Rapid City Air Tanker Base holds open house

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - Helping to prevent the spread of wildfires one fire at a time. The Black Hills National Forest held an open house at the Rapid City Air Tanker Base today south of Rapid City Regional Airport.

Air Tanker Base Manager Jarrod Hattervig and other employees provided attendees with an overview of the daily operations at the base. They went over risk management information, base ramp operations, and other areas of operation.

The base is fully operated between June and September during peak wildfire season.

Air Tankers play an important role in fighting wildfires and they use fire retardant to help slow the spread of the fires.

Hattervig says the fire retardant is key.

“It’s mostly water mixed with, you know, a liquid concentrate. You know, high salt content that, and the idea to is it kind of as it dries on the fuels, it still keeps some of those retarding properties. So it can help firefighters out for some time on the ground,” Hattervig said.

The air tanker base supports all of South Dakota, North Dakota, parts of Wyoming and Nebraska.

Learn more at the Rapid City Tanker Base website.

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