The retardant from the air tankers is used to stop or slow the rate of spread of a fire. An air attack plane is a plane that does not carry retardant. It is a plane which circles over the fire, watching the fires rate and direction of spread. The air attack crew works with the aerial forces and the ground forces to try to slow and stop the spread of the fire. An Erickson Sky Crane unloads 2300 gallons onto a hotspot below.
Helicopters use their buckets which dangle below the belly of the ship to drop water on hotspots.
All a helicopter pilot needs is a water source close to the fire that he or she can dip and fill their bucket up. Another type of resource used for fighting forest fires are engine crews. The three Globe Engines waiting for a dispatch. Once a fire is spotted by either a fire lookout tower, civilian, or aircraft, an engine or engines will be dispatched to size the fire up and try to put the fire out, or slow it until reinforcements arrive. Here I am the author, Brian Conway and my engine, E-27, a type 6 engine.