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Jed Boal ReportingUtah is heating up and drying out. Wildfire season has started in southern Utah and fire danger will spread north in the weeks ahead. The National Forest Service dedicated a renovated facility that should help in upcoming battles.
The ability to attack a wildfire from the air is critical. The largest aviation operations group in the Forest Service is based in Ogden, and now has a new home.
An aerial assault is often the only option to fight a wildfire, especially in much of the tough terrain of the west. The Intermountain Region expanded and renovated a hangar at the Ogden Regional Airport. The upgrade doubles the hangar space and triples the office space.
Mike Dudley, Director of Fire Aviation Air Management: "What we've been able to do is centralize everything in terms of efficiency for management and operational control."
It also has better shower and laundry facilities for weary smoke jumpers. Most important, it enables firefighters to save property and lives.
Jack Troyer, Intermountain Regional Forester: "It's a state of the art facility. We can maintain and service ten aircraft. They're all busy. It means better operations, better working environment."
The upgraded facility also added ten full-time jobs that pay an average of 70-thousand dollars a year. And the Aviation Operation pumps six-million dollars into the local economy each year.
It won't be long before smokejumpers are coming out of planes like this one deploying on fires throughout the west and actually throughout the entire country.
Mike Dudley: "We can easily cover all western states within a given day."
As for this fire season, a wet, early spring grew a lot of grass. Those fine fuels are very flammable, especially if the region stays dry.
Jack Troyer: "We live in a fire environment; we've been fortunate to have the cooperation in the last few years and dodged some big bullets."
That's a reminder from firefighters that the threat of catastrophic wildfires is an ongoing problem in the west. Utah has avoided many of the big fires that have destroyed a lot of property in neighboring states.
