SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) -- The U.S. Forest Service is considering using heavy air tankers that had been grounded for safety reasons to fight fires across parts of the West, although chances of that happening are slim.
Corbin Newman, the agency's national fire plan coordinator, told the Western Governors Association on Sunday that the Forest Service and federal transportation officials have agreed to review proposals from new contractors to fly the tankers.
Officials will scrutinize maintenance information, inspection records and other documents before considering returning the aircraft to fight forest fires, Newman said.
``We may be able to approve the ... restart of some of those large air tankers,'' he said. ``But we're talking 40-, 50-, and sometimes 60-year-old airplanes. I think the likelihood of that is small, but we're going to do everything we can to put those that are safe back up in the air, and they're in the process of gathering that information now.''
Sunday's conference came as wildfires continue to burn across parts of the West. In New Mexico, three ongoing fires have charred more than 73,000 acres. The fire season topped the agenda during the opening day of the associations' three-day conference.
Federal officials grounded 33 tankers when two planes broke up in mid-air in 2002, killing five people. The tankers can drop up to 3,000 gallons of fire-retardant on forest fires, and the groundings upset some Western governors whose states rely on the aircraft during fire season.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said the heavy air tankers help respond early to fires before they grow out of control.
The service has added 59 single-engine air tankers and 78 helicopters to bolster air support. Eight military C-130s also are available across the region.
``We believe these things are going to give us unique capabilities, in some places better, in some places maybe not quite as good as the large air tankers,'' Newman said. ``But, in the end, less than 20 percent of the fires we have are put out by air assets. Fires are put out by people on the ground.''
He said forest managers are using controlled burns, forest-thinning projects and other methods to reduce vegetation that helps fires spread. This year, forest managers expect to work on about 3 million of the roughly 180 million acres that need to be cleaned up, he said.
Meanwhile, the cost of fighting fires continues to climb, said Arizona State Forester Kirk Rowdabaugh, who sits on the panel looking at fire suppression costs. Total firefighting costs for the Forest Service in both 2002 and 2003 topped $1 billion, he said.
