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Smoky air clouds the ground. Multiple radio transmissions buzz in your ear. Myriad fires swirl across Southern California.
As airborne firefighting missions go, "this is a fairly difficult task," Air Force Maj. Wylie Walno II said Thursday between flights piloting a C-130 aircraft to San Diego County.
It also ranks as one of the most satisfying, said Walno, 39, who served in Afghanistan.
"I'm here to do a job and do it as well as I can," said Walno, whose mission that morning was preventing a fire from overtaking hillside homes and the famed Mount Palomar observatory.
"You can't brag about it," said Walno, assigned to an Air National Guard unit in Cheyenne, Wyo. "I love helping people, and I don't require thanks."
Walno was among roughly 100 military crew members stationed at the 146th Airlift Wing Channel Islands Air National Guard base at Point Mugu. A dozen or so members of the U.S. Forest Service, whose firefighting tanker system sits aboard the C-130s, worked the ground, reloading planes with fire retardant.
Earlier that day, Santa Ana winds, which fueled the more than 17 fires in Southern California, gave way to strong ocean gusts out of the west. The result was diminished visibility for Walno's plane and others.
After two sorties each, the six C-130s returned to the guard's base at Point Mugu, where they've operated since Wednesday.
A few hours later, after some down time eating sandwiches and playing cards, the crews headed off to the Witch fire in San Diego County.
Air Force Maj. Kevin Harkey, another C-130 pilot, described the mission as "high demand for short periods of time but very fulfilling."
The aircraft negotiate difficult terrain and must drop fire retardant — about 2,500 gallons in five seconds — from an altitude of 150 feet.
"It's a rush every time you get that low to the ground," said Harkey, 30, who flies with an Air National Guard unit from Charlotte, N.C. "You're at the edge of the envelope."
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