Title Air attack against wildfires : understanding U.S. Forest Service requirements for large aircraft / Edward G. Keating [and others] ; sponsored by the United States Forest Service

Published Santa Monica, Calif. : Rand Corporation, 2012

Click on the following:
JSTOR Open Access

Copies

Description 1 online resource (xxv, 114 pages) : illustrations (some color), color map Series Rand Corporation monograph series Rand Corporation monograph series. Contents Introduction -- Background -- The costs of large fires -- The costs of large aircraft -- The RAND national model -- The RAND local resources model -- Concluding remarks -- Appendix A: Equations used to construct high and low fire cost estimates -- Appendix B: Trends in fire aviation demand through 2030 Summary "An aging fleet of contracted fixed-wing airtankers and two fatal crashes in 2002 led the U.S. Forest Service to investigate how to recapitalize its fleet of airtankers. The Forest Service asked RAND for assistance in determining the composition of a fleet of airtankers, scoopers, and helicopters that would minimize the total social costs of wildfires, including the cost of large fires and aircraft costs. The research team developed two separate but complementary models to estimate the optimal social cost-minimizing portfolio of initial attack aircraft -- that is, aircraft that support on-the-ground firefighters in containing a potentially costly fire while it is still small. The National Model allocates aircraft at the national level, incorporating data on ten years of historical wildfires, and the Local Resources Model provides a more nuanced view of the effect of locally available firefighting resources, relying on resource allocation data from the Forest Service's Fire Program Analysis system. Both models favor a fleet mix dominated by water-carrying scoopers, with a niche role for retardant-carrying airtankers. Although scoopers require proximity to an accessible body of water, they have two advantages: shorter cycle times to drop water and lower cost. Two uncertainties could affect the overall optimal fleet size, however: future improvements in the dispatch of aircraft to fires and the value attributed to fighting already-large fires with aircraft."--Page 4 of cover Notes "RAND Homeland Security and Defense Center." Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 105-114) Notes English Print version record In Books at JSTOR: Open Access JSTOR Subject United States. Forest Service -- Equipment SUBJECT United States. Forest Service fast USA Forest Service gnd Subject Airtankers (Forest fire control) -- United States Aeronautics in wildfire control -- United States HISTORY -- Military -- Aviation. Aeronautics in wildfire control Airtankers (Forest fire control) Military supplies Waldbrand Bekämpfung Löschflugzeug United States Form Electronic book Author Keating, Edward G. (Edward Geoffrey), 1965- RAND Homeland Security and Defense Center. ISBN 9780833079725 0833079727

  Permalink