A Smoky Day at Rogue Valley International Medford Airport
The Rogue Valley has been enveloped by a shroud of wildfire smoke. There are currently approximately 23 wildfires burning in Southern Oregon and Northern California. The resultant smoke from those fires is pouring into the Rogue Valley causing the air quality to rise to its most dangerous, practically unbreathable levels. On a scale of 400 the air quality in Medford scores 380.
A DC-10 Air Tanker owned by 10 Tanker Air Carrier took off from the Rogue Valley International Medford Airport to help extinguish the conflagration, most likey the one that has ravaged more than 1500 acres of rural coastal forest land in Del Norte County triggering the evacuation of several communities near the wildfire zone.
10 Tanker Air Carrier is a company that operates a fleet of aerial firefighting aircraft. They were established in 2006 and are based out of Albequerque, New Mexico. The turbofan powered DC-10 can carry up to 9,400 gallons of water or fire retardant in an exterior belly mounted tank, the contents of which can be released in eight seconds.
The 10 Tanker Air Carrier costs between $25,000 and $45,000 a day to operate. The fleet of four DC-10's has been dispatched to many parts of the United States and it has even helped fight fires overseas in Australia and the United Kingdom. Mainily 10 Tanker Air Carrier prefers to work in the Pacific Northwest states of Washington, Oregon and California. In its 17 year history ther has been only one major incident involving an aircraft in the 10 Tanker Air Carrier fleet but there were no fatalities.