Guard Wing Activates to Aid Firefighting Effort

By Deidre Forster

153rd Airlift Wing

CHEYENNE, Wyo., June 25, 2012 – Two Wyoming Air National Guard C-130s and crews equipped with the U.S. Forest Service’s Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System will arrive at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo., today to support wildland firefighting efforts in the Rocky Mountain region.

The Wyoming Air Guard’s 153rd Airlift Wing, one of four military units nationwide equipped with the MAFFS II system, was activated yesterday.

Select aircrews from the wing are certified annually by the U.S. Forest Service to fly the aerial firefighting mission. The MAFFS II system can disperse 3,000 gallons of fire retardant per load.

The Wyoming Air National Guard began aerial firefighting in 1975, with the original Modular Airborne Firefighting System. The unit has fought fires throughout the United States and in Indonesia.