Van Nuys : SuperScoopers Pass First Fire Season Test

The glossy yellow-and-red firefighting airplanes called SuperScoopers have returned to Van Nuys Airport for two months of the wildfire season.

But the planes, leased for about $1.4 million, face competition from four other blaze-battling aircraft, Los Angeles County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman said Tuesday.

With the ability to carry 1,400 gallons--or 43 bathtubs’ full--of water, the Canadian-built SuperScoopers are under evaluation for fighting fires driven by dry Santa Ana gusts.

The planes got an unscheduled early chance to show their stuff Tuesday, joining a task force of more than 300 fire fighters from Ventura and Los Angeles counties to combat a wind-stoked arson fire north of Piru.

No one was seriously injured in the blaze, which threatened oil wells but moved away from the town of Piru and north of Lake Piru.

The two SuperScooper planes scooped water out of Lake Piru and dumped it on the flames, making a drop every four or five minutes without having to land.

Five other tanker planes fighting the flames had to leave after every load to return to an airport to refill.

The SuperScooper planes returned to Van Nuys this Fall because last year’s mild fire season led to an inconclusive evaluation of the planes, Chief Freeman said. The SuperScoopers saw action in only seven fires.

“The SuperScooper has never really been tested [in Los Angeles County] the way we’d like it to be tested,” acknowledged County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky.

So the Fire Department developed a private-public partnership among the county, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and California insurers to fund the second trial period.

Dismissing the naysayers who favor helicopters for navigability during fires, Freeman said the Fire Department may eventually add SuperScoopers and more helicopters to its current fleet of eight helicopters.

“We are looking for any and every way possible to intervene and keep these wind-driven fires small,” Freeman said.

In 1993, a series of brush fires burned more than 200,000 acres and destroyed or damaged 486 homes in Malibu, Altadena and Laguna Beach.

If the evaluation proves the SuperScooper’s mettle, the Fire Department may purchase the craft outright or continue to lease them.