Forest Service Observes 50 Years of Firefighting With Helicopters
The U.S. Forest Service on Tuesday celebrated 50 years of helicopter firefighting with a fly-in at the Rose Bowl parking lot by one of the original whirlybirds used to fight the 1947 Bryant fire in Angeles National Forest.
One of the two Bell model 47B helicopters that responded to that wildfire was on display along with many current models.
Michael J. Rodgers, supervisor for Angeles National Forest, also dedicated a monument to the helicopter pilots who have battled fires.
Last month, nearly a dozen helicopters and pilots were called to fight the Roberts Canyon fire above Azusa, providing water drops and moving firefighters to hard-to-reach terrain.
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