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LA County leases Canadian super scoopers to fight fires
LA County Fire Department Chief Daryl Osby and County leaders gathered to speak about their three-month agreement to lease two Candian Super Scooper aircrafts and a heli-tanker to fight fires.
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Ashley Bailey/KPCC
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A Heli-tanker like this one can drop almost 2,000 gallons of water on a fire in 12 seconds. The County has leased it and two super scoopers to assist local agencies with fighting fires.
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Ashley Bailey/KPCC
)
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1:14
LA County leases Canadian super scoopers to fight fires
LA County leases Canadian super scoopers to fight fires
The Los Angeles County Fire Department is leasing two Canadian super scoopers and a heli-tanker to bolster its firefighting resources through November.
L.A. County Fire Chief Daryl Osby says the aircraft have already been put to use by several agencies working as a team to assess where best to use them.
Osby sighted two fires burning Monday, one in the Santa Clarita and Aqua Dulce area and another off Interstate 405 as an example of decisions he's made in order to use the super scoopers to their full potential.
"As soon as their fire began, we made an assessment and we were able to release the super scoopers from this fire that we had in Los Angeles County to fly down to Los Angeles to help them with their fire to keep it at a manageable size," he said.
The county has allocated about $7 million to lease the super scoopers and heli-tanker. It has wiggle room in its budget to extend the lease past the fall if needed.
The super scoopers can dump about 2,000 gallons of water in 12 seconds.
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