Loaders from the 89th Aerial Port Squadron move to a C-17 Globemaster III to unload rescue equipment bound for Japan on March 12, 2011, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. Air transportation Airmen from the 89th APS created 14 pallets of technical search and rescue gear, to include inflatable swift-water rescue boats, generators, trench rescue and cutting equipment. The gear is being transported by C-17 to more than 80 Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue technicians, to provide assistance in the rescue effort after an earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11, 2011. U.S. Air Force Photo/Senior Airman Perry Aston

Two Air Mobility Command C-17 Globemaster IIIs departed the United States on March 12 and delivered search and rescue, or SAR, equipment and personnel to Japan in support of humanitarian relief efforts after an earthquake and tsunami struck the island nation Friday.

President Barack Obama pledged U.S. support, emphasizing that “the friendship and alliance between our two nations is unshakeable, and only strengthens our resolve to stand with the people of Japan as they overcome this tragedy.”

The first C-17 mission, operated by a 62nd Airlift Wing crew from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., is transporting California-based SAR equipment and personnel from Los Angeles to Misawa Air Base, in northern Japan, TACC facts show. The second mission, operated by a 436th Airlift Wing crew from Dover Air Force Base, Del., is transporting Virginia-based SAR equipment and personnel from Fairfax County to the same destination.

In addition to the C-17s, two KC-10 Extenders from the 60th Air Mobility Wing at Travis AFB, Calif., are supporting the operation by providing in-air refueling to the C-17s over the Pacific Ocean.

Without the KC-10s, the C-17s would need to land and refuel on the ground adding two to three hours on to each mission, according to officials.

In addition to the C-17 and KC-10 forces, AMC also has additional aircraft and crews prepared to respond if further assistance is requested.

Mission planning and command-and-control for the AMC portion of the humanitarian effort is conducted by AMC’s Tanker Airlift Control Center at Scott AFB, Ill.

As AMC’s hub for global operations, the TACC plans, schedules and directs a fleet of nearly 1,300 mobility aircraft in support of strategic airlift, air refueling, and aeromedical evacuation operations around the world.

In addition to supporting U.S. military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan, AMC’s global mission includes humanitarian airlift in response to global events, such as the case with supporting relief operations in Japan.

by Capt. Justin Brockhoff
Tanker Airlift Control Center Public Affairs
US Air Force

One of six Virginia Task Force 1 dogs being deployed on search and rescue efforts in Japan.

At the request of the Government of Japan, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has deployed Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) teams from Fairfax County and Los Angeles County to assist in the rescue effort in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

A VA-TF1 team member prepares his gear.

The USAR team from Fairfax County has now departed Washington, DC via commercially chartered aircraft. The flight will stop in Los Angeles to meet that rescue team and then continue on to Japan. The U.S. rescue teams, comprised of approximately 150 personnel and 12 canines trained to detect live victims, are scheduled to arrive on the morning of March 13 in Misawa, Japan. Upon arrival, the teams will immediately begin the search for live victims alongside the Japanese and international search and rescue teams.

USAID’s Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) is already in Japan and working to coordinate the overall U.S. Government response effort. USAID will continue to provide additional support to the Government of Japan as needed.

USAID

A C-130 assigned to the 145th Airlift Wing, North Carolina Air National Guard, drops 3,000 gallons of water using Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System during the MAFFS 2008 annual certifying event. The upgraded MAFFS II that firefighting units will receive this fall can carry 400 more gallons and shoot fluid with greater pressure. TECH. SGT. BRIAN E. CHRISTIANSEN / AIR NATIONAL GUARD

For additional information about Air Guard and Air Force wildland firefighting activities, please check out these articles:

Air Force Training is Making South Carolina a Little Greener

Air Force Aids California Firefighting

Two Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems 2 aircraft from the California Air National Guard’s 146th Airlift Wing at Channel Island ANG Station, Calif., responded to a fire July 15 in Riverside County, Calif.

Guard officials said the unit was requested by the U.S. Forest Service through the National Interagency Fire Center after lightning caused a brush fire near Temecula.

The two C-130J Super Hercules aircraft flew one sortie for almost two hours and dropped 3,000 gallons of fire retardant on what the Riverside County Fire Department dubbed the “Skinner fire.”

More than a dozen fires broke out in the county, as powerful thunderstorms rolled across the region, National Weather Service officials said.

The fire had burned about 711 acres and was about 15 percent contained by late July 15, according to local news reports. Full containment was estimated for July 16.

Assistance by the military is normally requested when national civilian resources are committed to fires and more resources are needed, guard officials said. The 146th AW was called to respond to this fire, because it needs 13 drops on actual fires for certification on the new MAFFS 2 system.

The unit was the first to transition to the MAFFS 2 system in 2008, and it remains the only unit flying the new system on the C-130J Super Hercules.

MAFFS 2 systems incorporate new design features and technology that provide a number of advantages over the legacy MAFFS systems, including improvements in fire retardant coverage level, improved safety features, reduction of corrosion of the aircraft and an on-board compressor.

MAFFS is a portable fire retardant delivery system that is rolled into the back of the C-130J Super Hercules cargo compartment. The system is capable of dropping up to 3,000 gallons of fire retardant or water on wildfires. They can discharge their entire load in under five seconds.

Along with the 146th AW, there are three other MAFFS units, including the Wyoming ANG’s 153rd AW, the North Carolina ANG’s 145th AW, and the Air Force Reserve Command’s 302nd AW, based in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Since 1974, National Guard and Air Force Reserve pilots have flown 6,500 firefighting missions, dropping 167 million pounds of fire retardant around the western U.S., officials said.

United States Northern Command
By Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke
National Guard Bureau

Coast Guard photo

Multiple Coast Guard helicopters, planes and cutters are responding to an explosion and fire aboard a mobile offshore drilling unit approximately 52 miles Southeast of Venice.

Watchstanders at the U.S. Coast Guard District Eight command center here received a report at approximately 10 p.m. Tuesday of an explosion and fire aboard the MODU Deepwater Horizon.

Updated reports are that the estimated 126 people on board have gotten off the rig. Seven critical injuries were reported. Three were met by ambulance at Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans; two were medevaced to West Jefferson hospital in New Orleans, La., by air ambulance and two were flown to Mobile Trauma Center in Mobile, Ala.

There are approximately 11-12 people who remain missing.

Coast Guard units responding:

Air Station New Orleans:

Two HH-65C Dolphin rescue helicopters and crews
Aviation Training Center, Mobile, Ala.:

One HH-65C Dolphin rescue helicopter and crew

One HH-60 rescue helicopter and crew

One HC-144 Ocean Sentry rescue plane and crew

In addition, the Coast Guard cutters Pompano and Zephyr are on scene and cutters Razorbill, Pelican and Cobia are en route to assist.

Video can be found here: http://cgvi.uscg.mil/media/main.php?g2_itemId=46

A next of kin hotline has been set up and the phone number is (832) 587-8554.

The fire is still burning and the cause of the fire is under investigation.

DVIDS