by Bill Lavender

SAGUNTO, SPAIN — When a company owns and operates 22 AT-802F fire bomber aircraft, it needs its own firebase. Not just an airport that can service aircraft and has to be shared with other types of aircraft operations, but a dedicated airport for firefighting operations. In 2000, 80 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of Valencia, the world’s largest, private, firefighting company, Avialsa, owned by Vicente Huerta, started groundbreaking on 250 acres of land for the world’s largest, privately-owned firebase. Now, a year later, Vincente’s vision of a firebase that can handle not only his 22 AT-802Fs, but also Avialsa’s 10 M-18 Dromaders, two AT-401s and a dozen or more Cessna C-337s (fish spotting) is about to become a reality. Vicente plans to complete the new Avialsa firebase, with it open and operating, for the 2006 European fire season.

Avialsa: Vicente is not new to the firefighting game. Vicente’s father, Vicente Huerta, Sr., formed Avialsa in 1965. Mr. Huerta began firefighting operations with five Piper PA-25-260 Pawnees. The fleet grew when Avialsa became a Dromader dealer, buying over 42 M-18s between 1989 and 1995. In 1995, Avialsa expanded its fleet of aircraft with the purchase of two Air Tractor AT-802s. By 1998, the AT-802 fleet grew to nine. While Avialsa was an Air Tractor dealer, the company bought over 60 AT-802s, either placing them into its fleet of firefighters or selling them to customers in Europe. In 2006, Avialsa will receive its 30th AT-802 since the first one arrived in 1995. Working under the Avialsa name, these aircraft have logged over 70,000 flight hours, made over 60,000 fire bombing drops and have flown over 15 million miles patrolling.

The 1999 December edition of AgAir Update featured Avialsa and how it had grown into the world’s largest, privately-owned aerial fire fighting company. In this article it was explained how Vicente had pioneered the use of computer data “crunching” to devise a way for his AT-802s to fly fire patrol loaded with retardant based upon the most likely place and time a fire would erupt. Vicente calls this Instant Fire Attack, instead of the more common industry term, Initial Fire Attack.

In 1995, Avialsa introduced the Instant Fire Attack program to the Spanish government. Using a 10-year average, the number of fires for that year increased by 20%, but acreage burned decreased by 60% due to the effectiveness of the program. With Instant Fire Attack procedures and the reliable AT-802F, Avialsa was able to maintain 99.62% dispatch reliability.

By taking years of data that recorded the time of day, current and past weather conditions for the fire plagued parts of northeast Spain, with special software, Avialsa was able to determine the best time to fly routes that were the most susceptible to a fire. In doing so, Avialsa proved to the Spanish government the value of Instant Fire Attack. This new technology made it practical for an aircraft to fly fire patrol with a load of retardant, as opposed to an aircraft waiting for the launch call, responding from a nearby fire base that may not always be close enough to the fire. This new concept in firefighting has taken firm hold in Spain, proven by the growth of Avialsa’s AT-802F fleet.

Air Tractor Europe: Today, the Avialsa fleet has 22 AT-802s with more on order from the Air Tractor factory through its newly formed company, Air Tractor Europe. Avialsa was an Air Tractor dealer for eight years. In 2003, Vicente formed Air Tractor Europe to take over the Air Tractor dealership, as well as other dealer designations, including the Fire Boss float line. Vicente hired Hugo Arceo to manage sales and marketing. Although Air Tractor Europe is a new company of only two years, with its formation coming from Avialsa, it has been able to make numerous aircraft and Fire Boss sales throughout the world. Selling primarily the AT-802, Air Tractor Europe has completed 18 aircraft sales, of which 10 were AT-802s, to operators in Spain. Two used AT-802s were delivered to operators in Australia, one to the U.S. Department of State for drug eradication operations, another to Wipaire Floats for the development of the Garrett powered AT-802F on Fire Boss floats, as well as one more to Canada.

At the end of 2005, Air Tractor Europe had outfitted five of Avialsa’s AT-802Fs with Fire Boss amphibian floats. With Air Tractor Europe’s purchase of the 2006 production schedule for the Fire Boss 10,000 model, it will outfit more of Avialsa’s AT-802Fs and sell Fire Boss floats to customers both in Europe and overseas. The future for Fire Boss looks promising to Air Tractor Europe. In addition to the five units on Avialsa aircraft, there are a total of 14 Fire Boss Air Tractors of the 50+ AT-802s operating in Spain.

The Fire Base: After five years of planning, in 2004 Vicente decided to build a new firefighting base on 250 acres of land northwest of Avialsa and Air Tractor Europe’s current base of operations in Sagunto. When he could not find a construction company large enough to handle the task, he formed another company, called AviTractor, to build the firebase.

For the construction of the firebase, AviTractor uses six backhoe tractors, a D10 Caterpillar bulldozer, 16 large dump trucks, six front-end loaders and two soil separators, as well as other miscellaneous trucks and equipment. The company also owns equipment that is being used to expand the Valencia Harbor for the upcoming America’s Cup sail boat race.
The new concrete runway, pointed easterly for the most favorable wind conditions, will be 1,500 meters long and 80 meters wide (4,500’ x 250’). The field elevation is 750 meters MSL (2250’). On the southern side of the runway, initially, will be a single 80m x 100m hangar enclosing 8,000 square meters of space (about 80,000 square feet). The facility will house maintenance for firefighter aircraft, as well as a restaurant, administrative offices, sleeping quarters for transient pilots, heliport and a fire fighting training department with a firefighting flight simulator.

Vicente Huerta, Sr. and Jr.’s dream of five years ago for a firebase to serve Europe and Africa, as well as Middle Eastern countries, is no longer a dream. Any day, operations for the 2006 fire season will begin from the new firebase. Aerial firefighters from near and far will be able to take delivery of new or used firefighting aircraft, have maintenance performed and purchase/install firefighting equipment, like Fire Boss floats, all at a one-stop, modern facility, designed specifically for aerial firefighters. When this facility is completely open, you can be assured AgAir Update/AirFire & Forestry will be on hand for the grand opening.