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National Fire Plan Success Story

Detailers Help Cumberland Gap Wildland Fire Module Succeed During a Challenging Prescribed Fire Season
Southeast Region, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi
National Fire Plan - Fuels Reduction
2010

Fire engine patrols control line.
Fire engine patrols control line during Dark Ridge burn unit at Cumberland Gap. Photo by Kelly Brownson.

Cumberland Gap Wildland Fire Module including detailers at Congeree National Park posing in front of a larger tree.
Cumberland Gap Wildland Fire Module including detailers at Congeree National Park.

When spring fire season starts in the South, pilots, dispatchers, and crews turn to National Park Service Air Tanker Base Manager Doug Ivey and Assistant Air Tanker Base Manager Matt Derstine at the Chattanooga Airport. The tanker base staff provided ground support services for eight flights on five fires, delivering over 20,500 gallons without injuries. During spring 2010, Ivey and Derstine were assisted by Mixmaster Ricky Hughes, Ramp Manager Randy Reagan, and Air Tanker Base Manager Garnett Strother.

The Chattanooga Tanker Base crew mixes and loads all retardant for missions flown from the facility. The tanker base, a U.S. Forest Service facility to which the National Park Service contributes staffing, has the capacity to store 30,000 gallons of mixed retardant along with covered storage of 75 tons of unmixed retardant.

This spring was a relatively quiet fire season. For comparison, in 2007, the last “average” season, the tanker base supported 30 flights. Tanker base staff took advantage of the situation to complete improvements such as installing much needed water loading valve, repairing and replacing one 6” valve and two 4” valves, and repairing the clay valve on the water tank inlet. The staff also conducted training and completed proficiency flights for assigned aircraft.

Contact: Doug Ivey, Air Tanker Base Manager, (423) 892-6861.