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(KSL News) -- Air National Guard units are training in Wyoming with a new weapon to fight fires, a huge C-130 military plane.
It can drop three-thousand gallons of water or fire retardant. A series of jets is being redeveloped to battle wildfires. Converted DC jets are four times bigger than the largest tankers now in use. And the supertanker can douse flames with a 12-thousand gallon load.
Experts say these planes work better than tankers used now.
Wylie Walno, Wyoming Air National Guard: "Capable of flying low, slow and heavy."
Rick Hatton, Omni Air International: "You look at it and say, 'It's awfully big, I guess it won't maneuver.' Well, it will maneuver."
Most of these planes are FAA certified, but still need approval from the US Forest Service.
Wildfires already burned two- million acres this year, that's well ahead of the average.