New York and Connecticut National Guard UH-60s conduct fire bucket training on Hudson River near Peekskill Today, May 19

Training to take place between 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

CAMP SMITH TRAINING SITE, N.Y. (05/19/2020) — The New York Army National Guard partners with the Connecticut Army National Guard to jointly prepare UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crews for the 2020 wildfire season by conducting water bucket training on the Hudson River on Tuesday May 19.

Two New York helicopters, based at the Islip MacArthur International Airport on Long Island, will fly out over the river, hovering to scoop up water, and then discharge the water using collapsible buckets near Round Island. The maneuver allows the aircrews to train to use the buckets, known by the trademarked name of Bambi Bucket, to extinguish wildfires.

New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced the enhanced mutual aid effort between New York and Connecticut in August 2019. The agreement allows both states' emergency responders to train together and prepare for mutual aid to better protect the region and react more quickly and effectively during disasters.

Training will take place between 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Two helicopters will rotate out to the training site along the river with a third flying at a higher altitude for training observation.

Local news media are welcome to view the training from the Bear Mountain Scenic Overlook where they can observe the water drops in the Hudson River at Round Island. Chief Warrant Officer 4 Milton Mercado from the aviation unit will be on site to speak to reporters.

If poor weather prevents training, the exercise will take place on May 20.

The collapsible buckets, which are hung underneath the helicopters, can dump 560 gallons of water on a fire. Each spring Army National Guard helicopter crew members and maintenance personnel retrain on how to attach the buckets to Black Hawk helicopters and then practice picking up water and dumping it.

The training is necessary because a bucket full of water weights over two tons and helicopter pilots need to practice flying with that additional weight hanging under their aircraft in order to fly safely in an emergency.

The helicopters will initially land at the Camp Smith Training Site to conduct familiarization training and hook up the waterbuckets as part of the training.

Both the New York and Connecticut Army National Guard employ helicopter firefighting equipment when local agencies request support through the New York State Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services.

The last time the New York Army National Guard was tasked to respond to a forest fire was in July of 2018. Two UH-60 helicopters responded to a fire at the Flat Rock State Forest in Altona, N.Y. which started on July 13. The aircrews dropped 126,000 gallons of water on the 526-acre fire on July 13, 15 and 16, 2018.

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