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AAP Supporter Bob Fish’s Wildfire Experience!

AAP supporter, Bob Fish, had a real life experience that impressed on him the importance of supporting our aerial firefighters.
“Finally, I met the folks who probably saved me from serious injury or worse and I have been helping the AAF ever since!” Around 1980, I was living in Richmond, CA in the East Bay Hills. My backyard abutted Wildcat Canyon, just north of Berkeley. A grassfire broke out and was racing upslope to the back of my property. I went to the edge with a garden hose and was trying to control the flames while waiting for the fire trucks to arrive. Suddenly, I realized the flames were getting pretty tall and the wind was blowing embers over my head into my back yard. For a moment I thought I might not live through this incident.

Then I heard a thundering noise and turned to my right to see a bright white light coming through the smoke-filled skies above the ground - but not by much. I thought it must be the “white light” one sees before dying, but then I saw two radial engines and realized it was an aircraft. Before I could even move, the airtanker dropped a load of red retardant across the backyards of myself and my neighbors, almost immediately causing the flames and smoke to subside. I had no clue where the plane had come from or where it had disappeared to but I wanted to express my gratitude to the pilot who made that “magical drop”.

Twenty years later, as the Curator for the USS Hornet Museum, I was working on an exhibit about how former Navy aircraft carrier-based planes were used after they were retired from military service. It was only then I learned about the CalFire air attack program and where the bases were located. I went to the Sonoma Air Attack Base in Santa Rosa, California and met with several of the pilots, asking if any of them had dropped on the Wildcat Canyon Fire. Finally, I met the folks who saved me from serious injury or worse and I have been helping the AAP ever since.

There are thousands who have the same unanswered question every year - who were those pilots that risked their lives to save my home, my property and/or my family from certain disaster.

- Bob Fish

We are looking for more like stories! If you have a similar story or experience please submit it to us via e-mail or us postal to the addresses below.

E-mail Us :
info@airtanker.org

Mailing Address:
AAF
2406 West White Chapel Road
Porterville, CA 93257

Associated Aerial Firefighters - The voice of aerial firefighters