Beating wildfires: Global Supertanker dumps water over Moses Lake

MOSES LAKE — It took a little bit more than 10 seconds for the world’s largest firefighting airplane to dump nearly 20,000 gallons on the main runway of the Grant County International Airport.

“It does work,” said Lee Human, president and CEO of AeroTEC, which has spent the last month upgrading Global Supertanker, a 747 modified to drop water or fire retardant on wildfires.

“For us, it’s a great demo, and we’re going to be doing some more over the coming days with the team,” he said. “We’re jazzed to be part of a team that supports Global Supertanker and we’re looking to continue to do that for a very long time.”

The plane normally drops water and fire retardant on wildfires from 250 feet, according to Global Supertanker Chief of Operations John Winder, but flew at a higher altitude Tuesday, 500 feet, as part of the test.

The demonstration flight was part of a larger effort intended to turn Moses Lake into a major base for large aerial tanker planes like Global Supertanker that can quickly respond to wildfires not only in Washington state, but across the west.

Global Supertanker Chief of Operations John Winder said the plane’s primary advantage is the sheer amount of water or fire retardant it can carry, and it can fly fully loaded at full speed — nearly 700 mph — to drop either water or fire retardant to help fire crews on the ground combat wildfires.

“If we’re working out of Moses Lake, and the fire is 300 miles away, we can get there in no time at all,” he said.

But the planes are designed to help ground crews more effectively fight fires, Winder noted.

“The aircraft is just another tool in the tool chest,” he explained. “It’s not the only tool, it’s just a tool. It can haul retardant and can fly. The distance we can go makes it a very useful tool.”

And after 2020’s horrific fire season, the state needs more dedicated firefighting aircraft.

“We do not have the air assets we need,” said Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz. “2020 was a historically destructive fire season. 800,000 acres were burned, 600,000 acres burned in 72 hours. 300 homes were destroyed, and we watched an entire town burn down in just a few hours.”

With the state’s 11 aging fire fighting helicopters outmatched by last year’s fires, Franz said she is pushing for the passage of a House measure currently under consideration by the state legislature that would allocated $500 million for the next eight years for wildfire preparedness, including identifying new planes and new bases that would help fire crew respond more quickly to fires.

Franz said Moses Lake’s location in the center of the state makes it a perfect place for a major firefighting base. The U.S. Forest Service has a firefighting base at the Grant County International Airport, but does not have facilities here to permanently handle something as large as Global Supertanker.

“We really need rapid response here in WA, we’re talking about hours and minutes, and we need the infrastructure, the assets, the operations teams all in place ahead of time to support that,” Human said. “Global Supertanker is part of the solution here today.”

Human said he hopes AeroTEC would like to convert more 747s to the firefighting role, adding he would also like to see Global Supertanker, which is currently based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, relocated permanently to Moses Lake.

“We really want these guys to call Moses Lake home,” he said. “Not every maintenance base or airport can support aircraft that are highly specialized like Global Supertanker. The Port of Moses Lake can, AeroTEC can, we’ve got the right team.”

“We’re helping Global Supertanker here for the next few weeks, but nothing else is keeping them here,” Human added.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.