Within minutes of a wisp of smoke rising in the distance, residents of the Anza Valley often witness CAL FIRE's Grumman S-2T air tankers racing over the hills from their base at Hemet-Ryan Airport. The aircraft execute precise maneuvers, weaving through smoke and helitack water-dropping units to deliver Phos-Chek fire retardant directly to the flames.The CAL FIRE Air Program is among the largest firefighting fleets in the world, boasting more than 50 fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft stationed at 13 airbases and nine helicopter bases across California.The agency began using air tankers in the 1950s, initially relying on repurposed agricultural planes - crop dusters - to drop water on wildland fires. By 1958, CAL FIRE, then known as the California Department of Forestry, contracte
