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PETERSON SFB, Colo. – U.S. Northern Command has activated eight C-130 aircraft equipped with Modular Aerial Fire Fighting Systems (MAFFS) and associated personnel to relocate from their home stations to the Channel Islands in Southern California to support firefighting efforts in the Los Angeles area. Some of the aircraft will be operational beginning Jan. 10, with all ready by or before Jan. 12.
The MAFFS-equipped aircraft are coming from the 146th Airlift Wing in California, 152nd Airlift Wing and 192nd Airlift Squadron in Nevada, 153rd Airlift Wing and 187th Airlift Squadron in Wyoming, and the 302nd Airlift Wing and 731st Airlift Squadron in Colorado. MAFFS began in 1971 as a joint effort between the U.S. Forest Service and the Department of Defense to produce the equipment, training, and operational procedures to integrate military air tankers into a national firefighting response.