Cal Fire has its own fleet of aircraft operating from 14 airfields and 11 helicopter bases across the state that can reach most fires within about 20 minutes.

Conrad "Connie" Kalitta's air transport company is lending a hand to keep the air tankers battling the blazes.

Two planes important to aerial firefighting missions are air tankers, which carry and drop the fire retardant, and the lead plane, a smaller, more nimble aircraft that flies ahead. The lead plane ...

LOS ANGELES — An unauthorized drone collided with an air tanker battling the Palisades Fire on January 9, 2025, tearing a hole in the tanker's wing and rendering it inoperable to fight the fires.

As Southern California winds contribute to the spread of a major wildfire, map tools from NASA and Esri help first responders.

So far, five Forest Service large air tankers and over 20 federal firefighting helicopters are assisting the effort. An additional air tanker is en route, and will be further supplemented by two ...

The plane had arrived in Busan from Jeju just before 9 p.m. local time, according to Flightradar24, a flight tracking service. Fire fighters working to extinguish a fire that has engulfed an Air ...

However, aerial firefighting specialist 10 Tanker, which is helping lead the Southern California effort, is a Kalitta Air client. Kalitta Air does not own or operate any tanker aircraft.