Sunshine Coast aerial firefighter advising LA waterbombers

A Queensland aerial firefighting industry leader is in the heart of the United States fires and says the situation sends a formidable message about environmental change and firefighting tactics.

John McDermott and his team at McDermott Aviation are committed to helping communities in need.

A Sunshine Coast aerial firefighting industry leader is in the United States providing advice on the LA fires, which he says sends a grim message about environmental change and the need to switch firefighting tactics.

McDermott Aviation founder John McDermott is in Southern California liaising with waterbombing aircraft operators who are fighting the blazes.

Established in 1982, McDermott Aviation is Australia’s largest privately owned helicopter company based at Cooroy.

Mr McDermott is a pilot and has flown thousands of hours on waterbombing helicopters, including the 2019/2020 black summer bushfires, and has also developed technologies that have improved aerial firefighting capability.

“It’s a hard gig, it’s rewarding when it goes well, but it’s very frustrating when you’re dealing with adverse conditions,” he said.

Mr McDermott said when the California fires started and the winds got to 80 knots, there was nothing anyone could do.

An aerial view of homes destroyed in the Palisades fire as wildfires cause damage and loss through the LA region on January 13 in Pacific Palisades, California. Picture: Mario Tama/Getty via AFP

He said bombers could fly, at great risk, but “you certainly can’t be accurate and you certainly can’t put the fire out”.

Mr McDermott said his team was in the US to observe and to “support the other guys” in the firefighting industry that his business worked with across the world.

A firefighter works in residential damage from the Eaton fire as wildfires cause damage and loss through the LA region on January 14 in Altadena, California. Picture: Benjamin Fanjoy/Getty Images via AFP

They were also proposing that polymer gels should be applied directly to houses.

These are jelly-like substances that form a protective blanket of tiny water droplets, each surrounded by a polymer shell, which absorb heat.

“All the houses over here in LA are predominantly manufactured using a wood like chipboard that’s glued together,” Mr McDermott said.

He said the structures were volatile and burning because sparks were “taking root” on roofs.

A McDermott Aviation Bell 214B water bomber drops 3000 litres of water near homes in Tasmania under threat from bushfire.

“A way to try to eliminate some of those losses is coating the houses with a polymer gel from the air to at least hold the sparks at bay, it may not stop every house from burning down.

“I have no stake in any gel manufacturing company, so it’s purely my experience as a pilot fighting fires.”

Mr McDermott said the LA fires were a grim message.

“The environment has changed and even in Australia the people who are fighting fires aren’t changing tactics fast enough,” he said.

He said in the US there were some people wanting to fight fires the way they had fought fires for the past 50 years.

“People need to open their minds up to other ways of achieving an outcome, and that’s what we’re trying to work towards,” Mr McDermott said.

McDermott Aviation.

Mr McDermott has also designed his own system to enable helicopters to scoop water out of the ocean.

“Last year in Greece, we did 4460 hours of firefighting, with 80 per cent of that scooping water out of the ocean with my hover-fill pump,” he said.

“You’ve got to be very accurate with your height above the water, you’ve got to be very accurate with your speed across the water and then you’ve still got to make sure you don’t hit anything.”

His friend Michael Powell, the owner of Isolair, the largest aerial firefighting equipment company in the US, makes belly mounted firefighting tanks for helicopters that are being used in LA.

“Everything is designed around what weight the aircraft can lift, without compromising performance,” Mr Powell said.