Cal Fire ramping up use of nighttime helicopters ahead of peak wildfire season
FOLSOM — This fire season, Cal Fire is utilizing a growing fleet of helicopters that are capable of fighting fire when no other aircraft can: nighttime.
It's a program that is just a few years old but one they have very high expectations for.
"This is Folsom right here. This is Folsom Lake. So, we train out here quite a bit," said Benjamin Berman, Chief Helicopter Pilot for Cal Fire.
Berman is also the one that is training the other pilots how to fly Cal Fire's new Fire Hawk Helicopters at night.
"When you're looking through the night vision goggles, you go from about 200 degrees of peripheral vision, now looking through a 40-degree field of view," said Berman.
Berman showed KPIX how he trains pilots by first using a flight simulator. He says learning to fly at night, even for experienced pilots, can take time.
"There's different subconscious movements that you have to acquire when flying on night vision," said Berman.
Before this program, Cal Fire was never able to fight fire aerially at night. That's because the helicopters they had before the Fire Hawks were much smaller and didn't have as many safety features.
Berman says to think of the difference between the old helicopters and these new ones like you would the difference between an old used car and a brand-new Ferrari.
"It's capable of carrying a thousand gallons of water where the Huey is one third of that. It's also dual engine," said Berman.
Cal Fire believes these new helicopters will be a huge tool in fighting large, dangerous wildfires. Being able to continue to attack the fire at night offers a slew of advantages.
The temperature is usually cooler, the wind is slower, and the humidity is higher.
"All those major components of fire are to our advantage at night based on those environmental conditions," said Berman.
The first night flights launched last year, but Cal Fire plans to really ramp them up as we head towards what is typically the peak of fire season.
Officials believe these night flights will be critical in saving both homes and lives.
Berman himself has already been on some of the flights and says he can't wait to hop on even more.
The goal with this night flying program is to eventually get every helicopter pilot in the state trained to fly at night. It's a program Cal Fire really believes will be a game changer in the future as we continue to see more and more wildfires in the state.