by Robert Nerbovig (Author)

The morning sun glints off the massive red and white fuselage of a converted DC-10, its distinctive silhouette casting a reassuring shadow across the San Diego airfield. This is just one of twenty-five such aircraft in the fleet of DC-10 Aerial Firefighting Systems LLC, perhaps the most innovative civilian firefighting force in American history. Like ancient sentinels, these modified commercial aircraft stand ready at strategic bases across California - San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Beale Air Force Base in Marysville - prepared to defend the Western United States against its most persistent enemy: wildfire.

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