Global Supertanker Arrives Ahead Of Extreme Fire Weather Weekend
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — The massive 747 Global Supertanker is back in Sacramento, and is one of the tools Cal Fire will have to fight any wildfires sparked from the extreme fire weather in the coming days.
The $16,000-an-hour firefighting airplane touched down at McClellan Park Friday evening, headlining California's massive effort to pre-position fire equipment around the state.
Besides the Supertanker, a fleet of firefighting aircraft could be seen fueling up Friday, some owned by the state, others leased, all staging at McClellan Park and all available and on-call for Cal Fire.
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"We've never had more resources in this space then we do today," Governor Gavin Newsom said.
Newsom calls it the biggest pre-positioning of firefighting equipment and crews in the state history.
"We put an historic amount of money to prepositioning assets, all around the state," Newsom said.
The high fire danger this weekend means evacuations could be ordered as a massive preventative power shutdown also goes into place. It is a concerning combination.
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"This is really sort of an unprecedented place that we are in, as a state will get past it, and we will get through it together," California Officer of Emergency Services Director Mark Ghilarducci said.
The Global Supertanker's arrival signals the seriousness of California's aggressive tactics to prevent another mega-fire.
Flight Tracker shows the Supertanker returning from its most recent firefight in Bolivia just last week, where it dropped miles of retardent on Amazon rainforests that have been burning out of control. Now back in Sacramento, the Supertanker is in position for another California extreme fire season.