(U
(Upb
(Upbea
(Upbeat
(Upbeat ro
(Upbeat rock
(Upbeat rock m
(Upbeat rock mus
(Upbeat rock music
(Upbeat rock music)
Aliya: Talent does the job, but teams accomplish greatness.
Man: You start from zero and you achieve something as a team.
Teddy: Like the entourage sacrificing itself
to keep Ecuador's premier cruise train on track.
(Speaking other language)
Aliya: The army of scientists, engineers, military,
and flight crew launching a rocket into space,
while tens of thousands of feet in the sky.
Man 2: (Over radio) Drop. Pegasus away.
(Whooshing)
Teddy: A super dredger drilling into the ocean floor,
pulling off a tough job in tough circumstances
with a hardened crew.
Take the slack out.
Teddy: And an aerial strike force taking out
Mother Nature's burning rage.
Man 3: We're gonna stop that fire,
hopefully, very, very quickly.
Man 4: (Over radio) Firing the laser.
And we now have fire.
Aliya: These are dream teams...
♪
...that divide and conquer
the world's most challenging missions.
These are the mightiest planes, trains,
and ships humankind has ever devised.
And at times they come together,
forming dream teams, working in perfect harmony
to pull off some of the most colossal
and hair-raising operations around.
That's right.
We are talking about the crews aboard Tren Crucero,
who help this amazing passenger train
up one of the toughest railway climbs in the world.
Or teams of experts launching weather satellites
into space from a plane called Stargazer.
And then there's Ibn Battuta,
it's a powerful super dredger
making a deep harbour even deeper.
To do its job it needs a team of work boats.
And guess what?
I actually got the chance to join what anyone would call
a dream team in Southern California.
Oh, yeah? Tell us more.
Aliya: It's a group of firefighters, pilots,
technicians, specialists and they're bravely flying
into raging infernos with a team of high-tech helicopters.
They're called the Quick Reaction Force, or Q.R.F.
Now, their goal is to put out flames with force and speed
using as much water as possible around the clock.
It's kind of like a military operation,
except the enemy here is a blazing fire.
They sound like one of the hottest teams around,
pun intended, and I'm sorry.
♪
Aliya: It's hell on Earth...
♪
...a disastrous wildfire season in California.
♪
Man: Radios are set. GPS is set.
♪
800 for the altitude.
Brian: This was all burnt, like, two years ago.
All this was gone.
Wait till you see this ground from 2020, yeah.
Aliya: Our calm skies reveal evidence
of an ongoing battle between humankind
and one of the most destructive forces of nature,
one that consumed 2.6 million acres
across California in 2021 alone.
Where we're going, you're going to see some,
you know, large homes, about 20 of them gone.
Pilot: Just off the right side now.
Brian: Okay.
Pilot: We're coming up on it.
Aliya: I mean, that's just charred.
Orange County Fire Chief Brian Fennessy
is on the front lines of that battle.
And almost every day there's more destruction.
It's a smoke signal to humanity.
The fire only burned 200 acres,
but it caused what I'm hearing
is about four to $500 million worth of damage.
Wow.
Brian: The houses, the, uh-- some of the infrastructure,
what it's going to take to replace them.
The 10 largest fires here in California have all happened,
you know, likely within the last five to 10 years.
So, something's changed.
What we're experiencing today is far different than we did
in the '70s, '80s, into the '90s, and in even 2000.
We're seeing fires now, you know, grow so large,
so quick, spread faster than any of the models that we have.
And I believe it's 'cause of climate change.
Aliya: Worldwide, the nine years spanning 2013 through 2021
rank among the 10 hottest years on record.
Having 44 years, and now into my fifth decade
of being a wildland firefighter, I am concerned.
Very concerned.
Aliya: Fennessy helped to devise a new super weapon
against this ever-worsening enemy.
Dubbed the Q.R.F. or Quick Reaction Force,
it strikes back hard, fast, and round the clock.
Brian: It's a military term
that the military has used for years.
We kind of stole that term, but that's really what it is.
When you have an issue or a fire that's blowing
the incident can request the Q.R.F. package,
the Quick Reaction Force.
And you're going to get these aircraft,
you're going to get the mobile retardant base,
you're going to get ground support;
a whole lot of coordination,
a whole lot of movement happens.
And, hopefully, if things go the way we expect they do,
that we're able to suppress those fires
that are escaping before they become large fires that now,
you know, are going to perhaps require days,
if not weeks, to suppress.
It's the only program of its type in the country, for sure,
and perhaps in the world.
Aliya: The Q.R.F. is spearheaded by helicopters,
retrofit by Canadian company Coulson Aviation.
They work together to deliver thousands of gallons of water
and fire retardant via precision strikes.
We've got now three very large helitankers.
You've got a command and control platform.
Aliya: Coulson's updated helitankers dropped nearly
3 million gallons, or over 11 million litres of water in 2021,
on more than 50 wildfires in Southern California.
Today we responded to five new starts in LA County alone.
We see the trend of fires burning hotter,
getting larger faster.
We're getting mega fires every year now.
Aliya: Demand for Coulson's unique firefighting helicopters
is growing beyond California.
Climate change knows no borders, and they're helitankers have
also seen action in Australia, Canada, and South America.
Britton: We're seeing fires increase in Europe right now.
You know, France is on fire.
South America continues to get worse and worse wildfires.
And then, the US, you know, just continues
every year to top the last year of fire.
Aliya: Back in California, Coulson's new helicopters
are the stars of the Q.R.F. team.
And taking point is a Sikorsky S-76,
kitted out with day and night intelligence gathering tech.
Brian: These are airspace coordinators
that are used to work with folks on the ground,
essentially get them there very quickly.
The helicopter coordinator is coordinating the airspace,
coordinating the tactical water drop operation,
same time talking to the ground crews.
These folks that we have are very, very experienced.
They're used to operating three to six radios at one time.
A lot of multitasking that takes place.
Man: (Over radio) Helitanker 4-7, he'll come.
He'll come in and make the drop.
Man 2: Okay, perfect.
They're an air traffic controller,
but they're also a resource
for those crews on the ground to have eyes on them.
Aliya: The S-76 guides firefighters on the ground,
creating fire lines to direct and contain the flames.
Simultaneously, it guides its teammates in the air.
♪
Tandem rotor CH-47 Chinook,
first built as cargo helicopters for the US Army,
each retrofit to carry a massive 3,000 gallon tank.
Brian: When you put that into perspective,
the agency aircraft that we own and operate,
our fire and rescue helicopters drop 350 gallons.
Your normal fire engine on the street that you see go by
is about 500 gallons.
Two or three of these working in coordination together,
we are dropping a tremendous amount of water on some
very, very dry fuels in some very tough conditions.
Aliya: The aerial fleet works closely
with another crew on the ground,
setting up a mobile retardant base.
The helitankers recharge here, closer to the scene,
allowing them to make retardant drops faster
and with more frequency.
That retardant stops drought afflicted areas
from becoming more fuel for the fire.
Every member of the Q.R.F. has a singular goal:
to quickly contain the fire spread,
protecting property and lives.
At the end of the second year, after one of the large CH-47s,
you know, saved many, many homes
and structures here in Orange County,
we had some discussion about,
well, how could this program be expanded?
What tells us that this Q.R.F. approach works are generally
the fires you never even hear about.
These helicopters behind me, if the bell goes off today
and there's a fire here in Orange County, they're going.
We're going to stop that fire,
hopefully, very, very quickly.
♪
There really is strength in numbers, right?
And we'll highlight more dream teams when we show you
complex missions carried out by Tren Crucero,
Stargazer and Ibn Battuta.
And, AJ, I can't wait to hear more about your trip
to meet the Quick Reaction Force.
Yeah, we meet the Canadian company
that built this fleet of high-tech helicopters.
And, you know, in the face of climate change,
science really is telling us that these fires
will get more frequent, they'll get stronger.
So, this kind of response is really more important than ever.
Teddy: Mm-hmm.
♪
(U
(Upb
(Upbea
(Upbeat
(Upbeat ro
(Upbeat rock
(Upbeat rock m
(Upbeat rock mus
(Upbeat rock music
(Upbeat rock music)
This is The Mightiest: Dream Teams,
and I can't wait to tell you more about the amazing crews
who help Tren Crucero with its gruelling climb
high up into the Andes.
Yeah, and teams of experts pulling off a meticulous
operation of launching satellites
into space with a plane.
First, before all that, though,
I want to hear more about the Q.R.F.
Okay.
So, I learned the helicopters are tricked out with all kinds
of technology to take on just about any raging fire.
And I got a chance to meet the innovators who build them.
♪
These are some of the most
high-tech aerial firefighters around...
♪
...battling flames in the toughest conditions.
♪
Coulson Aviation flies them through smokey skies
using cutting-edge technology to hit targets bang-on.
Britton: We wear the name proudly on the aircraft.
We're the only company in the world that fights fire
that has our last name on the side.
Aliya: The company has decades of experience
designing innovative aircraft, placing them right on
the front lines of wildfire warfare.
So, when a wildfire happens,
you know, local fire departments, obviously,
will lead the operation, but Coulson is right there.
I mean, really a big part in this
aerial firefighting mission.
How did your family become part of this incredible history?
We started the company with my grandfather in 1960.
We got our first helicopter in 1986,
and we kind of transitioned from
heavy lift helicopter logging into firefighting.
Aliya: At the time, they carried water buckets
hung from long lines.
They started overhauling aircraft,
upgrading technology,
and improving water dropping capabilities.
Then, in 2007, they purchased giant
World War II Martin Mars seaplanes,
the largest water bombers on the planet.
This put the family-owned company in British Columbia
on the map.
♪
Wayne: First time I saw the aircraft
was with my father when I was about 10 years old.
Back then, I just remember
it being one heck of a big aircraft.
♪
Aliya: BC entrepreneur Wayne Coulson saw an opportunity
to export their capabilities across the continent.
He upgraded one of the planes and started promoting the Mars
for firefighting jobs across North America.
With its advanced aeronautics and firefighting technology,
there was no better weapon in the battle against forest fires.
The Coulson's continued building a robust fleet,
converting more aircraft to next generation aerial firefighters.
It's a passion of our whole family's
and it's so rewarding to be able to see our aircraft
going to work in partnership with the guys on the ground,
in partnership with the counties,
as well as the Forest Service.
Aliya: Taking the place of Martin Mars,
and leading the Q.R.F. in Southern California,
is another Coulson giant.
This one is the largest water bombing helicopter
in North America.
With its rotors in motion,
their Chinook measures over 30 metres or 98 feet long.
That's almost as long as a 10-storey building is tall.
And it's tail is 5.68 metres or over 18 feet high.
That's about as tall as a giraffe.
When fully loaded with 3,000 gallons of water,
it's 50,000 pounds.
That's almost the weight of a fire truck.
The Q.R.F. in SoCal has two Chinooks leading the force.
One is in LA County.
The other one is right here in Orange County.
Britton: This is our retractable snorkel system.
So, it's the only hydraulic
retractable snorkel in the world.
And it allows us to fly at maximum airspeed to the fire,
retract or extend the snorkel, hover fill in 60 to 75 seconds.
This is our gel injection system.
It's custom designed by us. It is a 50 gallon tank.
It holds a polymer-based product that we inject
while we're hover filling our snorkel.
This allows us to be able to drop in higher winds.
Over here we've got our RADS-L tank system.
So, this is the largest tank in the industry
at 3,000 US gallons.
It gets filled with a retractable
snorkel system up front.
It has a 20 foot long door system.
This allows the helicopter to drop
water, foam, gel, or retardant.
As we drop different chemicals,
sometimes when we land they'll want the tank rinsed off.
And so, we will rinse the tank
to make sure that there's no cross-contaminants.
And then up front, we've got our cockpit.
And we've equipped this with the latest Garmin touchscreen GPSs,
which allow the pilots additional situational awareness
and makes it much easier for them to fly at night,
especially under night vision goggles.
Aliya: Over the course of five months,
it took about 8,000 hours to convert this Chinook
into a revolutionary aerial firefighter.
Orange County's Chinook is a CH-47
that used to fight wars in Afghanistan.
Boeing built them for the US Army in the early 1960s.
Now it's fighting another war.
But now without the help from other innovative
wildfire warriors.
♪
Loaded with sophisticated navigation and communications
equipment, Coulson Aviations Sikorsky S-76 is armed with
a very powerful weapon.
A heat sensing infrared camera that swivels like
a giant eyeball.
This is what finds the hotspots through the smoke
for the Chinook.
Even when visibility is low.
Those helicopters are like, dripping with high tech.
Yeah, and you know, it doesn't matter the location
or the time of day.
This technology is really what creates a dream team.
Yeah, and that notion of a dream team is something the crew
of the Tren Crucero can really relate to.
They do so much on this epic journey.
They switch out locos to get them through the really
difficult terrain, they have a maintenance train up ahead
that's full of workers, they even have a security detail
following alongside the train on motorbikes just to keep
everyone safe.
And AJ, one crew takes one for the team.
♪
(Whistle blaring)
Tren Crucero, Ecuador's premier railway cruise.
(Smoke whooshing)
Three mighty engines...
(Whistle blaring)
...two steam locomotives, and a diesel loco will pull
Tren Crucero's custom-built coaches on a three-day
expedition from Guayaquil to Quito.
♪
We're going to get off from 300 metres to at least 2,300 metres.
That's why it's very dangerous.
Teddy: Passenger comfort and safety is a top priority.
A rotating team of motorcycle riding guards rolls ahead
of the train.
Clearing the way at hundreds of uncontrolled railway crossings.
There's also an advanced work train that travels ahead of
Tren Crucero, all the way to Quito.
Inspecting the tracks and making repairs.
♪
(Speaking other language)
Translator: We check that there are no fallen trees,
we check if there are no rocks, no landslides,
and no animals on the track.
Teddy: Angel and his brake man have almost finished
their inspection.
(Dramatic music)
♪
Then suddenly...
(Rattling)
...they're off the track.
♪
As the train passed a switch to a secondary line,
an uneven rail knocked the rear wheels off the track.
Translator: This is where it hit.
And when I hit it, I derailed.
Teddy: Fortunately, the working train took the hit,
and not Tren Crucero.
Translator: This shows the importance to have
working train ahead of us.
Teddy: A team of technicians has arrived from Quito
with a diesel engine.
Translator: Right now, we're trying to free the track so
Tren Crucero can pass on the secondary line.
Teddy: Using a series of wooden ties, they try to lever
the work train's rear wheels back onto the main track.
Translator: It's a bit difficult, but we'll make it
in the moment.
Teddy: Their plan is to pull the work train back
onto the rails.
Translator: We can hook this here for support.
And with that, we're going to push the work train.
♪
(Crew members yelling)
(Horn honks)
Teddy: The wooden ties scatter and throw the whole unit
off balance.
If this 12 tonne work train topples,
a problem will become a disaster.
Then, finally after working into the night, they clear the way
for Tren Crucero.
(Dynamic music)
♪
(Speaking other language)
♪
Translator: The situation was a bit complicated.
We didn't expect that the accident with the work train
would happen, but that's our job.
(Speaking other language)
Tren Crucero made it past.
We worked as a team, and we moved the working train
to get it through.
We are on our way to Quito.
♪
So there you go.
I mean, that illustrates why having the work train up ahead
is so important.
What happened is unfortunate.
Thankfully nobody was hurt, and the work train derailing
meant that Tren Crucero behind it did not slip off the tracks.
That could have been a major disaster.
It did its job.
Yeah, exactly.
And the QRF is always on the ready to do its job too.
And they take a beating with every flight.
Next, we see what it takes for the QRF to stay battle ready
24/7.
And we take a thrilling ride aboard Stargazer.
It's a massive operation with one very special passenger.
A multi-million-dollar rocket.
And the only way up is through teamwork.
(Upbeat rock music)
♪
(H
(Hel
(Helic
(Helicop
(Helicopte
(Helicopter
(Helicopter wh
(Helicopter whir
(Helicopter whirri
(Helicopter whirring
(Helicopter whirring)
(Upbeat rock music)
♪
(Whirring)
Aliya: It's wildfire season in Southern California.
♪
If just one caller reports seeing flames,
an army of aerial tankers appear overhead within minutes.
And that's just on a report. That's on a confirmed fire.
Nowadays we don't wait for somebody to go oh yeah no,
there's actually a fire.
If there's a report right now, 911 call, we're sending,
there's a lot of resources.
♪
Aliya: No other place on the planet a tax infernos
with such speed and force.
To keep these warriors battle ready, training is key.
And the QRF in Orange County is about to do that right now.
So here at the Coulson Aviation Airport hangar,
you can see Orange County fire Chiefs behind me.
This is multiple choppers, lots of coordination
between different teams.
Lots of communication necessary between Coulson Aviation
and Orange County Fire.
(Dramatic music)
After flight checks are complete, it's all systems go.
(Whirring)
Clear for power?
Yep, mission router's on. You can bring it on.
Copy that.
Point is adequate. Mission equipment's good.
Centre, take off time.
Everybody ready in the back?
-Yes. -Aliya: Yeah.
Ready to go.
Aliya: Over on the Chinook, the crew finishes up
some last-minute checks.
Okay, overhead panel set.
And our emergency.
Position last one.
Scan and scan.
Master caution.
Master caution and positions, okay.
Aliya: And power's up for takeoff.
(Whirring)
The Chinook and the Sikorsky take to the skies.
It's time for target practice with Orange County's QRF.
Chopper 76 is off Fullerton in route to a turning exercise
in Yorba Linda.
Orange County fire copter 76 on OC access.
Any traffic in the Yorba Linda area,
Orange County copter to 76. About 5 miles out.
See the Chinook?
Oh, that's the chinook right there.
Brian: Yeah, let's go ahead and do a couple more,
and they should be out here in just a second.
Aliya: Flying 1,000 Feet above the chinook is Orange County's
Sikorsky S-76, giving the Chinook it's marching orders.
Brian: So he's gonna do a dry run and then he'll come in
and make the drop.
Pilot: Okay, copy, we'll, uh, set up our dip.
Pilot 2: What altitude would you like us to be at?
Pilot 3: About 1,800.
Pilot 2: All right, 1,800 it is.
Aliya: The sensor operator rotates the powerful infrared
camera using controls to map targets for the drops.
We'll watch this one and then we'll, uh, send MO.
Aliya: In a real fire, the thermal camera sees right
through the smoky sky.
Sensor operator: I can see spot fires that pop up.
With the IR camera I can see hotspots that wouldn't be
visible without an IR camera.
Aliya: The Chinook's pilot navigates towards
the ditch site.
Pilot: About a mile southeast of the (Unclear),
heading westbound at 2,000.
Everybody set?
Set.
Okay, here we go.
Aliya: In the back of the Chinook, the flight engineer
sits beside the massive tank.
He hangs out the window to get a good view of the water source.
As the Chinook hovers over the dip tank, the flight engineer
lowers the snorkel.
With a touch of a button, he sucks up 3,000 Gallons
of water in seconds.
I just can't imagine finding that little resource when
it's dark and smoky and there's a fire, that's...
Yeah, they're pretty great.
Accuracy, yeah.
♪
Back on the S-76,
The pilot gives the Chinook orders for the drop.
Pilot: Helitanker 4-7, how copy?
Helitanker pilot: Strike for 4-7.
Pilot: Okay, pick a rain catcher to drop on and you're, uh,
clear to drop.
Helitanker: Okay, yeah, we're gonna drop, uh, just west of
the, uh, this here.
A lot of other airdrops--
Oh look, he's dropping!
A curtain of water flows out of the Chinook,
slamming towards the ground.
It looks like a powerful waterfall in the sky.
First time I saw it I was, just, my mind was blown.
The sensor operator examines his screen to map out more targets.
♪
The Sikorsky pilot directs the Chinook to another drop.
Another helicopter moves in to suck up water and do drops,
just like they would in a real fire.
♪
All targets have been hit; mission accomplished.
Pilot: We completed the, uh, training mission in (Unclear),
copter 7'6.
Aliya: So cool.
Chinook pilot: Hey Chris, see you later.
♪
The Chinook can work without us, and we can work without the
Chinook, but when we're together,
it's an unstoppable force.
The Quick Reaction Force leaves nothing to chance, it's all
about hitting those moving targets as a team
with force to save lives.
The work they do is phenomenal, and pardon the pun, but I can
think of another mission that uses teamwork to hit their
target, but their targets are invisible, and in the sky.
It involves NASA, rocket motors, burning propellant, monstrous
storms, oh, and an F-18 fighter jet.
Teddy, what on earth are you talking about?
I'm talking about the Stargazer L-1011.
It launches rockets with satellites, into space.
But first, they have to hit an invisible box in the sky.
So, massive teams from multiple disciplines work together to
make it happen, but trust me, there's no guarantee
that things will go right.
This honestly sounds like the plot of a sci-fi movie.
Yeah, it sounds unbelievable, but trust me,
this mission is the real deal.
♪.
Teddy: This Lockheed L-1011 has a massive mission.
For 30 years, it was just another jet liner.
Now it's equipped to fly a very unique passenger.
Pilot: Vehicle is fully armed.
Teddy: Beneath the plane, a Pegasus XL rocket carrying
delicate weather satellites, and nearly 20 Tonnes
of highly explosive fuel.
Stargazer's job: To get it into space.
(Control speaking incoherently)
There's about 70 people on the ground that are backing us up
and coordinating the launch,
making sure that everything is a go.
Teddy: Onboard Stargazer, rocket technicians have their
own control room to monitor Pegasus and communicate
with the flight deck.
We got stabilizer trim, we got flaps.
Lights to go.
♪
Technician: Rockets go.
Control: Rockets go. Peg?
Pilot: Peg is go.
Control: Peg is go. Orbital?
Pilot: Orbital is go.
Control: NLM?
Pilot: NLM is go for takeoff.
Control: NLM is go, launch team is go for takeoff.
♪
You see chase out there?
Yeah.
Okay.
Teddy: An F-18 follows the plane and the rocket, acting as the
eyes for everyone in mission control.
Before takeoff check completed, Don.
(Airplane whirring)
Oz, you're the brake, gear up.
Pilot 2: Gear up.
♪
Yeah, see, the wind's 280, so it's taking it's time
trying to make that turn.
Teddy: A 100 knot tailwind pushes the L-1011 ahead of time
towards the drop box, the only safe area to trigger the launch.
1,000 to go, gentlemen.
38 for 39.
Pilot: 38 for 39.
Teddy: Stargazer reaches the drop box.
Control: This is senior Mevco, countdown to L-1011
in the box.
Man: Copy that.
Control operator: L-1011 is in the drop box.
We're going launch heading now.
Control: Starboard now.
T-minus five, four, three, two, one.
(Plane whirring)
What's going on?
Control: And PLT, standby, standby, you guys
are reacquire heading.
Teddy: Mission control detects a problem.
I copy that, PLT, and standby.
Teddy: Can it be corrected, or will Stargazer's mission
be scrubbed.
♪
We have to meet a heading requirement,
a very specific angle.
And we went into it and we were right about to drop
and we went out of it.
♪
Teddy: With only a few seconds to spare, pilot Don Walter
returns Stargazer to the right orientation.
We're on required heading.
LC, PLT copy.
Control: PLT, LC is go for launch, PLT confirm?
Don: LC, PLT, PLT confirms go for launch.
Drop on my mark.
Three, two, one.
Drop.
All: Drop.
Pegasus away.
Don: LCPLT, uh, Pegasus away.
Control: Roger, Pegasus away.
Don, off to the left, offset left.
Teddy: with Pegasus launched, Don needs to steer clear before
all that rocket fuel ignites.
♪
(Rocket booms)
There it goes. There it goes.
(Rocket whooshing)
That is cool. Wow.
Teddy: The Pegasus rocket is on its way into space.
After the sun goes down, the fires don't stop burning,
which means the firefighters don't stop fighting.
So after the break, we're gonna look into what it takes
to fight fires using helicopters at night.
Wow, and we'll get in the trenches with IBM Battuta.
It's a powerful dredger
with teeth that grind through ocean floors.
It's an amazing vessel doing a dirty job,
with teams of muscle machines and people with nerves of steel.
That's next.
(Driving rock music)
♪
(D
(Dri
(Drivi
(Driving
(Driving r
(Driving roc
(Driving rock
(Driving rock mu
(Driving rock musi
(Driving rock music)
♪
When it comes to fighting fire,
Southern California's Quick Reaction Force
is doing really innovative things:
Working with a fleet of high-tech helicopters,
carrying tons of water and fire retardant
to douse those flames,
and doing all of this as quickly as possible, 24/7.
This is why I've got to stop here for a second.
I mean, 24/7.
Why would they sometimes choose to perform
this already very dangerous mission at night?
Yeah, because fires are weaker when the sun goes down.
So, fighting fires with speed and force this way, at night,
is a game changer.
So they use night-vision goggles, infrared cameras,
thermal-imaging cameras and a ton of other gadgets.
It just blows me away,
the amount of effort, grit and coordination,
but also tech that goes into battling their enemy.
(Helicopter whirring)
(Indistinct radio chatter)
Man: March standing fire, Upper 7-6, on access.
Aliya: It's night,
which means greatly reduced visibility and more risk.
But grounding the fleet means being idle for hours
while fires rage on.
♪
Brian: Just because those airplanes fly away,
and can't drop retardant until first light,
there's no reason that we can't continue
applying that retardant.
Britton: Nighttime is the best time to attack the fire
because the humidity is up,
the winds are usually less, and the temperature is down.
Aliya: Realizing this, Coulson Aviation spent
a decade in development and conducting test trials.
Finally, in 2021, their aircraft began
24/7 Fire Fighting Operation
as a part of the Quick Reaction Force.
The key is Coulson Sikorsky S-76 Firewatch helicopter...
♪
...and technology that allows it to gather
firefighting intelligence in the dead of night.
♪
Man: We usually stay about 500 feet above the fire.
It's better for us to be a little bit higher
in our profile,
because we can see all the other helicopters,
where they're going, and that's ideal for us.
♪
Aliya: This is footage from a recent emergency call,
and these glowing areas on the screen represent heat;
in other words, fire.
And images like these are paired
with a live view for the pilots
using night-vision gear.
♪
Would this be a good time
for me to put on my night-vision goggles?
Yeah, that would be an excellent time to put on the goggles.
You'll be able to see any hazards.
You'll pick up the shoreline and the lake.
Last year, one of the big wins
for the night-vision goggle program
with LA County was the Tuna fire.
And could have easily have turned into a massive fire,
losing hundreds of millions of dollars of real estate
in Malibu, that lit off around 1:00 a.m.
And our helicopter, along with some LA County helicopters,
fought it all night.
And in the morning, residents of Malibu drove by,
and noticed that half of the mountain had burnt up,
and if they didn't hear the helicopters,
they would have never known that it happened.
Man: So what we'll do is we'll come in on a high recon
at 1,000 feet.
Man 2: (On radio) Okay, that looks good.
Man: Okay.
Aliya: Night vision enables the Sikorsky crew to identify
and warn CH47 Chinook Helitankers about dangers
on route to the fire.
Man 3: Power lines are the most dangerous thing out here,
and phone towers,
and we just want to make sure
that we have clearance over 'em.
And I would be letting the other inbound helicopters
know those hazards, as they're coming in
to the fire traffic area.
We'll fly this canyon back down to the lake.
And it looks clear so far.
♪
Aliya: They can also identify nearby dip sights,
safe bodies of water for the Chinook to refill.
Man 3: Yeah, we'll just pick up the north end over the lake.
Man 4: (On radio) I don't see any towers
or wires over the lake
or around the lake where we're looking.
Man 3: Oh, let's creep down another 500.
Man 4: Okay.
Aliya: The Firewatch helicopter uses this intel
to develop an aerial plan of attack.
Man 3: Let's use this canyon as a route to the fire,
back to the dip.
Aliya: And the Chinooks are given one more advantage
over their fiery nemesis:
pinpoint accuracy via a laser targeting system.
♪
Is this the only helicopter that has one of those lasers?
Man 3: Well, the military has them
but this is the only civilian one
that I know of.
It's a brand new thing in firefighting.
A lot of this program that we're doing right now
with this technology has never been done before.
Man 4: (On radio) Firing the laser up.
And we now have fire.
Man 3: We have the laser.
Good shot.
Got the target?
Man 5: Yeah.
Man 3: Right on. Okay.
♪
(Helicopter roaring)
♪
Our turn-around time is much faster
with these large helicopters.
So, it's, um-- "Game changer" is used a lot, that term,
but this really is.
♪
Now we'll visit another complex operation.
This one is the deepening of a port in Vietnam,
and the star of the show here is a powerful super dredger.
It's armed with a massive tool built to tear up
anything on the ocean floor.
And like the Chinook, even Battuta can't do this job
without a team of vessels helping every step of the way.
♪
Teddy: IBM Battuta is one of the world's
most powerful cutter suction dredgers.
We're in position.
♪
Teddy: With its supporting team,
it digs up 100,000 cubic metres
of soil from the sea floor every 24 hours.
That's enough to fill up 40 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Captain: Engine room, engine room, the bridge.
Teddy: The captain and his crew are three years
into one of the biggest, toughest dredging projects
on the planet,
dredging south of Hanoi, Vietnam, at the Son Duong Port.
♪
IBM Battuta is working to double the depth of the harbour.
♪
Once in place, lines are set to drive the cutter head
across the sea floor.
The lines connect to floating docks called pontoons.
♪
As the cutter head spins, these cables are winched in and out,
dragging it across the harbour floor.
♪
Take the slick up!
Teddy: Water boss Arie Bakker
and his crew drag the cable into the pontoon's hook
and pound it into place.
(Banging)
The anchor is now in position,
and the Battuta can start dredging.
♪
Everything clear?
Anchors rolling.
(Clicking) Thank you.
Teddy: Within seconds, hundreds of tons of sand and water
pump up from the sea floor.
♪
But just hours later.
Man: (Over radio) Put your bough forward
so the waves fairly short.
Put your (Unclear) of your bough forward.
Teddy: An approaching typhoon turns the skies dark.
Winds and swells are so strong the 13,000-tonne ship
is rocking from side to side.
♪
In the struggle to seek shelter from the rough weather
one of the cables attached to a pontoon snaps.
You've got a bit fluid inside.
Ari: (Over the radio) You have to pick up the end
of the cut wires on the ladder.
♪
Man: (Unclear)
Teddy: Arie and his crew arrive
on their workboat to weld the anchor wire back together.
♪
(Text on screen)
Teddy: Now it's time for the super powered dredger
and pontoon to get back in the game.
♪
Down goes the 46 metre spud,
down goes the 25-tonne cutter head.
The pontoon cable starts to pull the cutter head
and Ibn Battuta starts tearing through the sea floor again.
♪
When you achieve something as a team, you start from zero and
you end up with a beautiful big port for deep craft vessels.
Teddy: For another year in Vietnam Ibn Battuta
and it's supporting team keeps going,
moving mountains of earth,
helping a developing country create the infrastructure needed
to build a robust economy.
I mean, what an astounding operation.
Such a colossal, dirty job.
And to do it during typhoon season, wow.
Yeah, there's a lot going on with that job.
Teddy: Yep.
And after the break we go back to Orange County to see the
impacts of the Q.R.F. firsthand, and the images are incredible.
That's next.
♪
(U
(Upb
(Upbea
(Upbeat
(Upbeat ro
(Upbeat rock
(Upbeat rock m
(Upbeat rock mus
(Upbeat rock music
(Upbeat rock music)
(Helicopter blades whirring)
♪
Aliya: The might of the quick reaction force stops wildfires
with unparalleled speed, but there's a mighty price tag
to match; a budget of $18 million USD in 2022,
just to lease the equipment.
Brian: There's a lot of money that goes into providing this
level of fire protection and aerial fire suppression.
We've got to get on top of these fire very quickly.
From the air, from the ground.
With a lot resources if we're going to be able to stay up
with and not get outpaced by the spread of these fires.
When the big fires happen is when one or two of those get
away, and there isn't enough assets to cap, to fight those
as well as the existing fire.
So I think the challenge is always going to be resources
and resource allocation.
Once they get beyond what we're able to bring to the fight it
takes time to get other resources here and those fires
continue to get larger.
We saw that last year
with the Caldara fire, with the Dixie fire
that went over a million acres.
Aliya: Even with this incredible team 18,000 structures burned
in U.S. wildfires, including nearly 10,000 homes.
It's a sobering thought that's changing the way homes are built
to reduce their vulnerability.
♪
Brian: So we'll slow down here for a second, and this housing
track that's below us here.
So if you just look at the concentration of fuels
in there and see how the brush is right up
into the backyards of the houses.
Aliya: Yep.
Brian: And many of these house have wood fences.
So you've got a brush belt that goes right up to the backyard,
to their wood fence.
See behind the houses how there's lighter vegetation
in squares behind each house, up and down both sides?
Aliya: Sure do.
Brian: So that's their fuel reduction.
So each one of those home owners has done their 100 foot
clearance and reduced the fuels.
So the fire burning up canyon is going to be a natural fuel,
so when it hits that lighter fuel,
where they've done their fuel break,
it'll slow down and make their home defendable,
or stand alone.
That's really interesting, that idea of defensive landscaping
and giving like you guys a little bit more time to come in
and basically save their property, right?
♪
But it may not be enough with the scorching heat of summer
growing worse year after year.
♪
Our resources, as robust as they are in California and in the
west, gets stretched very quickly when you have
a lot of large fires.
To the point where they've gotten so large that there
aren't enough firefighters, air planes, bull dozers,
crews to put those fire out.
We're really waiting for a weather change, and sometimes
that's winter, sometimes that's rain.
Aliya: Until the seasons change, and unless climate trends change
southern California is placing its bets on aerial offense
via the Q.R.F., and more of it.
♪
The future of firefighting, I don't want to say is
regrettably, is more suppression resources.
And this coming from a fire fighter
that's been doing this for a long time,
where prevention is always the preferred method.
♪
Aliya: Coulson's fleet of revolutionary heli-tankers,
fighting fires day and night, will be busier than ever.
And the next generation is in the works.
Right now on the fixed wing side our 737 is the newest by year
large air tanker in the industry,
and we're going to continue to develop that with Boeing.
We're going to continue
to develop our C-130 program with Lockheed.
And on the helicopter side
I would say there's brand new CH47s in our future.
♪
Aliya: They continue their innovation to help make sure
that Orange County and other wildfire hotspots around the
world are well equipped as they hold the line against one of
nature's most menacing threats.
♪
(Dynamic musical swell)