RAMONA, Calif. (KGTV) – The Sorrento Fire was one of the larger fires we’ve seen this year in the greater San Diego area as we get ready to enter those summer months with high heat and dry vegetation.
“Having those air resources, getting dispatched immediately and showing up on scene and taking a punch out of that fire before the hand crews can make access is really just an example of the amount of resources that we have in the region,” Fire Captain Oscar Sotelo of Cal Fire San Diego said.
Sotelo told ABC 10News the aerial firefighting resources played a critical role in putting out the Sorrento fire.
“What it does help is the timing, right? We’re able to get out ahead of it before the crews can physically get there,” Sotelo said. “But the crews will always make sure that they mop up and patrol every area of the fire to make sure that it’s out.”
Cal Fire San Diego’s latest and biggest firefighting tool, the C-130 Hercules, was a part of the aerial attack.
“It came down here to Ramona Air Attack Base on May 30th,” Soltelo said. It's already been dispatched to several fires within the county, and the latest being the Sorrento fire.”
The bigger the plane, the bigger the impact on putting out brush fires.
“I think the biggest benefit is the volume of fire retardant that it can carry. It's 4000 gallons as compared to the smaller aircraft behind me that carries 1200 gallons,” Sotelo said. “So the biggest benefit is one, it could provide a big volume of 4000 gallons in one drop, or the ability to split that load and then refly the same area and do multiple drops.”
ABC 10News first told you last April when Cal Fire and Governor Gavin Newsom announced the new plane would be coming to San Diego.
It’s something that San Diego County will need and want ahead of the summer and peak fire season.
“As you can imagine, a lot of these vegetation fires are in hard accessible areas,” Sotelo said. “And so having an aircraft like this, being able to go out ahead of the fire, drop some fire retardant, and maybe make a couple go-arounds at it before we even get hose on the ground is a good contribution to the firefight.”
