With all the recent wildfires happening across California, the Santa Maria Air Tanker Base has lately been more active than usual.
As many as nine planes at a time fly in and out of the base to fill up with fire retardant. In the last week, more than 45,000 gallons of fire retardant was used to help stop the spread of the fires.
The aircraft have been assisting with the Kincade Fire in Sonoma County, the Tick Fire in Santa Clarita, the Getty Fire in Los Angeles, the Easy Fire in Simi Valley and the Hill Fire in Jurupa Valley.
