BUCKEYE, AZ — As the weather warms up again, the peak of wildfire season is just beginning and pilots with the Western Pilot Service are getting ready to take to the skies and help fight fires from the air.
According to the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management, more than 180,000 acres burned statewide in 2023. Approximately 71% of all of Arizona fires were human-caused.
Beryl Shears, the president and primary owner of Western Pilot Service, hopes people will be responsible.
“They need to listen to the authorities, the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the State Forestry,” Shears said. “Clear space around the home is the primary thing. If they can clear that brush away, those people that are at risk, near the forest, near the woodland, anywhere cleared away and have a safe space around their home.”
Regardless, his group is prepared for wildfire season nationwide. The potential risk for the 2024 wildfire season shows the possibility of above-average activity in central and southern Arizona.
“We’ve been preparing since it ended last year… All of our preventative maintenance is done throughout the winter,” Shears said.
Western Pilot Service is federally contracted, Shears said. So, they can help in Arizona but will go wherever they’re called.
“The Bureau of Land Management and the support of Arizona state forestry pre-position airplanes throughout Arizona and the west, southwest, just like a fire truck in a fire station,” he said. “Then, our pilots have 15 minutes to get in the air when a wildfire is reported.”
Pilots with the group just finished up a week-long training, where they do a lot of flying but also go through any scenarios that might come up while fighting fires from the air.
Steve Sunde, a pilot with the group for nearly two decades, said each fire is different.
“Some fires are pretty intense and some fires are not that intense,” he said. “I don’t focus on the fire itself, I focus on getting there safely and trying to help and do a good job for the people on the ground.”
