Fight Heats Up Over Aircraft to Battle Blazes : Wildfires: Officials weigh highly touted Canadian Super Scooper against jet warplanes and sophisticated helicopters promoted by rival firms.

Before the smoke clears, there could be a dogfight in the skies of Los Angeles over aerial superiority during future brush fires.

Opening shots are already being fired by rivals pushing three different types of aircraft they claim can more efficiently fight wildfires in hillsides and canyons.

The first one aloft has been the Canadian manufacturer of the Super Scooper, an ocean-skimming plane that can refill its water tanks during a fire without returning to an airport.

Entering the fray are former American combat pilots who want to convert surplus Air Force jets into water bombers whose tanks could be replenished by air tankers.

And closing in from behind is a Connecticut company that hopes to provide a fleet of military-style Blackhawk helicopters that could be refilled by hovering over reservoirs and sucking up water with giant straws.

At stake are millions of dollars expected to be spent in future years to upgrade and replace the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s squadron of eight helicopters.

The jockeying comes on the eve of a potentially disastrous 1995 brush fire season--and as the Canadians prepare to return their Super Scooper CL-215T to Los Angeles for more trials.

Two of the fixed-wing airplanes were stationed at Van Nuys Airport during last fall’s fire season but saw relatively little action--just seven blazes.

“Thankfully for people, there weren’t a lot of fires. Unfortunately for us, there weren’t enough to have a full-fledged evaluation,” said Cynthia Coulter, the California representative for Montreal-based Canadair, the Super Scooper’s maker.

County fire officials say a pair of Super Scoopers will arrive in Los Angeles at 9 a.m. Oct. 16 to pick up where last year’s test ended. Because of this year’s heavy rains and the subsequent buildup of chaparral, the planes could get a workout this time around, officials say.

The estimated $1-million cost of leasing and operating the aircraft for up to two months will be split among the county, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and private insurance companies, Deputy Fire Chief Darrell Higuchi said Friday.

Canadair has tried since the late 1960s to stir interest for its amphibious aircraft in California. The planes were used briefly to fight local brush fires in 1970 and 1979, but subsequent campaigns to win state funding for their purchase were unsuccessful.

The turning point was the 1993 brush-fire season--in which a series of blazes burned more than 200,000 acres and destroyed or damaged 486 homes in Malibu, Altadena and Laguna Beach.

After that, homeowners’ group leaders were joined by local politicians in pressing for a full-scale test of the planes.

Fire officials have remained skeptical about the Super Scooper’s value, however.

The plane’s $16-million cost makes it too expensive, they argue. And its fixed-wing design makes it unusable for things such as ferrying firefighters to ridge tops or hoisting accident victims out of canyons and flying them to hospitals.

Firefighters also point to a mishap last fall that damaged a Super Scooper’s wing float. It was smashed by high waves as a Canadair pilot swooped down to scoop 1,600 gallons of ocean water during a fire in Malibu’s Latigo Canyon.

Canadair officials have dismissed the damage as “a minor thing” that did not affect the craft’s airworthiness. They say a replacement float was flown in and repairs were made the next day.

Fire officials likewise roll their eyes at the proposal to use surplus A-10 jet warplanes to fight wildfires.

That idea is being pushed by a group of former Air Force fliers who have formed a Delaware company called AeroTech Ltd. Company organizer Ed Herlik has already met with fire officials and community leaders in Malibu and Altadena to promote the idea.

More than 220 sophisticated A-10 Wart Hog bombers used in the Gulf War are parked in the Arizona desert--virtually free for the taking for any government agency willing to replace their bomb racks and gun mounts with 1,400-gallon water tanks, Herlik said.

The bombers are equipped with computerized navigation gear that would let pilots douse wildfires with pinpoint accuracy, he said. He estimates it would cost about $850,000 per plane to convert them for firefighting--a bargain when compared to the $2.5 million that it will cost to refurbish propeller-driven tanker planes the state uses in wildfires.

The A-10 jets could be refilled with water or fire retardant from a circling air tanker, much like how warplanes are refueled, Herlik said. But the jets would also be fast enough to quickly shuttle between fires and airports for easy ground refilling.

County fire officials have characterized the jet idea as “extremely dangerous to both the pilot and the firefighter on the ground.” And an administrator for the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection--which operates firefighting tanker planes--said it is “equivalent to driving something out of the Indianapolis 500 down downtown Oakland streets during business hours.”

Herlik scoffs at both suggestions. “Firefighting isn’t as difficult or lethal as combat--it’s much easier,” he said. “Yes, the planes were built for a much tougher environment and a much tougher mission . . . but who cares if free technology is overqualified?”

Fire officials are embracing the $9-million Blackhawk S-70A helicopter more warmly. It too is a Gulf War veteran.

Sikorsky Aircraft loaned a Blackhawk to the county earlier this year for a week’s evaluation and Fire Department pilots fell in love with it, Battalion Chief Keno DeVarney said.

“It could be a very useful tool for all our missions--as an air ambulance, for rescues in the mountains where we use hoists,” he said. “It has the ability to operate at high altitudes on warm days. Our pilots were very impressed with its performance and its ease of operation.”

The fliers are anxious to try it out dropping water on flames.

Unfortunately, however, no one has built a water tank that can be hooked to the bottom of the ruggedly constructed Blackhawk. The county would like Sikorsky to do it; Sikorsky suggests that the county hire a Santa Paula water-tank manufacturer for the job.

Sikorsky has come up with a snorkel system that will suck enough water out of a lake or swimming pool to fill a 1,000-gallon tank in about a minute, said Howard Whitfield, manager of government business for the helicopter company.

Working like a straw in a soda can, the snorkel can draw from as little as three feet of water as the Blackhawk hovers. In contrast, the seven smaller Bell helicopters the county uses for firefighting carry only 360 gallons and must land for refilling.

Whitfield said Sikorsky “would welcome a competition” between the Blackhawk and the other challengers, provided his company is reimbursed for such a flyoff.

Sikorsky’s promotional material clearly targets the Super Scooper as its main competition, however. A promotional brochure contrasts Super Scooper and Blackhawk water refilling sites in Los Angeles County (15 vs. 1,000), typical distances the two must fly between water sources and flames (25 miles vs. 2 1/2 miles) and amounts of water each can drop on fires during an eight-hour period (27,500 gallons vs. 96,000 gallons).

Canadair’s Coulter responds that the Super Scooper is a proven success, with more than 300 of them in use worldwide--and an assembly line already booked for full production through 1997.

“I think there are a lot of fire people out there predisposed to helicopters,” she said. “We’re saying you need them, but you can use us along with them. I’d like to see fire officials across the board be a little more broad-thinking at integrating their resources.”

Coulter doesn’t see Herlik’s jets as much of a threat in the air race.

“Ed, bless his heart, is trying to be entrepreneurial--trying to use old planes sitting around,” she said. “But can these old aircraft really perform? You can’t make them a scooping aircraft no matter how much you retrofit them.”

Replies Herlik: The Super Scooper is fine for “the relatively cool, slow fires of Quebec, where there are no Santa Anas and open water stretches to every horizon. . . . It simply doesn’t work in California.”