Military vs. The Fires...

I found these photos (at StrategyPage) of the U.S. military aircraft helping fight last week's fires.

The top photo shows an Air Force C-130 Hercules dumping 3,000 gallons of fire retardant on the Poomacha Fire. This is the view from the open bay of the plane, looking down at the two nozzles as they dump the fire retardant.

The Poomacha Fire is still burning, and is still not 100% contained. The last update I read said that air assets were still on the job, 10 days after the fire started. The main challenge is that the fire is burning in some quite remote and inaccessible areas, especially on the north and northeast flanks of Mt. Palomar.

The bottom photo shows a Navy MH-60S Seahawk about to fill its bucket. I believe the photo is showing it over Sweetwater Reservoir, with Dictionary Hill and Spring Valley in the background. If I'm correct, then it would have been fighting the Harris Fire, near our home.

More photos and a bit of the story can be found here.