Large Air Tankers to Again Fight Fires
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The government is allowing 10 large air tankers to return to the federal firefighting fleet, and more could return pending a study on the life expectancy of some of the aircraft, a spokeswoman for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise said.
Rose Davis said contracts had been awarded for seven P-3 Orions to Aero Union Corp. in California as well as a DC-7 and two P-2Vs.
Last May, the U.S. Forest Service and the Department of the Interior terminated contracts for 33 large air tankers because of safety concerns. Federal officials later agreed to return some to service.
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