Two Super Scooper firefighting aircrafts arrive on lease from Quebec to the Los Angeles County Fire Department arrive at the Van Nuys airport in Los Angeles, Monday, Aug. 29, 2022. (Photo by Gene Blevins, Contributing Photographer)
(Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer)
One of two Super Scooper firefighting aircrafts arrive on lease from Quebec to the Los Angeles County Fire Department arrive at the Van Nuys airport in Los Angeles, Monday, Aug. 29, 2022. (Photo by Gene Blevins, Contributing Photographer)
(Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer)
One of two Super Scooper firefighting aircrafts arrive on lease from Quebec to the Los Angeles County Fire Department arrive at the Van Nuys airport in Los Angeles, Monday, Aug. 29, 2022. (Photo by Gene Blevins, Contributing Photographer)
(Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer)
Two Super Scooper firefighting aircrafts arrive on lease from Quebec to the Los Angeles County Fire Department arrive at the Van Nuys airport in Los Angeles, Monday, Aug. 29, 2022. (Photo by Gene Blevins, Contributing Photographer)
Two Super Scooper firefighting aircrafts arrive on lease from Quebec to the Los Angeles County Fire Department arrive at the Van Nuys airport in Los Angeles, Monday, Aug. 29, 2022. (Photo by Gene Blevins, Contributing Photographer)
One of two Super Scooper firefighting aircrafts arrive on lease from Quebec to the Los Angeles County Fire Department arrive at the Van Nuys airport in Los Angeles, Monday, Aug. 29, 2022. (Photo by Gene Blevins, Contributing Photographer)
(Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer)
In a sight that’s become an annual tradition, two Super Scooper firefighting air tankers returned — on lease from their owner, the province of Quebec, to the Los Angeles County Fire Department — to Van Nuys airport on Monday, Aug. 29, to assume their seasonal firefighting duties.
The pair of fixed-wing Canadair Bombardier CL-415s landed in the San Fernando Valley for their 29th annual tour of duty to help with a drought-worsened fire season that’s expected to a particularly challenging one for Southern California. More extreme heat and greater than normal wind events are on the horizon, heightening the risk of major wildfires.
The aircraft arrived just in time for a heat wave that’s expected to shatter records around the region.
The bright yellow aircraft swoop down to skim the surface of the ocean or local lakes to take on more than 1,600 gallons of water — a process that can take about 12 seconds — which it carries to dump onto raging wildfires.
Each year, the planes are leased on a 90-day basis, a term that can be extended during particularly fierce fire seasons.
