{"id":406522,"date":"2026-07-21T12:50:38","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T12:50:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/406522\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T12:50:38","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T12:50:38","slug":"cal-fire-reveals-redesigned-ramona-air-base-and-shows-off-game-changing-aircraft-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/406522\/","title":{"rendered":"Cal Fire reveals redesigned Ramona air base and shows off \u2018game-changing\u2019 aircraft \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cal Fire\u2019s Ramona Air Attack Base celebrated its reopening Monday after undergoing construction to redesign its aging facility and improve the efficiency of loading fire retardant onto large air tankers.<\/p>\n

The $20 million improvement project began last August<\/a> and reopened in mid-June. It included the removal and installation of the underground piping system, which hasn\u2019t been updated since the base\u2019s establishment at the airport in 1957, according to Cal Fire Chief Tony Mecham. There are also five new fire retardant tanks and an underground system that allows quicker water reload into aircraft.<\/p>\n

The fire retardant reloading bays were redesigned so that larger aircraft could pull off the airport taxiway directly to reload, rather than taking a \u201c90-degree awkward spin\u201d to be hooked up to a hose, Mecham said. The retardant plant can also hold 20,000 gallons, and the area can have six aircraft at any time.<\/p>\n

The air base also welcomed two new game-changing aircraft, including a C-130H \u2014 a four-engine military aircraft \u2014 that was repurposed for firefighting. It was acquired from the U.S. Coast Guard in 2023 and has been in operation in San Diego for about a month, according to John Perry, a Cal Fire firefighter.<\/p>\n

\"PeoplePeople tour the C-130 air tanker on the flight line at Ramona Air Attack Base on Monday. (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

Perry said the aircraft is available for initial attacks and can get anywhere in the county within 20 minutes. Compared to S-2s, which can drop 1,200 gallons of retardant, the C-130 can drop 4,000, or do what Perry calls \u201csplit attacks\u201d that can drop 1,000 gallons at a time.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the future, it means more retardant on the ground and stopping more fires a lot quicker,\u201d Perry said.<\/p>\n

It can reload in under 10 minutes and has already been used during the recent Thorn fire<\/a> near Boulevard and other minor\u00a0fires in the county, Perry said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s long overdue,\u201d Cal Fire Director Joe Tyler told reporters during Monday\u2019s open house.<\/p>\n

Another big addition to the base, costing around $35 to $38 million, is the S-70 Cal Fire Hawk \u2014 a night-flying helicopter. It was acquired at the end of May and is the first night firefighting aircraft in San Diego, according to pilot Cliff Gates.<\/p>\n

It was purchased by Cal Fire in Poland, shipped to Texas, trucked to Colorado, then was flown to Sacramento and made its way to Ramona. Gates said pilots wear night vision goggles attached to their headgear that allow them to see in the dark.<\/p>\n

\"CalCal Fire Chief Tony Mecham addresses firefighters and guests during a press conference before inviting the public to tour the aircraft on the flight line at Ramona Air Attack Base on Monday. On the left is the OV-10 Bronco, which serves as the airborne air traffic controller; the wing above is from the C-130 air tanker, and the helicopter on the left is the Sikorsky Firehawk. (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

Mitchell Edwards, a Cal Fire engineer, said it can hold 1,000 gallons of water, lift or lower personnel when landing is not possible and transport crews to inaccessible locations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis could not come at a more important time,\u201d said county Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer. \u201cOur days are getting hotter, our nights are getting warmer, the winds are stronger and fields are drier. Wildfire does not stop when the sun goes down.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hawk also helped during the Thorn fire, along with the Palisades and Hughes fires in January 2025 and recent Camp Pendleton fires.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo continue even after the sun goes down is a game changer,\u201d said county Supervisor Joel Anderson during the event.<\/p>\n

A second phase of construction at the air base is anticipated to begin in the fall on 14-person barracks to house pilots, as Cal Fire transitions to a 24-hour operation, Mecham said. He said the work is expected to be completed by next June. Cal Fire will also expand the helipads for helicopter landings.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not about airplanes and concrete; it\u2019s about pilots,\u201d Mecham said. \u201cIt\u2019s about the people that maintain those aircraft; it\u2019s about the firefighters who fly in those aircraft \u2026 it\u2019s a total team effort.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cal Fire\u2019s Ramona Air Attack Base celebrated its reopening Monday after undergoing construction to redesign its aging facility…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[7,138,181,23,100,3054,15550,74,84,76,75,1696],"class_list":["post-406522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-california","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-north-county","tag-ramona","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-county","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-top-stories-sdut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}