Evergreen Supertanker is the largest firefighting vehicle in the world. And its a Boeing 747 jet aircraft. With a payload of 20,500 gallons, this monster has more than eight times the drop capacity of other federal air tankers currently fighting fires. Essentially, it's an obscenely large fire extinguisher.
However, Evergreen faced a number of challenges like to drop water precisely, from an altitude appropriate for such a huge jet, the Supertanker was built with an array of high-pressure tanks. The water or retardant isn't just dropped, it is sprayed out of four 16-inch-wide nozzles under 40,000 pounds of pressure.
The plane dropped its entire load, 20,500 gallons, in less than 10 seconds. In use, the Supertanker can spread water or fire retardant into a patch 100 yards wide and 3 miles long. Or it can divide the load into separate drops, depending on what is needed for the fires at hand. It can also dump other liquids.
However, Evergreen faced a number of challenges like to drop water precisely, from an altitude appropriate for such a huge jet, the Supertanker was built with an array of high-pressure tanks. The water or retardant isn't just dropped, it is sprayed out of four 16-inch-wide nozzles under 40,000 pounds of pressure.
The plane dropped its entire load, 20,500 gallons, in less than 10 seconds. In use, the Supertanker can spread water or fire retardant into a patch 100 yards wide and 3 miles long. Or it can divide the load into separate drops, depending on what is needed for the fires at hand. It can also dump other liquids.
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| Firefighting Aircraft |
California and other state fire agencies will probably be slow to embrace this new titan. At a cost of $3 million per month, the Supertanker may find itself fighting only the worst fires in the most precious places with the most property at risk.
Maybe the Supertanker won't replace traditional firefighting equipment and techniques, but it will definitely be nice to have a superhero waiting in the wings.
Evergreen International Aviation, based in Oregon, has been supporting wildland firefighting since the late 1930s.
