The US Forest Service has a shortage of Large Airtankers, resulting in a dangerous reduction of firefighting capabilities.
We can help the US Forest Service (USFS) by providing relief when they do not have enough tanker resources.
- Firefighters first on scene of the Eiler fire north of Redding requested airtanker support but were denied until two days later, when the fire was out of control.
- 8 homes and 23,000 charred acres later, that fire was contained.
- There were 6 P-3 Orion airtankers only 40 minutes away, but without a contract, they were unable to provide assistance.
- In 2002, there were 48 Large Airtankers pre-positioned around the US, ready for initial attack to suppress wildfires before they were out of control.
- As of December 2014, there are only 17 Large Airtankers available.
With your help, the P-3 Orion firefighting airtanker fleet can be returned to service!
In 2011, after 20 years in service as the backbone of the US Forest Service’s large airtanker fleet for fighting wildland fires in the United States, the USFS cancelled the contract for six P-3 airtankers due to a contract dispute between Aero Union, the owner of the P-3 fleet, and the USFS. When the negotiations came to an impasse, the USFS cancelled the P-3s, who were in the middle of a firefight in Texas, and the pilots flew these six airworthy aircraft home.
Orion Aerial Firefighters (AFF) has assembled a unique team of engineers, maintenance experts, and pilots who stand ready to return these aircraft to aerial firefighting. The familiarity of our maintenance experts with these particular aircraft position Orion AFF as the only company capable of returning this P-3 fleet to service within a year of funding.
The best way to get these critical airtankers back into service is to solicit community support allowing this fleet to return to its wildland firefighting mission.
We need you to help to fund the costs of:
· Buying the P-3 fleet from an aircraft dismantling company before
the P-3s are destroyed;
· Engineering to determine the necessary repair and maintenance to
return the fleet to aerial firefighting service;
· Performing the repair and maintenance work;
· Leasing the maintenance facility in which to perform the work.
These aircraft are the best airtankers ever devised for wildland firefighting in the US. If every person who was ever threatened by wildfire were to give just one dollar, we can easily attain our goal.
Why seek crowdfunding?
The risk to the venture capitalists is too great without a guaranteed contract with the USFS. Many of us in the firefighting industry (including many of the front line personnel at the USFS and CalFIRE who cannot go on record) know that once we have this fleet back in service, the USFS, and possibly other state agencies, will use this fleet to help address the current Large Airtanker shortage, with the ultimate goal of saving the United States from further devastation from wildfires.
To a typical investor or bank, our mission does not make sense, because they
cannot operate on faith that they will get a return on their investment. This project is about much more than financial gain – it is about taking an opportunity to save a US national asset from destruction.
cannot operate on faith that they will get a return on their investment. This project is about much more than financial gain – it is about taking an opportunity to save a US national asset from destruction.
Our team is ready and waiting to go to work, and with your help we can have these P-3 aircraft on the ground ready to fly before the 2016 fire season, and potentially by the time the Santa Ana winds kick up in southern California in 2015.
Other Ways You Can Help
If you cannot contribute financially, but still would like to help, you can!
Please share this campaign with your friends, your family and anyone in your network.
If you tell two friends, and they tell two friends, then before you know it, we'll be in the sky...maybe even protecting YOUR home.
PLEASE help us save this valuable resource!
