C130 Plane goes down fighting White Draw fire

145th Airlift Wing,loading a MAFFS unit on to a C-130

Four members of the North Carolina Air National Guard, members of 145th Airlift Wing based at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, flying a C-130H3 (MAFFS 7, tail number 31458) were killed and two other crew members seriously injured while working a mission in support of firefighting efforts on the White Draw fire near Edgemont, South Dakota. The fire was supposedly started by a vehicle. Reportedly the plane was assisting a single engine airtanker and was making its second drop on the 4,200 acre fire (as of 2 July AM) when it crashed. A helicopter was able to land near the crash site and reportedly took two surviving crew members to the community of Custer where one survivor was transported by a life flight helicopter and the other by ambulance to a Rapid City hospital where they remain hospitalized. It was reported by the U.S. Forest Service that "A BLM ASM [Air Supervisor Module] platform was also engaged as a lead[plane] with the C130 when the accident occurred. The ASM/Lead experienced a severe downdraft while approaching the intended retardant drop zone with the C130 in trail. This is being investigated by USFS as a separate Incident With Potential." Officially the cause of the crash is unknown and the incident is under investigation.

This aircraft along with two other 145th C-130s had flown from Charlotte to Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado to assist with forest firefighting in the Rocky Mountains. This C-130H3 was one of eight MAFFS equipped C-130s recently dropping retardant on the Waldo Canyon fire west of Colorado Springs, Colorado. They were due to relocate to the Wyoming Air National Guard base in Cheyenne, Wyoming (where the 153rd Airlift Wing is based with its own two MAFFS equipped C-130s) on 2 July to reduce turn-around time responding to fires.

The C-130H3 carried a U.S. Forest Service Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System (MAFFS) which is a self-contained aerial firefighting system loaded into the cargo hold that can discharge 2,700 gallons of water or fire retardant in less than 5 seconds capable of covering an area one-quarter mile long by 100 feet wide. MAFFS is a jointly run Department of Defense and U.S. Forest Service program designed to provide a supplemental (surge) aerial firefighting resource when contracted private airtankers are no longer able to meet the national wildland aerial firefighting needs. The MAFFS program was established by Congress following the 1970 Laguna fire in San Diego County, California when it became apparent at that time there was a lack of available air resources for wildland firefighting. Original MAFFS units were fabricated by the engineering Division of FMC Corporation of Santa Clara, California. The MAFFS II system was made by Aero Union Corporation of Chico, California that ceased operations when the U.S. Forest Service canceled its 6 plane contract with the company on 29 July 2011. The company still owns the patents and all intellectual property to the MAFFS II design which has a capacity of 3,200 gallons and which was first used on a fire in July 2010.

Incident Location: White Draw fire (northeast of Edgemont, South Dakota - USNG: 13T EJ 99 04), approximately 90 miles south of Rapid City, South Dakota

There have been eighteen previous wildland fire Line-of-Duty-Deaths in 2012 reported outside the USA.
• Chile (7) - 05 January 2012, Marcelo de la Vega, contracted Wildland Firefighter - Captain; Cristián Freire Bustos, contracted Wildland Firefighter; Juan Carlos Cordero Cerón, contracted Wildland Firefighter; Carlos Pinto Catalán, contracted Wildland Firefighter; Ítalo Vidal Valdebenito, contracted Wildland Firefighter; Diego Mella Rosales, contracted Wildland Firefighter; and Rodrigo Cifuentes Llanquileo; contracted Wildland Firefighter, entrapment.
• Russia (9) - 06 June 2012, names have not been released, entrapment.
• Hellenic Republic (Greece)(1) - 20 June 2012, Christos Chaidas, Wildland Firefighter, medical.
• Spain (1) - 2 July 2012, José Agustín Gómez Nieva, Pilot, Bell 412EP helicopter crash.
There have been nine USA wildland fire Line-of-Duty-Deaths in 2012.
• Crisanto Leo Lionell, Wildland Firefighter, Inmate Volunteer, California, 5 January 2012, medical.
• G. Marshall Sanford, 1st Lieutenant, Volunteer, Connecticut, 15 April 2012, medical.
• Todd Neal Topkins, Pilot, Wildland Contractor, Utah, 3 June 2012, P2V airtanker crash.
• Ronnie Edwin Chambless, First Officer, Wildland Contractor, 3 June 2012, P2V airtanker crash.
• Antony Polk, Wildland Firefighter, BIA, Arizona, 9 June 2012, vehicle accident.
• Paul K. Mikeal, Lieutenant Colonel/Evaluator Pilot, North Carolina Air National Guard, 1 July, C-130H3 MAFFS airtanker crash.
• Joseph M. McCormick, Major/Instructor Pilot, North Carolina Air National Guard, 1 July, C-130H3 MAFFS airtanker crash.
• Ryan H. David, Major/Navigator, North Carolina Air National Guard, 1 July, C-130H3 MAFFS airtanker crash.
• Robert S. Cannon, Senior Master Sergeant/Flight Engineer, North Carolina Air National Guard, 1 July, C-130H3 MAFFS airtanker crash.
These individual and annual international wildland fire fatality listings may not always compare to those provided by other organizations and are also subject to further review. IAWF provides this information as a lessons-learned service as well as to honor those wildland firefighter line-of-duty-deaths (LODD) in defense of their community and natural resources.