New Mexico's high risk for wildfires made it a good place for Columbia Helicopters of Aurora, Ore., to station an on-call helicopter, even if the company doesn't get paid unless it gets called, said John Harris, pilot of a Boeing 234 Chinook from Columbia sitting on the tarmac at the Santa Fe Municipal Airport.
The Chinook can carry up to 19 firefighters and can drop water on a blaze from a collapsible, 2,600-gallon bucket that can scoop water from a source as shallow as 18 inches, he said.
Another large helicopter from Erickson Air-Crane of Oregon also is stationed at the airport.
The U.S. Forest Service has contracted with both companies for help in fighting wildfires this summer.
``When air support is needed, it is usually in the initial attack,'' said Dan Ware, an information officer for state forestry. ``They buy time. They protect locations and structures until we can get ground crews up there.''
Over Memorial Day weekend, five helicopters and two single-engine air tankers dropped water and slurry as ground crews worked to build a line around a fire near Capitan in south-central New Mexico. The Peppin Fire, which broke out May 15 from lightning, has grown to 37,000 acres.
