{"id":452241,"date":"2026-09-03T14:12:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T14:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/452241\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T14:12:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T14:12:22","slug":"cal-fire-utilizes-powerful-air-arsenal-with-c-130-aircraft-at-its-fresno-air-attack-base-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/452241\/","title":{"rendered":"CAL FIRE utilizes powerful air arsenal with C-130 aircraft at its Fresno Air Attack Base\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \">FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) &#8212; CAL FIRE&#8217;S C-130 aircraft part of a small fleet with a mission to stop the spread of the Colorado Fire in Mariposa County.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;The minute that we had ignition, we had aircraft off the ground and supporting that community,&#8221; said CAL FIRE Fresno-Kings Unit Capt. Casey Hutchings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Crews work with multiple agencies in and out of the Fresno Air Attack Base to contain the flames of the Colorado Fire burning since Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;Not only from our base here, but multiple agencies in different bases throughout California,&#8221; said Capt. Hutchings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The all-hands-on deck approach aiding in the attack from above as crews utilize the C-130&#8217;s. The powerful aircraft is able to hold a capacity of 4,000 gallons of retardant.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;We have been receiving retardant from them also. And the number is 72,000 gallons of retardant. 42,000 gallons alone from Fresno here at the airbase,&#8221; said Capt. Hutchings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The substance critical for crews who work to combat the flames above the steep terrain of Mariposa County. CAL FIRE described the fire conditions for crews on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Top Stories<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"iVcn UbGlr ibBnq qdXbA avodi DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE QGHKv HNQqj ICwhc Bkgbl ZLXw kSqqG rEBmF sfsRN \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/abc30.com\/post\/12-year-old-girl-hit-killed-suspected-dui-driver-tulare-county-chp-says\/19780062\/\" aria-label=\"Terra Bella community mourns 12-year-old girl killed by suspected DUI driver\" aria-describedby=\"TerraBellacommunitymbody\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" class=\"hsDdd NDJZt sJeUN IJwXl \" data-testid=\"prism-image\" draggable=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/19782503_090226-kfsn-6p-terra-bella-12yo-killed.jpg\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;It&#8217;s so steep in some places, it&#8217;s almost a vertical climb, and they&#8217;re having to move everything by hand,&#8221; said CAL FIRE Spokesperson Emily Kilgore.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">That type of aerial efficiency saves crews time on the ground.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;They can drop a lot more retardant on the fire without having to come back and refill,&#8221; said Capt. Hutchings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">As of Wednesday evening, evacuation orders and warnings remain in place for certain communities near the fire &#8211; including Briceburg in Mariposa County.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC eTIW sUzSN \">For news updates, follow Christina Lopez on <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChristinaABC30\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a>, <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/CLopezABC30\" rel=\"nofollow\">X<\/a> and <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/christinalopezreports\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2026 KFSN-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) &#8212; CAL FIRE&#8217;S C-130 aircraft part of a small fleet with a mission to stop&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452242,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[178707,112,114,113],"class_list":["post-452241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-178707","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452241","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=452241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}