JANUARY 13, 2025 – Three Wyoming Air National Guard C-130s equipped with the U.S. Forest Service’s Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems, or MAFFS, and associated personnel were activated by U.S. Northern Command to support firefighting efforts in the Los Angeles area, California, Jan. 9, 2025.
The three C-130 aircraft will travel to Channel Islands Air National Guard Base in California, where they will provide critical assistance to the state’s firefighting apparatus. They will be accompanied by a fourth C-130 support aircraft from Colorado.
Wyoming’s participation is part of a more significant effort spearheaded by the U.S. Northern Command, working with the U.S. Forest Service and Air National Guard aircraft and crews from Nevada, Colorado, and California.
“It has been difficult to watch the absolute devastation of the wildfires in California,” said Col. Brian Diehl, commander of the Wyoming Air National Guard’s 153rd Airlift Wing. “We’re honored to be able to participate in our nation’s efforts to combat these fires and return normalcy to the people and communities of Southern California, and as soon as possible.”
Approximately 40 aircrew and maintenance personnel will deploy.
The MAFFS-equipped aircraft are coming from the 153rd Airlift Wing and 187th Airlift Squadron in Wyoming, 146th Airlift Wing in California, 152nd Airlift Wing and 192nd Airlift Squadron in Nevada, and the 302nd Airlift Wing and 731st Airlift Squadron in Colorado. MAFFS began in 1971 as a joint effort between the U.S. Forest Service and the Department of Defense to produce the equipment, training and operational procedures to integrate military air tankers into a national firefighting response.
MAFFS are the U.S. Forest Service’s portable fire-retardant delivery systems and can be inserted into military C-130 aircraft without major structural modifications to convert them into airtankers when needed. They can discharge their entire load of up to 3,000 gallons of retardant in less than five seconds, covering an area one-quarter of a mile long by 100 feet wide, or they can make variable drops. Once a load is discharged from a MAFFS-equipped aircraft, and the aircraft lands at a tanker base, it can be refilled in less than 12 minutes.
Story by Joseph Coslett
153rd Airlift Wing