USFS consolidates national fire and aviation authorities, Helena facility pays key role in wildfire response

Speedy response is often key in wildland fire management.

The U.S. Forest Service’s Helena Air Tanker Base has been a critical resource for the region in getting resources to fires as quickly as possible.

On August 1, 2026, the Old Trails Fire bared down on Spokane, Washington, threatening a quarter million people. It quickly became the highest need in the country, and Helena was ready to help. 

“We were able to send three aircraft there within a matter of an hour,” said Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest spokesperson Chiara Cipriano.

During the slow season, there are only a handful of staff at the tanker base. However, as fire season ramps up, the crews grow and fluctuate to meet the need. During the height of the 2019 North Hills Fire, dozens of USFS staff, private contractors, and plane crews inhabited the base and neighboring runway. 

The storage facility can hold more than 50,000 gallons of concentrate that is then mixed with water to make the retardant.  It depends on the contractor, but most retardant is usually a mix of water, a fertilizer like ammonium sulfate, a mineral salt, coloring to make it red and a thickening agent. 

Even the largest aircraft can be restocked in under half an hour at the Helena base. Helena is also one of only a handful of airports in Montana that can handle the largest air tankers.

The 2026 season has been busy for the base, with 338,547 gallons of retardant provided as of this week since the base opened in July. That also represents about four times the amount of retardant provided compared to the same time the previous year. 

The base is just one part of a larger team of wildland firefighting resources in the greater Helena area and across the nation. That response is currently coordinated by the National Interagency Fire Center.

According to NIFC, the United States is at National Preparedness Level 5 for wildfire activity and response, the highest level. There are more than 30,000 personnel assigned to over a hundred fires across the nation.

From crews on the ground to dispatch to air tankers, it is a complex dance to fight wildland fire effectively and efficiently.

“It takes so many different resources working together to be able to stop these wildfires. And, you know, this is just one piece of that greater puzzle,” said Cipriano.

The new change to USFS fire management does not change fire organization or field structure at the forest level and does not alter this season’s operational posture. 

What had been managed as more of a regional model will change to a national model, moving all fire and aviation authorities under the agency’s Deputy Chief of Fire and Aviation Management, Safety, and Employee Wellbeing. Sarah Fisher is currently in that position.

The deputy chief is authorized to oversee wildfire response, preparedness and aviation management programs. They can also authorize fire-related expenditures, resource allocations, communications and emergency response and emergency declarations.