NY Army Guard helicopters will conduct fire fighting training over Round Lake on Tuesday, July 26.
Round Lake, New York (07/25/2022) — New York Army National Guard helicopter crews, flying UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters based at the Army Aviation Support Facility at Albany International Airport in Latham, will be conducting wildfire fighting training at Round Lake on Tuesday, July 26.
The crews will be deploying aircraft from 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., to train on the use of collapsible buckets slung below the helicopters.
The helicopters will be flying out over the lake, hovering to scoop up 660 gallons of water, and then discharging the water over the lake. The maneuver allows the aircrews to train to use the buckets--known by the trademarked name of Bambi Bucket-- to extinguish wildfires.
Helicopters will rotate out to the training location and back to the airport. Three aircrews of three Soldiers each will take part in the training. Five pilots and two crew chiefs - the Soldiers who ride in the back of the helicopter-will be trained.
The training is conducted annually so that New York Army National Guard aircrews can assist the New York State Police aviation unit in wildfire fighting if required.
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 land at the Round Lake Airport, which is off Route 67 on Airfield Road, to hook up the water buckets as part of the training.
The New York Army National Guard employs 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.
The bulk of the New York Army National Guard's UH-60 crews and other aviation personnel-assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 142nd Aviation Regiment, are currently training at Fort Hood, Texas to prepare for a deployment to Kuwait later this summer.
Media Attachments
A New York Army National Guard UH-60 Black Hawk discharges 660 gallons of water from a collapsible Bambi Bucket slug underneath during fire fighting training at Round Lake, New York in 2014.