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Modular Airborne FireFighting Systems
(MAFFS)
  In the early 1970's, Congress established the Modular Airborne FireFighting System (MAFFS) program after a major fire burned into Long Beach, California, destroyed hundreds of homes, and overwhelmed the civilian airtanker fleet's ability to respond.

A MAFFS unit is a pressurized 3,000-gallon tank installed on a military Lockheed C-130 cargo/utility aircraft. Retardant or water is dropped out of the tank in under five seconds through two tubes at the rear of the plane. This load can cover one quarter of a mile long and 60 feet wide to act as a fire barrier. The objective of the MAFFS program is to provide emergency capability to supplement the existing commercial airtanker support on wildland fires.

The Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve, and US Forest Service use the MAFFS in a joint effort to help with wildland firefighting.


  More about MAFFS

MAFFS 2 - "A Second Generation of MAFFS"

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