Resources
The Shasta-Trinity National Forest has a robust and dynamic Fire, Fuels, and Aviation Management (FAM) organization. Our Forest is host to a wide variety of fire suppression, prevention, detection, aviation and dispatch resources and personnel.
Our fleet of 20 engines, 2 hotshot crews, 2 dozers, 1 Type-II helicopter, 3 water tenders, 13 fire prevention patrol units, 6 fire lookouts, 1 dispatch center and 1 airtanker base provide initial response to new incidents. Additional federal and cooperator resources supplement any incidents that may extend after initial response. Forest resources strive to meet the mission "to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations."
The California Air National Guard maintains a fleet of C-130 aircraft equipped with the “Modular Airborne Firefighting System” (MAFFS) that can be called into action if needed. The Forest Service Redding Air Attack Base supports MAFFS and other air resources, including cooperating air tankers, air attack planes and a fire retardant operation which supports all incidents in Northern California. Placement of federal air tankers is determined through a national protocol that considers current and predicted fire activity and values at risk.
Shasta-Trinity NF fire personnel are part of a much larger group of cooperators which combine and share resources to accomplish fire suppression on Forest Service and private lands. In the summer, during the height of wildfire season, there are about 375 employees working in fire management. During the winter, the fire organization continues to support national emergency response as well as fuels management and other Forest Service programs, such as silviculture.
In order to quickly mobilize for emergency incidents, yearly planning is done between cooperating agencies. Areas are mapped and primary and secondary responsibilities are assigned to individual units. Incident management teams are organized and trained in advance of emergencies so the coordinated response runs smoothly throughout the incident. Forest Service teams have been dispatched to help with national all-hazard emergencies, such as the World Trade Center, the Pentagon disaster, and Hurricane Maria.
Acting Chief – Alex McBath
Deputy Chief 2 (Operations) – Alex McBath
Deputy Chief 3 (Fuels) – Daniel Ostmann
Forest Resources (Listed South to North)
Consisting of Battalion 1 and Battalion 2
Harrison Gulch – District Office
2555 State Hwy 36 W
Platina, CA 96076
Hayfork – District Office|
11 Trinity St.
P.O. Box 159 Hayfork, CA 96041
Plummer Peak Lookout
Pickett Peak Lookout
Forest Glen – Guard Station
#3 Forest Glen Drive
P.O. Box 1176 Hayfork, CA 96041
Available Resources at these locations:
Dozer 29
Engine 311
Engine 312
Engine 313
Engine 321
Engine 322
Patrol 11
Patrol 21
Patrol 22
Trinity IHC (Crew 11)
Water Tender 216
Consisting of Battalion 3 and Battalion 4
Big Bar – Guard Station
Star Route 1 Box 10 Big Bar, CA 96010
Hayfork Bally Lookout
Junction City – Guard Station
43600 Hwy 299 W
Junction City, CA 96048
Burnt Ranch – Guard Station
200 A School House Rd.
P.O. Box 27
Burnt Ranch, CA 95527
Mule Creek – Guard Station
47950 State Hwy 3 Or P.O. Box 1190
Weaverville, CA 96093
Coffee Creek – Guard Station
1 S Derrick Flat Rd.
Coffee Creek, CA 96091
Bonanza King Lookout
Weaverville – District Office
360 Main Street Hwy 299 W
P.O. Box 1190 Weaverville, CA 96093
Weaver Bally Lookout
Trinity Helibase
3325 Pettijohn Road
Lewiston, CA 96052
Available Resources at these locations:
Helicopter 506
Engine 331
Engine 332
Engine 334
Engine 341
Engine 342
Engine 343
Patrol 31
Patrol 41
Patrol 42
Water Tender 246
Battalion 5
Lakeshore – Guard Station
20207 Lakeshore Drive
Lakehead, CA 96051
Mountain Gate – District Office
14225 Holiday Road
Redding, CA 96003
Big Bend – Guard Station
25017 Big Bend Road
Big Bend, CA 96011
Available Resources at these locations:
Engine 351
Engine 352
Engine 353
Patrol 51
Patrol 52
Patrol 53
Patrol 54
Shasta Lake IHC (Crew 5)
Consisting of Battalion 6 and Battalion 7
Mt. Shasta – District Office
204 West Alma
Mt. Shasta, CA 96067
Sims – Guard Station
19111 Mears Ridge Rd
Castella, CA 96017
McCloud – District Office
2019 Forest Rd
P.O. Box 1620 McCloud, CA 96057
Ash Creek – Guard Station
10 miles E. of McCloud on Hwy 89
P.O. Box 1620 McCloud, CA 96057
Available Resources at these locations:
Dozer 79
Engine 361
Engine 362
Engine 363
Engine 371
Engine 372
Engine 373
Patrol 61
Patrol 62
Patrol 71
Water Tender 266
Redding Interagency Air Tanker Base
Redding, CA
Redding Interagency Command Center (Dispatch)
Redding, CA
Resources: Learn More
When a fire is reported on the Shasta-Trinity National Forest in the Redding Area, helicopter 506 Helitack Crew (H506) brings help from above by providing a crew of 15 personnel and a Type-II high performance helicopter. In addition the helicopter and pilot are able to utilize a water bucket that can carry up to 350 gallons of water once the crew has been delivered to the incident.
The H506 Helitack Crew uses a wide range of tactics for attacking wildfires. Their helicopter, owned by Redding Air Service, can rapidly deliver firefighters to steep, remote locations. After the crew is unloaded they begin cutting trees or brush and build fireline. The bucket can be attached for water drops. The helicopter can also be used to ferry supplies to firefighters working far from roads, and for “back hauling” used equipment from the fireline.
The firefighters of H506 must master a wide range of skills to do their job. In addition to an ability to build fireline safely in difficult terrain using chainsaws and hand tools, the crew must also know the correct procedures for boarding and exiting the helicopter, safely connecting cargo loads and water dropping buckets with cable releases, arranging loads so they are balanced in cargo nets, and how to calculating a wide variety of critical load weights. Since a helicopter’s lifting capacity changes with air temperature and altitude, the crew must calculate the aircraft’s allowable load each day, depending on the elevation of the fire area and the current weather.
Managing a helicopter on the ground takes coordination between the pilot and the H506 crew members. The helicopter contractor provides the helicopter, pilot, fuel truck with a driver, and a mechanic. The H506 organization also includes a ground support vehicle called the “helitender,” which carries radios and other equipment required to make a landing zone or helibase where the helicopter can refuel when it is on a fire. In addition to managing the H506 helicopter, the Crew also provides oversight for additional helicopters when they are brought in for larger fires.
The steep geography and frequent occurrence of fire in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest present serious challenges for wildland firefighters capable of meeting said challenges. The Helitack Crew's extensive and versatile skillset provides a local resource with capabilities equal to these challenges. H506 is a critical component for meeting the Forest Service’s mission to provide for public safety.
The Redding Air-Attack Base or RAAB is an interagency base operated by the U.S. Forest Service which hosts CAL FIRE firefighting resources, located at the north end of the Redding Municipal Airport. On average. the base loads over two million gallons of fire retardant into air tankers to support of wildfire firefighting operations.
The Redding Air Attack Base supports firefighters battling hundreds of different fires across the north state. This includes fires on the Six Rivers, Klamath, Modoc, Lassen and the Shasta-Trinity National Forests, as well as CAL FIRE Ranger Units. Air tankers deliver and drop the retardant at the head and flanks of fires. When a wildfire reaches a line of retardant that’s been dropped on vegetation, its rate of spread slows giving firefighters on the ground crucial time to build containment lines around the fire.
The RAAB has five air tanker parking pits that are used for loading/reloading, maintenance, and parking of air tankers. An additional light aircraft parking area accommodates up to six aircraft depending on type or size. These smaller aircraft are commonly used for fire reconnaissance, tactical aviation supervision, training platforms, and overhead transportation. Two helicopter pads are located north of the base and can accommodate medium or smaller sized helicopters used to support firefighters or drop water on fires.
John Casey, Forest Aviation Officer for the Shasta-Trinity National Forest says, "The RAAB is a full service base dispensing retardant or water. The base is able to accommodate many types of air tankers, including next generation air tankers and Modular Aerial Firefighting Systems (MAFFS), which are military C130s equipped with slide-in retardant tanks".
Air tankers are a national resource; they are available to support firefighting efforts nationwide. These planes are only one piece of the wildland firefighting tool kit, but they are invaluable support to firefighting efforts on the ground.
Burn Out Operations at the Pioneer Fire
The Redding Hotshots engaged in burn out operations at the PioneerFire on the BoiseNationalForest.
Burn Out: Setting fire inside a control line to widen it or consume fuel between the edge of the fire and the control line.
Redding Hotshots established in 1967
Mission: to provide concentrated fireline leadership development training nationwide by:
- Involving the crewmember in classroom training geared toward small-unit (squad) leadership and practical fieldwork in fire suppression.
- Offering the employee a well balanced, on the ground training experience while providing a highly organized, Type 1 Interagency Hotshot Crew for wildland fire assignments.
- Providing crewmembers opportunities to become independent module leaders through supervising a squad of 3-7 crewmembers during fire suppression, prescribed fire and other emergency incidents.
- Developing the employee's instructional skills through intense classroom instruction time in front of their peers.
The structure of the Redding crew enables individual crewmembers to supervise a Type 1 hotshot crew in the role appropriate to their development (e.g. Squad Leader, Crew Boss, Task Force/Strike Team Leader, or Type 4/5 Incident Commander).
This provides an opportunity to observe and evaluate various levels of performance among peers and to understand crew production. This increases self-confidence and leadership abilities, important qualities with which crewmembers return to their home units. This enhances career progression to greater responsibilities.
Learn More About the Redding Hotshots
Behind the airplanes, fire engines, crews and the other highly visible signs of a busy fire season, sits an unassuming little building tucked away in a quiet corner of Redding. It is the Redding Interagency Command Center, or Dispatch Center, and if there’s an incident requiring U.S. Forest Service, CAL FIRE or local resources in or around Redding, the coordination starts and ends here.
Because it handles all manner of calls, not just major fires, the center can get pretty busy. Combining ground dispatch, aviation and having the ability to add personnel to expanding operations during times of high demand. The center is a cornerstone of emergency response in Region 5.
The busiest desk by far is the aviation desk. When an incident involving aviation resources emerges, shifts can turn into 14 – 16 hour days very quickly. They handle all requests for air support, which include air trankers, helicopter, smokejumpers, and air-attack missions, and track their movement throughout the response. Dispatches are responsible for coordinating national aircraft assets from all over the United States.
The center also answers incoming 911 calls ranging from smoke sightings to medical emergencies. When these calls come in, the answering dispatcher determines the best resource to handle it, jurisdiction, and dispatches the appropriate resources. A good example would be a stranded motorist calling 911 from somewhere in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. This call will be answered and appropriate response will be dispatched.
The mutual aid agreements between all the agencies creates a tightly woven net of coverage across the region by all agencies concerned. When a car fire threatens to ignite a wildfire in state lands, the closest resource from either the U.S. Forest Service, or a cooperating agency will respond. That’s why at any given time you can see “green engines” down in the valley or “red engines” up on National Forest System Lands.
It is precisely this kind of mutual support structure and cooperation that has prevented a number of small incidents from becoming big ones. Lightning events that create a large outbreak of small fires utilize the closest resource to quickly extinguish these fires. A quick, coordinated and aggressive response by multiple resources from several agencies provides a success outcome. It all starts with a call to dispatch.
Incident response calls are growing higher every year. An example is by July 1st of 2024 were identified, and that was just for areas of Forest Service responsibility. But as call volume has expanded, the number of dispatchers hasn’t grown. While the Redding dispatch center is built to handle a high volume of dispatches, but sometimes, extra people are called in to help.
If you or anyone you know would be interested in this kind of fast-paced, essential work, more information can be found here.
When you think about resources responding to wildfires, what comes to most people’s minds are the firefighters and fire trucks battling the flames. What most people don’t know is all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes to make sure that those crews and resources are ready when the dispatch calls.
Shasta-Trinity National Forest employees staff and work as a close team operating the Mob center near Shasta-Lake Ranger Station. The Mob Center’s mission is to check in firefighting equipment and crews, perform safety inspections of equipment and vehicles, and provide personnel with a critical safety briefing before they are sent on their way to respond to fires across the region. After crews have finished their assignments, often two weeks long, the Mob Center makes sure they have completed their paperwork in order to be paid and released back into the ordering or dispatch system which ensures they are ready for the next fire.
“From start to finish we track all incoming and outgoing resources. This involves a lot of communication and coordination with the Redding Dispatch Center and keeping track of all sorts of paperwork from time sheets to contracts,” said Lindsay Sundal.
But it is not only about paperwork; ensuring incoming resources have appropriate frequencies and equipment has been inspected.
“This is [a] sort of one-stop-shop for emergency responders to get ready to work," said Justin Regelin.
On average, the centrally located Mob Center inspects up to 300 vehicles responding to fires across the Shasta-Trinity and several other forests in Northern California. When vehicles are found deficient they are fixed in a timely fashion or released. These inspections prevent potential malfunctions that could jeopardize safety in emergency situations.