The contract on a "helitanker" that can dro up to 2,650 gallons of water or fire suppressant on potential wildfires in the San Diego area has been extended through 2022, officials at San Diego Gas & Electric announced Monday.
This summer marks the seventh straight year the giant chopper has been deployed in the region as part of a joint contract with SDG&E and San Diego County.
The helitanker, which can be loaded and deployed in as fast as 15 minutes, is owned by Erickson Incorporated, a company based in Oregon that manufactures and operates its Skycrane aircraft to fight fires across the country.
County Board of Supervisors chairman Ron Roberts compared the helitanker to purchasing car insurance.
"I'm happy I have it, but I hope I don't have to use it," said Roberts at a news conference at Gillespie Field in El Cajon, wher the Skycrane, nicknamed Sun Bird, is stationed.
The contract costs $1.75 million per year and covers the peak fire season months of July through October. SDG&E officials say the agreement can be extended should a potential wildfire break out beyond those months.
SDG&E, through its ratepayers in a service area of 3.6 million people, pays the $1.75 million tab, as well as the first two hours the helitanker is in use to respond to a fire. Roberts said if the Skycrane is needed for a third or fourth hour, the county picks up the cost.
"Normally, after four hours, you're in a pretty big incident" that would probably need involvement by larger governmental entities, Roberts said.
SDG&E officials said the helitanker has already been used twice since July 1 of this year to knock down two fast-moving brushfires -- the Featherstone Fire in Barona and the Rock Fire in Ramona.
Roberts said the Skycrane can dro more than five times the amount of water or fire retardant than conventional helicopters.
"This is a real workhorse," Roberts said.
Tony Mecham, the San Diego Unit Chief for CAL FIRE, said the helitanker helps buy time for ground crews to get the upper hand on fires.
"It is a real large investment upfront that has huge implications," Mecham said.
The Skycrane contract is part of SDG&E's "wildfire risk reduction model" that recently added two weather stations to the utility's network of more than 170 that help improve awareness of extreme fire situations. The new stations are in Mission Valley and in southern Orange County.
Caroline Winn, SDG&E's chief energy delivery officer, said the utility is also in the process of replacing about 2,000 wooden power line poles in the Cleveland National Forest with fire-resistant steel poles.
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