When some Canadian colleagues approached Wildfire magazine about a special issue focusing on international aerial fire fighting, it was a no-brainer.
Australia, Canada, France (and other parts of Europe), and the United States are battling epic wildfires. The role of airtankers to help control unplanned wildland fires, save lives, and reduce loss is critical but also needs continuous study to determine effectiveness and best practices.
How effective are water and / or retardant drops? Do the risks outweigh the benefits? What are the optimum operating procedures? Who’s doing what research? Who’s using which planes or helicopters? Who’s sharing information with whom?
In Canada, the 2023 wildfire season broke all the bad records, and 2025 started similarly. This season, planes and manpower came from the United States, Australia and other places. In January, Canadian airtankers – or waterbombers, as they’re known – worked the devastating Los Angeles fires, and have, for decades, helped U.S. and other counterparts.
The team that collaborated on our cover story, Flights Over Flames (page 8), spans the globe. The combined research and operational experience of the 12 writers is remarkable and represents the key research and deployment agencies in Australia, Canada, France and the United States.
“While these aircraft can often play a critical role in combating fires,” the team says, “like all frontline fire fighting, aerial suppression also carries significant risks . . .
“In some parts of the world, studies have shown a large proportion of firefighter fatalities were linked to aviation accidents . . .”
What does the research say?
In Australia (page 18), there is little data on the effectiveness of aircraft use for wildland fire control or suppression.
“Most of the existing operational understanding of suppression effectiveness is anecdotal, highly personal and difficult to compile,” according to writers Matt Plucinski, Nick McCarthy and Deb Sparkes.
Even though a key project, called Why fly? How do we know that aerial firefighting operations are effective and efficient?, is happening in Australia, the work is unlikely to provide the necessary insight and is expected to recommend more research.
“Important issues, such as line productivity and holding, non-aircraft benefits, cost effectiveness, and the effectiveness of retardants and suppressant are not being investigated . . .” the writers say; they encourage better data collection and availability.
In Canada, suppression with airtankers is a core strategy for the country’s 10 provinces and three territories (page 24). According to writers Melanie Wheatley, Colin McFayden, Razim Refai, Emily Hope and Heather Simpson, experiments are underway involving airtanker drops, deployment strategies, dispatch prioritization and understanding, and maximizing the effectiveness of airtanker use on fires.
Research in the United States has primarily targeted large airtankers, according to writers Dave Calkin, Cal Bryan and Jim Riddering (page 34).
“Studies have focused on understanding where and when aviation drops occur, how fire managers prioritize the use of aviation, optimal fleet design, and how risk management concepts can inform where and when to most effectively apply aviation.”
France has been studying airdrops since 1995 (page 46), including ground-pattern efficiency, through research similar to the cup-and-grid system being used for research in Canada.
Our story form South Africa on page 40 explains the government’s role in the Working on Fire Programme and privately owned and operated aerial firefighting resources.
“The introduction of aircraft to combat fires from above significantly improved response times, enabling quicker containment and minimising losses,” says writer Trevor Abrahams.
“Aerial fire fighting not only saved the South African commercial forestry industry from collapse but became an integral part of the current wildfire management strategies that protect South Africa’s natural environment.”
As IAWF president Trevor Howard notes in his column on pages 6-7, Australia has embraced airtankers for prescribed or controlled burns and to detect wildfires.
“Taking an even broader view of aerial fire fighting, aerial ignition is an essential and well-proven approach to managing land and mitigating the effects and impacts of wildfires, as well as for backburning and burning out areas during wildfire suppression operations,” Howard says.
The content in this special issue of Wildfire, developed by 18 researchers and aerial fire fighting experts, is insightful and thought provoking and will, hopefully, help ensure global collaboration to improve programs and safety.
Managing editor Laura King is an experienced international journalist who has spent more than 15 years writing and editing fire publications.
She is the Canadian director for the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), works closely with FireSmart™ Canada to help residents
build resilience to wildland fire, and has participated in the development of the Canadian wildland fire prevention and mitigation strategy.
