly based elsewhere
S-70i N451DF/613 Cal Fire 605 flight 13th to Santa Monica
S-70i N478DF/605 Cal Fire 605 flight 13th to Santa Monica tanking water at Encino Reservoir 11th
S-70i N479DF/602 Cal Fire 602 relocating to Santa Ynez 13th tanking water at Encino Reservoir 11th
S-70i N482DF/601 (Cal Fire 601) day and night operations
UH-60 N534VG Helicopter 534VG
UH-60 N60VC
UH-60 N603PG tanking water at Stone Canyon Reservoir
UH-60 N604PG tanking water at Stone Canyon Reservoir
UH-60 N605CK Helicopter 605CK
UH-60 N70VC
UH-60 N80BH Helicopter 80BH tanking water at Encino Reservoir
UH-60 N82BH Helicopter 82BH
UH-60 N83BH Helicopter 83BH tanking water at Encino Reservoir
S-70i N822LA possibly based elsewhere
UH-72A 11-72200 Guard 72200 to Santa Monica 13th
K-Max N674TH Helicopter 674TH
S-61 N161CG tanking water at Encino Reservoir, from Van Nuys
S-64 N7095B/95B
OV-10A N414DF/140 Cal Fire 140 12th from Palisades, from Hemet for fuel
Channel Islands ANGS
Channel Islands ANGS is the home base of the 146th Air Wing of the California Air National Guard. One of the missions of the 146th AW is fire fighting, for this they are equipped with the second generation Modular Aerial Fire Fighting System (MAFFS II). If a Hercules is fitted with a MAFFS II unit it carries the number of that unit as a code in dayglow orange on the fuselage and tail of the aircraft.
January 11th saw the arrival of several C-130H Hercules aircraft from other ANG units fitted with the MAFFS II fire fighting system plus support aircraft, augmenting the fleet at Channel Islands.
C-130H 92-0548 (MAFFS8) arrival from Reno-Tahoe on January 11th, 2025
C-130H 92-0553 (MAFFS9) arrival from Reno-Tahoe on January 11th, 2025
C-130H 92-1531 (MAFFS2) arrival from Cheyenne Regional Airport on January 11th, 2025
C-130H 92-1537 (TETON37) arrival from Cheyenne Regional Airport on January 11th, 2025
C-130H 92-1538 (MAFFS3)
C-130H 92-3021 (SUMIT21) arrival from Cheyenne Regional Airport and departed on January 11th, 2025
C-130H 93-7311 (ROLER11) arrival from Reno-Tahoe on January 11th, 2025
C-130H 94-7315 (MAFFS5)
C-130J-30 01-1461 MAFFS4
C-130J-30 06-1467 MAFFS6
Edwards AFB
Be.200 N801NA (NASA801) 13th pattern work over the Palisades fire area at 20,000 feet, afterwards to Eaton fire and RTB Edwards
General William J. Fox Field Airport
AC.690 N108SA
BAe-146 N471NA/41 Tanker 41
C-130 N462DF/122 Cal Fire 122 to Ramona Airport
DHC-8 N988AC/182 Tanker 182 to Santa Maria Public Airport
DHC-8 N989AC/181 Tanker 181
S-2T N424DF/83 Tanker 83
S-2T N426DF/88 to San Bernardino and back to Fox
S-2T N439DF/74 Tanker 83 flight
S-2T N442DF/94
S-2T N444DF/75 Tanker 95 flight
S-2T N448DF/95 Tanker 95
S-64 N600HX/0HK
Hemet Ryan Airport
OV-10A N414DF/140 Cal Fire 140 on 11th RTB Palisades to Hemet. On 12th from Hemet to Palisades to Camarillo for fuel
OV-10A N418DF/340 (Cal Fire 340) in holding pattern at San Bernardino and RTB
S-2T N431DF/78 RTB just after take off
Ramona Airport
S-2T N428DF/91
San Bernardino
Operating from San Bernardino were the large tankers. These only flew missions on the 11th.
Beech 200 N600ML (Lead 78)
BAe-146 N476NA/12 Tanker 12
CH-47 N950CH no missions
DC-9-87 N293EA/103 Tanker 103
DC-9-87 N294EA/104 Tanker 104
DC-9-87 N297EA/107 Tanker 107
DC-10 N522AX/912 Tanker 912
DC-10 N603AX/914 Tanker 914
S-2T N426DF/88 (Cal Fire 88) from and to Fox Field on January 11th
Santa Monica Municipal Airport
In use from January 13th
B.407 N407GH Helicopter 407GH operating from Santa Monica by the 14th
S-70i N451DF/613 Cal Fire 605 flight 13th to Santa Monica from Camarillo
S-70i N478DF/605 Cal Fire 605 flight 13th to Santa Monica from Camarillo
Santa Ynez Airport
In use from January 13th
S-70i N479DF/602 Cal Fire 602 relocating from Camarillo 13th tanking water at Encino Reservoir 11th
Van Nuys Airport
Van Nuys also houses helicopters to cover the Palisades fire. Some just visit to top up their tanks, others are TDY. A sizable fleet of TV helicopters also operates from Van Nuys, however these were not logged at this time.
A.139 N302FD (FIRE2) from Camarillo
A.139 N303FD (FIRE3) from Camarillo
A.139 N304FD (FIRE4)
B.505 N307FD night operations
CH-47 N42CU/47 tanking water at Encino Reservoir and night operations
CH-47 N43CU/55 tanking water at Encino Reservoir
UH-60 N412FA tanking water at Encino Reservoir
S-61 N161CG tanking water at Encino Reservoir, to Camarillo
S-76 N76CG night operations, to Fullerton Municipal Airport
The Eaton fire near Sierra Madre
Aircraft seen in action at the Eaton fire. Again, just helicopters on Sunday.
Brackett Field
Brackett Field is the main base for helicopters covering the Eaton fire.
B.407 N41HX from Brackett Field
CH-47 N227AJ
CH-47 N404AJ
UH-1 N534HQ from Brackett Field
UH-1 N703NP from Brackett Field
S-70i N476DF/608 tanking water at Santa Fe Lake from Brackett Field
S-70i N478DF tanking water at Santa Fe Lake possibly based elsewhere, based at Camarillo 11th and 13th
S-70i N484DF/609 (Cal Fire 609) 11th Palisades, 13th Eaton
S-70i N485DF/606 (Cal Fire 606) 13th Eaton
SH-3H N612CK/702 from Brackett Field
S-64 N722HT/2HT tanking water at Santa Fe Lake
Edwards AFB
Be.200 N801NA (NASA801) 13th pattern work over the Palisades fire area at 20,000 feet, afterwards to Eaton fire
General William J. Fox Field Airport
AC.690 N3NT
S-2T N426DF/88 from Fox Field on the 11th
S-64 N600HX tanking water at Santa Fe Lake 11th
S-64 N9125M from Fox Field on the 12th
Hemet Ryan Airport
The Cal Fire firebase at Hemet supplied a Bronco and Tracker to fight the Eaton Fire on the 11th.
S-2T N431DF/78 from Hemet Ryan Airport
OV-10 N418DF/340 from Hemet Ryan Airport
San Bernardino
BAe-146 N476NA/12 Tanker 12 on the 11th
DC-9-87 N293EA/103 Tanker 103 on the 11th
As I said, this is probably just part of what is deployed in the Los Angeles area to cover these wildfires. I will update this post with full aircraft types and operators where known.
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