The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to negotiate terms of an agreement with San Diego Gas & Electric over funding and usage of a giant “helitanker.”
The county purchasing and contract director will negotiate with SDG&E, with a contract expected to be signed in the next week, according to county officials.
As wildfire danger increases in the county, the Erickson S-64 helitanker will come in handy, several county officials told the supervisors. The county and SDG&E originally agreed on using a helitanker, which SDG&E leases, back in 2009, but that contract has expired.
According to preliminary terms, SDG&E would cover helitanker operation costs during the first two flight hours of any new fire, while the county would cover an additional two hours of flight.
San Diego County and SDG&E are expected to contribute $150,000 each to the program. Once that money has been spent, communities needing to use the helitanker would have to pay for it on their own.
Supervisor Ron Roberts said the helitanker is one part of the plan to make sure the county is prepared when fires break out. Considering it carries a water payload of 2,600 gallons, the helitanker is “truly a beast in the sky,” he said.
Brian Fennessy, the city of San Diego’s fire chief, said the amount of water the helitanker can drop “cannot be overstated.”
— City News Service