NY Army Guard aviators play key role in controlling wildfire

GREENWOOD LAKE, New York - New York Army National Guard aviators dropped 550,160 gallons of water on the 5,200 acre Jennings Creek fire between Nov. 11 and Nov. 20 as state and local fire fighters fought the Orange County blaze.

The wildfire, the largest in New York since 2008, according to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul's office, ignited on Saturday. Nov. 9 and expanded to 2,500 acres straddling the New York/ New Jersey border by Nov. 10.

On Veterans day, Nov. 11, eight Soldiers assigned to Alpha Company of the 3rd Battalion, 142nd Aviation, began flying water bucket firefighting missions with two UH-60M Black Hawks.

New York State Police helicopters, which are the first responders for firefighting missions, had already been flying, but additional assets were needed, said Chief Warrant Officer 5 Thomas Scott, the maintenance officer for the 42nd Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigade, who coordinated the Army Guard missions.

That first day the aviators conducted 63 drops and delivered 41,580 gallons of water onto the fire 660 gallons at a time, according to the New York National Guard operations center.

By Nov. 20, 49 aviators, and 10 aircraft, including two CH-47F Chinook helicopters, capable of carrying 1,500 gallons of water at a time, had taken part in the firefighting effort.

The CH-47s are assigned to B Co. 3rd Battalion, 126th Aviation, which is based in Rochester.

By the end of mission, the aviators had flown 94 hours - 57.4 in UH-60s and 46.4 in the CH-47s-and conducted 576 water bucket drops.

The UH-60 crews conducted 386 drops during five days of operations. These missions-conducted by crews based in Latham and Ronkonkoma-put 295,400 gallons of water on the fire.

The CH-47 crews, which flew from Nov. 14 to the Nov. 20, with one non-flying day, conducted 190 drops. The CH-47 crews dropped 254, 760 gallons of water.

At any given time, there were eight aircrew flying two UH-60s and 10 aircrew flying two CH-47s. The New York State Police also flew missions at the same time.

The CH-47s, a much larger helicopter, had crews which include a flight engineer and two Soldiers in the back, while a UH-60 has a crew of three.

The CH-47s normally fly with four people on board.

For this mission a fifth soldier was added. His job was to keep an eye on the surrounding airspace, so the crew chief could watch the massive Bambi bucket slung underneath the heavy lift helicopter, according to Chief Warrant Officer 4 John Hermanson, a CH-47 standardization pilot.

This is the longest firefighting mission New York 's Army Guard aviators have ever deployed on and also the first time the CH-47s have been used for firefighting, according to Scott.

The last time New York Army National Guard helicopters were used to fight a fire was on August 31, 2022, when a fire was burning at Minnewaska State Park Reserve near Ellenville.

Two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters based at the Latham flight facility dropped 80 buckets of water, totaling about 45,000 gallons of water on the fire.

The missions were challenging for the pilots, said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Andrew Behrens, the standardization pilot for A Company, who is also a State Police pilot in civilian life.

Flying with 2.7 tons of water slung underneath the helicopter is always challenging, Behrens said. But the high winds which spread the fire, made it more difficult to position the water bucket accurately, he explained.

The high winds make the bucket oscillate more than normal, and the winds can affect the power available to the pilot, he said.

Hovering over Greenwood Lake to pick up water, lowering the bucket precisely while the crew chief talks the pilot into position, is also demanding, he added.

Each helicopter carried a DEC Forest Ranger on board who could talk to the fire crews on the ground, Behrens said. This was critical for making sure that water wasn't dumped on the people below, he said.

And because the pilots can't see the bucket slung underneath, they counted on the crew chief in the back to talk them onto the target and release the water at the right time, he said.

The CH-47s carried an average of 7.2 tons of water each time they conducted a drop.

This meant the pilots couldn't conduct steep turns or sudden maneuvers, which would set the water bucket swinging, Hermanson said.

Flying in these conditions was like the difference between driving a pickup truck, and then driving a pickup truck with two pallets of paving blocks in the back, Hermanson said.

The pilot has to be acutely aware of all that weight that isn't normally there, he explained.

The CH-47s also used a lot of power to lift that massive load of water, Hermanson said.

Normally, CH-47 operates about 60 percent of power, which means they have a large reserve of power they can use to manuever, he explained.

On the drop missions, the pilots had a reserve of maybe two percent, he said.

"You have to be very light, and very calculating on the control movements," Hermanson said.

The Ch-47s crews had a steep learning curve but mastered the technique in a day or two, he said.

The helicopters used the Signature Aviation facility at Stewart International Airport in Newburgh as their based when they were not flying.

The CH-47 crews based there throughout their deployment, while he crews from Latham and Ronkonkoma would return to home station each day Scott said.

Behrens, Scott and Hermanson all credited the regular firefighting training the aviators conduct with the DEC Forest Rangers for making the real thing run smoothly.

"Our training is paramount in ensuring that we have good interoperability," Behrens said.

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