Pilots Call for Fighting Fires With Surplus Jets : Safety: Air Force veterans say 220 sophisticated planes are virtually free for the asking to any government agency. Homeowners show interest; officials are skeptical.

The time has come to fight fire with firepower, according to former fighter pilots who proposed Monday that surplus Air Force jets be used to bomb brush fires in Malibu and Altadena with water.

More than 220 sophisticated A-10 bombers used in the Gulf War now sit parked in the Arizona desert. And they’re virtually free for the taking to any government agency willing to replace bomb racks and gun mounts with tanks and nozzle tubes, community leaders in the two areas were told Monday.

The jets come with computerized infrared navigation and bomb-sighting systems that would let pilots accurately dump retardant-laced water, even in the thickest smoke and at night, said bomber-conversion advocate Ed Herlik said.

The planes’ hedgehopping maneuverability could send them into narrow canyons and along rocky ridgelines that are off-limits to the bulky, 40-year-old propeller-driven air tankers now used to fight wildfires, he said.

After dropping their 1,400-gallon loads of a borate-water mixture, the bombers would rendezvous with huge tanker planes circling overhead to be refilled.

Herlik and a few other former Air Force veterans have formed a Delaware firm called AeroTech Ltd. to promote the jets for firefighting to provide jobs for former fighter pilots. Federal law prohibits the use of the surplus warplanes for private purposes.

“We believe Desert Storm techniques apply to firefighting,” he said. “The missing part are the missiles being shot back.”

The jet bombers are wrapped in canvas at Davis-Monthan Air Force Bace in Tucson. They could be retrofitted for firefighting more cheaply than California’s aging fleet of propeller tankers can be refurbished, Herlik says.

The idea was greeted with a mixture of interest and skepticism by homeowners and local firefighters at Malibu City Hall. Later, Herlik met in Pasadena with residents of the Eaton Canyon area.

“Why not unwrap these planes and give it a try?” said Brentwood mountain-area resident Patricia Bell Hearst, president of the 200,000-family Federation of Hillside and Canyon Assns. “Now is the time for fire departments to get more aggressive.”

But fire officials--who last year were pressured into testing a Canadian amphibious plane called the Super Scooper on local brush fires--seemed equally unenthusiastic about the bomber plan.

Los Angeles County Fire Department Assistant Chief Stephen Alexander said the warplanes might require “a tremendous amount of manpower and expertise,” although the computerized infrared navigation equipment in A-10s might be useful in Fire Department helicopters.

Capt. Tom Kephart, head of the Los Angeles City Fire Department helicopter fleet, suggested that the jet bomber plan smacks more of job-marketing for ex-fighter pilots than a workable firefighting proposal in an urban area with obstacles such as high-voltage power lines.

There were discouraging words from Northern California too. Administrators of the state’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said Monday afternoon that they have studied Herlik’s plan and don’t think much of it.

“It was a wonderful plane in the Gulf,” said Dave Wardall, manager of research and development for the agency’s aviation branch. But the use of assault jets might be “an equivalent to driving something out of the Indianapolis 500 to downtown Oakland streets during business hours.”

Herlik predicted professional firefighters will become believers if they ever get a chance to see modern firefighting equipment based at Van Nuys Airport, Point Mugu Naval Air Station and the El Toro Marine Base.

“All of that being used now, even the Super Scooper, is World War I stuff,” Herlik said, referring to the seat-of-the-pants technology. “It’s leaning over the side and tossing a 20-pound bomb out.”

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Malibu City Manager David Carmany, who sat next to a large aerial photograph taken after the 1993 brush fire showing dozens of destroyed homes, said others might agree with that.

“We’re usually on the receiving end of these fires,” Carmany said. “Even getting 1980s technology is of keen interest to us.”