August 2005: Firefighters of the sky come to the BWCA rescue

As a wildfire in the blowdown area of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness caught a west wind and raged toward the Gunflint Trail on Monday, fire officials were forced to consider evacuating the 70 homes, cabins and resorts on the end of the trail.

But they had one last weapon to try. And that weapon, the Bombardier CL-215 tanker planes bought in anticipation of a fire just like this, saved the day, swooping up thousands of gallons of lake water and then skimming the treetops to douse the flames.

"These planes have proved to be one of the greatest investments the state could make," said Steve Jakala, assistant fire manager for the Superior National Forest.

"On the Alpine Lake fire, there was no other way to stop it." By sunset Monday, the planes had dropped 260,000 gallons of water - 186 loads. And the two CL-215s owned by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and a third on loan from North Carolina were credited with single-handedly holding the fire, preventing the potential destruction of dozens of dwellings on the end of the Gunflint Trail and thousands more acres of the BWCA wilderness.

Crews continue to fight to contain the fire, though last week they were also aided by rainfall and diminished winds. How the planes beat back the fire was something to behold. Flying single file, separated by just a few hundred yards, they fell into a tight circuit. Over and over they scooped water from Seagull Lake, climbed, banked back to the head of the fire and dumped their loads - a lumbering aerial ballet. With their boat-like hulls touching down on the water at about 90 miles per hour, each plane needed only 10 seconds and 800 feet to force 1,400 gallons into twin tanks, through retractable scoops which are only 4 by 6 inches and screened.

"So much for the stories of us picking up scuba divers and fish and dumping them on the fire," said Tanker 266's chief pilot, Don MacDonald, 43. Inside 266's cockpit, MacDonald and copilot Cameron Douglas, 33, stole glances at the 5-inch screens each had in front of him, the view from an infrared camera peering down through the smoke. The plane's cockpits aren't designed for comfort. "You're sweating in 91-degree heat. There's no air conditioning. You have the windows shut because of the noise. It's smoky," MacDonald said.

Seeing a tree flaring, MacDonald banked the plane and flew at it at more than 100 mph, instinctively running through a mental checklist of variables, including airspeed, altitude, angle and wind direction. In a split second he saw, or perhaps felt, what he calls "the Kodak moment," and he pressed a button under his thumb.

Two doors on the Bombardier CL-215's belly sprang open, releasing 1,400 gallons of water that moments before had been in Seagull Lake. As MacDonald banked the plane back to the lake for another load, black smoke from the tree was turning gray, indicating a hit.

"While I'm flying the plane, Cameron is working even harder," MacDonald said, "constantly checking the bomb systems, watching all the instruments, making sure we're not losing an engine. We're not looking outside, enjoying the view. It's no Sunday drive. "When we're doing such a tight circuit, you're so intently focused that before you know it you've done 37 circuits."

Planes pay off

A former bush pilot from British Columbia, MacDonald has flown Bombardier CL-215s for nine years, the last five contracted to the DNR. He has bombed hundreds of fires across the state since then and dozens in other states, which borrow or rent the aircraft when fire danger is low at home. Olin Phillips, head of the DNR's fire management section, said the rent taken in and the destruction the planes have prevented in Minnesota have already made them pay for themselves.

"They're practically worth their weight in gold," said Phillips, whose department bought the planes for $3 million each, in large part to deal with the increased fire threat after the 1999 blowdown in which straight-line winds downed millions of trees and made the area a tinderbox for forest fires.

The Alpine Lake fire has threatened homes, cabins, resorts and outfitters. Some were less than 3 miles away as the fire crowned from one tree to the next.

As darkness approached last Monday, the fire eased back on its haunches, a snarling lion held on a stool by a tamer's watery whip. The immediate danger was past. MacDonald said that as he turned the plane toward the orange sun for the flight back to base, he felt satisfied but not heroic.

"You're just doing your job," he said. "But it's nice when you leave knowing that you stopped one."

Larry Oakes is at loakes@startribune.com.

'Super Scooper' fights wildfires

CL-215 air tankers owned by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources are used to fight wildfires by scooping lake water to drop onto fires.

Here's how it works:

1. As an empty tanker flies over a lake, two scoops on the belly of the plane pivot down to gather water. The scoops are small, only about four by six inches.

2. As the tanker skims the top of the lake, water is forced into scoops that feed it into two tanks. Each 706-gallon tank fills in 10 seconds. Displaced air from the tanks comes out vents on the side of the tanker. After filling the tanks, the retractable scoops are closed.

3. Airplane climbs and passes over fire. Tank "drop doors" open, spilling water or a water-fire retardant mixture.

Manufactured: 1967-1990

Power: Twin rotary engines

Wing span: 93.8 feet

Length: 65 ft.

Cruising speed: 181 mph

Source: Bombardier, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources