Dot Domke:
This is a Sikorski S-58T and we’re used for all applications like the other ships. We do the bucket work. We drop water. We can shuttle crew, and for this particular fire, we were chosen to do the "ping pong" machine; what they call; for aerial ignition.The Forest Service sets us up with a crew they’re the experts, they know where they want to light and what they want to do. Brad flies them right at treetop level wherever they want. One of the advantages of doing aerial ignition with the helicopters is that, where the guys do it by hand too with drip torches, but we can reach remote locations and do it with the accuracy they want and speed of the rough terrain that the guys can’t get to. Larry will show you exactly how the machine works.
Larry Teague:
This here you have a hopper we fill the ping-pong machine up with. They come down the chute here. This whole unit sits on top of this. So it will come down the chute, and a little later you guys can walk through and take a look at this. It will come through and go into this hole where there are needles that will poke the ping pong ball and it is filled with glycose which is anti-freeze and then it spits it out through the chute which is hanging outside the helicopter. It usually takes about anywhere from 30 seconds to one minute for these to ignite. If we have any problems in the chute, it can be defused by just basic water. We can put water in the hopper itself to diffuse it or here we have a tank that automatically shoots water into here to diffuse the Ping-Pong balls. This container here is basically filled with glycose, which is anti-freeze, which automatically is injected into the pins in here. As I said before, there is a water tank here which works to diffuse the ping pong balls and if there’s any problem at all, there’s a little red button here that you can press to be able to shut it off. If there is any major problems, this thing basically has got a knife down there. This thing is strapped inside. If we have any problems, we can just boot it out the door to get it away from the helicopter.Dot Domke: They think of everything, they got it all covered.