In a region where the fire season never ends, Southern California has once again enlisted the support of British Columbia-based Coulson Aviation.
The company recently secured a $16-million year-round firefighting contract to support Southern California’s Quick Reaction Force (QRF) throughout 2024, with an option to continue through 2025.
As the only aerial firefighting company operating both fixed-wing aircraft and Type 1 helicopters, Coulson has a good overview of the market.
Vertical sat down with to Britt Coulson, president and chief operating officer of the family-owned company, to talk about new trends in aerial firefighting, challenges battling wildfires, and what it takes to be a pilot with Coulson.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Vertical: Can you talk about what trends you’re seeing in aerial firefighting assets around the world?
Britt Coulson: There is an asset-deprived market for large aircraft worldwide. Ten years ago, when a fire would start and a Bell 412 would show up, everyone was excited. Now, if a 412 shows up, they say: ‘Where is the Black Hawk, the Chinook, the S-61?’ The industry is changing. Today, there is no amount of money too great that you can spend on fighting the fire in the first hour. If you don’t get it out quickly, it will cost exponentially more.
Here is what we see. Type 1 large fixed-wing airtankers and helicopters are the most desired assets in the firefighting industry. Argentina, Chile, Australia, and the U.S. all see the need for these aircraft. Canada still has a long way to go because the country doesn’t have the duration of contracts to attract newer generation aircraft. Canada is still running on the previous generation of large aircraft, and it doesn’t have large helicopters or large airtankers on contract.
Vertical: Can you update us on your active helicopter fleet?
Britt Coulson: Our rotary-wing fleet consists of the Boeing CH-47D Chinook, Sikorsky S-61, Bell 412, and Sikorsky S-76 aerial intelligence aircraft, which operates with the Chinook in the Los Angeles basin.
The 412s are owned by the Australian Government and used in more of a support role: flood relief, rescue, aerial intelligence, and hoisting firefighters in and out of hot zones.
The Chinooks are equipped with the roll-on, roll-off 3,000-US gallon [11,350-liter] tank. We have the largest capacity Chinooks in the world. We also use the Chinooks for humanitarian work, supplying people with goods and supplies when they are cut off due to floods or natural disasters.
In addition, we’re the only company to rappel [firefighting crews] out of an S-61.
Vertical: Does Coulson have any plans to buy a Canadair CL-415, which carries 1,620-US gal (6,130-L) of water, or a refurbished CL-215?
Britt Coulson: I think de Havilland and Bombardier did a good job marketing and selling that aircraft 20 years ago. There is a reason why Bombardier stopped producing it and why de Havilland/Viking has not built one for almost 10 years — because the market has changed.
When you compare that aircraft to our Chinook, which is worth a fraction of the CL-415, we pack double the volume, fly almost as fast, scoop and snorkel in about the same amount of time, and have a more capable tanking system that can directly attack with a very high flow rate, or drop a beautiful line of retardant.
Vertical: Can you talk about Coulson’s firefighting techniques?
Britt Coulson: We are the only private company fighting fires with large helicopters at night — doing this since 2011. Government agencies do it in California, but we’re the only private company doing it.
The reason why other companies don’t do it is mainly because of the barrier to entry. The cost to develop the program, train firefighting personnel and meet the minimum requirements is so large that other operators do not want to invest the capital to get into it.
In terms of firefighting tactics, it is all about the initial attack. If you hit the fire hard with large assets and ground crew, your likelihood of extinguishing that fire is exponentially higher than if you use a bunch of small assets.
We were involved in a 2023 wildfire in Southern California, a Santa Ana event with high winds. The fire grew rapidly up to about 2,500 acres [1,000 hectares]. California authorities estimated the fire would double by morning. We deployed our night vision goggle-equipped Chinooks and delivered just over 200,000 US gal [757,000 L] of water, gel and retardant. By morning, the fire was fully contained and extinguished.
Vertical: Do you think wildfires are becoming more frequent and severe globally? If so, how do you combat that dilemma?
Britt Coulson: I think fires are getting more prevalent globally. The world is trending warmer. The population is increasing and more people are moving out of cities to wilderness areas. In a resource-constrained industry like ours, there is unlimited opportunity to fight fires effectively if you operate good quality aircraft with trained crews.
Vertical: What qualifications/flight time do fixed-wing and helicopter pilots need to be hired at Coulson?
Britt Coulson: It’s less about total time and more about what made up that total time. The pilot’s level of experience and attitude is important. We have some pilots with 4,000 hours who are amazing, and we have turned down pilots with 20,000 hours because they are more used to commercial operations.
Vertical: Do you contract with training organizations for pilots and aircraft maintenance technicians?
Britt Coulson: On the fixed-wing side, we contract with CAE, Pan Am Flight Academy, and FlightSafety International, to name a few. For helicopter pilots, it’s harder. We were contracting with CAE but because it is a niche market, CAE wanted to divest itself of the Black Hawk and CH-47 simulators, which we purchased from them. We’re in the process of upgrading those Level D full-motion simulators and inserting firefighting software to make the simulators more representative of what we do. We will use those simulators to train our crews and other industry aircrews.
As for maintenance training, we were recently awarded our Transport Canada Aviation Training Organization [ATO] approval. We’ve worked closely with Transport Canada to train the next-generation of aircraft maintenance technicians [AMT]. Of the 2,000 students that graduate annually, only 1,000 go into the aviation field. Of that number, around 500 will get their AMT. We are currently turning out a higher quality student with real-world experience. We are also working with Transport Canada on additional courses to better support our industry.
Vertical: What new avionics is crucial for firefighting?
Britt Coulson: Typically, we run a full Garmin avionics package: traffic collision avoidance system [TCAS], GPS, ground proximity warning system [GPWS] and ADS-B in our helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. I was saddened by the mid-air collision between the Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane and the Bell 407 in California [in August 2023], which resulted in the loss of three people. This accident is a perfect reminder of the importance of TCAS and other safety-related avionics. Our avionics package in each aircraft costs anywhere from $500,000 up to $1 million.
Vertical: What is Coulson’s growth plans globally? In addition to firefighting, I understand Coulson does a lot of work in-house reconfiguring aircraft.
Britt Coulson: Our rotary- and fixed-wing fleets are growing. We are tanking another of our Chinooks in our hangar at Port Alberni, British Columbia, and we have three additional Lockheed C-130s that we will turn out this year on contract. We just finished building and delivering the Boeing 737-300 Fireliner airtanker for the Argentine government, and are currently constructing an additional 80,000-square-feet [7,500-square-meter] of hangar and workshop space this calendar year.
We took delivery of our first Boeing 737-700 from Southwest Airlines in February 2024, and started our 737NG line. There is a huge life expectancy for the 737-700/800 series, which we believe will be the large airtanker of choice for the next 20 years. Our plan is to turn out multiple 737s every year.
The current 737s have a 4,000-US gal [15,100-L] payload for aerial firefighting. The C-130s also have a 4,000-US gal [15,100-L] payload, but the 737s can outperform the C-130s when it comes to speed, as they can climb up to 37,000 ft. [11,300 m] and fly significantly faster.
Vertical: What is your relationship with the U.S. Forest Service for your fixed-wing and rotorcraft fleet?
Britt Coulson: Excellent. We are one of their largest single suppliers of large assets.
In Australia, we are the largest operator and run their national airtanker. We have operations in Western Australia, New South Wales, and Victoria states.
We have been supplying large airtankers to Chile, and we’re the first to have a large airtanker in Argentina.