With about two months left to go in this summer's wildfire season, California seems to have avoided a repeat of previous years' deadly and devastating blazes.
The Camp Fire in November 2018 incinerated the town of Paradise and was the worst U.S. wildfire in a century. And in 2017, fires in Lake, Napa and Sonoma counties left 86 people dead and more than 6,000 houses burned to the ground.
But even a quiet fire season isn't without its hazards. CAL FIRE officials demonstrated how some tactics meant to keep residents safe can lead to dangerous and unintended consequences.
"Do you know how much weight is being delivered aerially over the top of you in wildfire?" Battalion Chief Justin McGough, a CAL FIRE air tactical group supervisor, asked in a recent online video by the state firefighting agency.
The footage shows what happens when a CAL FIRE Grumman S2-T air tanker carrying 9,000 pounds or 4.5 tons of flame retardant releases its load on an SUV during a low-drop flyover. The vehicle buckles, teeters and rocks back and forth on its wheels from the force of the retardant crashing to the ground during the flyby. An accompanying message poses a question: What would the SUV look like if the plane needed to drop 85 tons of flame retardant on a wildfire?
"Aircraft flying through smoke can have a difficult time seeing you. Help alleviate risk. Be aware of your surroundings," CAL FIRE warns in its tweet.
