WEBVTT

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- [David] Some people call them crazy.

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Others call them heroes.

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When it comes to fighting
California's wildfires,

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the truth is MAFS or Modular
Airborne Firefighting System

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is an integral part to
saving lives and property.

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- It's definitely the lowest
you'll go in an airplane.

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Other than landing and
taking off obviously.

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We just dropped fire retardant lines

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to help contain wildfires.

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So we load the retardant
at various tanker bases

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throughout the state.

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It's loaded through a mechanism

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on the left side of the aircraft

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and it just gets dropped
wherever it's needed.

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State assets and federal
assets all come into play.

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Just helping to work together
to get everything put out.

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Yes, we typically take 3,000 gallons

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of Phos-Chek fire retardant,
ends up equaling about,

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with the 15,000 pound mass
unit, 42,000 pounds cargo,

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ground crew, there's a whole lot.

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There's the Phos guys
that load everything up,

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they also load air on
the side of the plane.

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And then of course the maintenance guys,

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we got a pretty large
maintenance package here.

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- We're currently deployed
to McClellan Tanker Base

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in Sacramento, California.

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We're supporting all
of the different fires

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that are going on across California,

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not only in Northern California,
but Southern California.

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This is an extremely challenging
mission for maintainers.

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We come here with a limited
maintenance package.

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Our typical maintenance
package for one C130

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is about 30 people.

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We come here with a
skeleton crew of about 11.

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So we maintain everything that we can

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given the limited resources
that are at this base.

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MAFS is the most rewarding
and important missions

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that our unit has.

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We're helping out our fellow
citizens in California,

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as well as citizens all
over the United States

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fighting fires.

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So the better that we
can maintain and provide

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safe and reliable aircraft to the crew,

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the better they can do their
job to put out these fires.

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I've had a lot of family and friends

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that have been directly
affected by these fires.

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So being able to have the opportunity

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to provide some sort of support to them

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it really does make me
proud to be a member

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of the Air National Guard.

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- [David] For the California
National Guard Public Affairs,

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this is David Leffler.