HLCO Tour at Placerville Airport

Posted on October 29, 2026 by Robin

We were invited by my son to visit his current workplace, the Placerville Airport. That is where the helicopter and pilot Matt works with are stationed right now, although that changes every few weeks or as fire activity changes. I wanted to describe his job and when I looked up HELCO I found Hawaiian Electric. When I added fire to the search words I read that HELCO “has frequently been associated with utility-related power line and transformer fires”. You never know what you might learn when you read my blog posts!

I finally found what I was really looking for: Matt is the Helicopter Coordinator (HLCO) who “coordinates helicopter mission(s) and incident airspace, manages incident air traffic, and is the link between ground personnel and incident aircraft. The HLCO is an airborne firefighter who coordinates, assigns, and evaluates the use of aerial resources in support of incident objectives.” In other words he is air traffic control over fires.

This is the helicopter Matt has been in lately. The dogs aren’t part of the crew, but they were extra visitors on this day. Ralston lives with Matt and Kaleena and is a qualified First Responder Therapy Dog. He has his own Instagram account @ralston.furriestresponder .

This is what Matt’s office looks like. He monitors six radio frequencies at a time as well as several different layers of maps on a screen. On this day he demonstrated the IR sensor that is used to find hot spots when in the air. On the ground we identified that the hottest spots on the dogs were their noses and mouths.

Sky-crane helicopter with its service vehicles nearby.

We walked across the airport to see the Sky Crane.

This is a huge helicopter. Notice the people in the foreground and fuel truck in the background for scale.

Sky crane helicopter with people and two dogs in front.

Looking up Sky Crane: “a twin-engine, heavy-lift helicopter famous for its distinctive, skeleton-like frame instead of a traditional enclosed cargo cabin…Built around a narrow central backbone for maximum strength and minimal weight.” Where ever this helicopter is stationed, the fuel truck and the maintenance trailer and truck (in the photo above this one) go with it. Three mechanics are part of the staff and one accompanies the two pilots on each flight. The water tank can carry 3000 gallons (I think).

Door with sign that says "Warning. NO stupid people".

Sign on the door of the service trailer.

Mechanical parts of the sky-crane helicopter.

A close-up view. I don’t know what to call any of this, but I was fascinated by how complicated it all is…and this is just one small part of the whole system.

Dan sitting in the pilot seat of the sky-crane helicopter.

We were invited inside.

Robin in one of the sky-crane helicopter's seats.

There are seats for two pilots in the front and a third seat that faces backwards with a clear view of the ground to watch as while lifting or placing cargo.

Overhead controls in the sky-crane helicopter.

Besides all the controls in front of the seats, look at what is above! Can you imagine learning to use all of this?

Family photo in front of the sky-crane helicopter.

A family photo.

This has nothing to do with HLCO, but Matt and Kaleena took us to lunch at Tommy’s Brown Bag in Placerville. Described on-line as a “quirky sandwich shop” and a “creative sandwich shop serving unique flavor combinations and generous portions”, both of those descriptions are correct. We each ordered a sandwich and traded halves. Mine is on the left. Guess the ingredients! See below:

PB&J&B&TP&CTC&HB!!!

PB&J
Peanut Butter
Strawberry Jelly
BACON
Toffee Peanuts
Cinnamon Toast Crunch
HONEY BUN!!!
on TEXAS TOAST BRIOCHE

Believe it or not, this was a fabulous sandwich. I would order it again, except that I think I should try some of the other quirky choices!

Air Attack – What Does That Mean?

Posted on September 15, 2024 by Robin

For the best explanation of the question in the title listen to Life With Fire podcast featuring my son, Matt, who explains Air Attack and discusses the expectations and reality for use of aircraft in wildland firefighting. This is what you will hear. I think it’s a great podcast, even if I am a little biased.

I wrote this blog post when Kirby was here and we visited Matt’s office at the USFS Wildland Fire Training and Conference Center at the old McClellan Air Force Base, now the McClellan Business Park. Matt is hardly ever at his office, at least not during this season. Right now he is near San Bernardino on the Line Fire.

This is from this morning’s (9-15-2024) CBS News online: “Firefighters continued to gain ground in their firefight against the 38,421-acre Line Fire, which was burning in San Bernardino County. The fire, believed to be the result of arson, was 36% contained, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) reported Sunday. .. Over 4000 personnel are assigned to the fire across multiple fire agencies…”

Last month I picked Matt up in Placerville after he returned a rental car he was using on his last fire assignment. We stopped at the Placerville Airport where helicopters had been staged for some of the recent fires in Northern California.

This is the helicopter Matt is usually in. He is in touch with the other aircraft and ground personnel and helps direct the air attack where it is needed.

Another view of Matt’s helicopter with the pilot waiting for action.

This Chinook helicopter is huge. I can’t remember the details now. I think it can carry 2000 gallons of water. (I may have pulled that number out of the air and I can’t ask Matt right now. I just asked Mr. Google and see that Chinooks of various configurations may carry 2500 to 3000 gallons and fill at a rate of 4000 gallons/minute.)

The Chinook fills with a retractable snorkel. There are windows down low in the front to give a better view of the ground.

This is the cargo area.

If the Chinook is called into action this whole crew goes with it. There is a fuel truck, and a maintenance/mechanic truck and trailer. I think Matt said that two mechanics are with the team at all times.

After seeing the helicopters we drove to Matt’s house outside Pollock Pines and shared a firefighter lunch he had brought with him. There are a lot of calories there–needed when on the fire line.

Then we drove up the mountain to take Ralston for a swim.

The destruction of the Caldor Fire in 2021 is obvious.

On lands that are privately owned much of the burned timber was harvested while it could still be used for lumber. Trees have been replanted, but I won’t see the return of this forest in my lifetime.

Family Time

Posted on June 19, 2017 by Robin

My daughter was the surprise for Dan’s retirement/Father’s Day family get-together. She flew in from Texas with one grandbaby just in time for the Central Valley’s big heat wave. We escaped the heat for awhile yesterday by driving to El Dorado National Forest to hang out with Matt and Kaleena until they got off work at 6 p.m.

Matt and Kaleena both work for the Forest Service and are based at different parts of the same facility. Matt is in charge of the helicopter.

We walked out to the helipad for a tour.

Note the effect of the King Fire from a few years ago.

Kasen seems to be a fan.

Chris was studying the instrument panel to decide if he should move some of the switches around.

I think he restrained himself.

Kasen seemed ready to try.

My three kids and one grandkid. (Kirby stayed home with Dad in Texas.)

Kaleena works on the other side of the compound.

Matt goes to fires in the helicopter and Kaleena drives this truck.

Here is her view from up high.

The official fire danger may have been low but they have been on nearby fires already the day after we were there Kaleena and her crew left for the Angeles National Forest.

Beating the Commute

Posted on August 29, 2015 by Robin

For the last couple of weeks I’ve seen helicopters transporting equipment and parts for work on the high voltage power lines that are about a mile from here. I get a good view from the haystack, but even with my 300 mm lens I have to do a lot of cropping to bring in the image and then it’s not sharp. Today it wasn’t just equipment. They were transporting people from one tower to the next. There were two helicopters going back and forth. The yellow one has equipment in this photo. This was fascinating to watch. Here is a very grainy close-up. That looks like a giant picnic basket. Do you suppose it’s lunch time? Off to the next job.