Aerial firefighting companies now have to keep up with demand

As out-of-control wildfires threatened thousands of Los Angeles residents earlier this month, the companies that fight infernos from the air raced to send their air tankers and water bombers to the area. It was supposed to be the off-season.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, has more than 60 fixed-wing and rotor-wing firefighting aircraft, which it calls the largest civil fleet of its kind.

But the federal government, U.S. states and countries from Australia to Chile to South Korea hire companies that have their own private fleets of specially outfitted aircraft to help tame fires.

“I was lucky to have two” aircraft available to help fight the flames, said Joel Kerley, CEO of 10 Tanker Air Carrier, based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The company has a fleet of four converted DC-10 aircraft, known as very large air tankers, or VLATs.

The wildfire season in the U.S. normally runs from April to about November, when 10 Tanker and similar companies are under round-the-clock contracts with the U.S. Forest Service, a federal agency. In 2023, the U.S. Forest Service extended a 10-year contract worth as much as $7.2 billion to 10 Tanker and four other providers.

Outside of those months, providers are generally on a call-when-needed basis. And demand for their services continues to rise, year-round, these firms say.

Wildfires are expected to become even more prevalent and severe in the 21st century, according to the United Nations Environment Program. The United States Environmental Protection Agency said data appears to show that the area destroyed by wildfires in the U.S. has gone up over the last two decades.

“There’s not enough air tankers to go around,” said Kerley, the former aviation manager for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, part of the Department of the Interior.

Some countries that have faced severe wildfires in recent years, like Australia, have been building up their own fleets of firefighting aircraft. Kerley said they will need to expand their fleets or companies like his will have to get bigger to meet growing demand.

Kerley said the Palisades and Eaton fires were some of the most complicated to fight. Fed by hurricane-force winds, they leveled entire neighborhoods like Altadena and were some of the worst ever in California. They were also a reminder to firefighters, government officials and the public that fires could spring up when they’re least expected.

Those two fires have consumed more than 37,000 acres and damaged or destroyed over 16,000 homes, buildings and other structures, making them…