AUSTIN, Texas — It's been a very busy wildfire season in the state of Texas, as firefighters have fought nearly 8,000 fires and more than 600,000 acres have burned so far this year.
The Texas A&M Forest Service is not only using firefighters on the ground to fight the fires but also aircraft.
The Texas A&M Forest Service has mobilized more than 100 aircraft, including a DC-10 airtanker. It can drop more than 9,000 gallons within eight seconds.
It is stationed in Austin, and it's only one of four DC-10 airtankers in the country fighting fires.
The DC-10 and other aircraft are very important assets to help firefighters on the ground working to contain fires.
Inside the DC-10, which is a former airline aircraft, all the seats have been removed.
"It is because we take out all the weight … to lighten up the aircraft for aerial firefighting. It doesn’t have any of the overhead bins, it doesn’t have any of the seats. There’s nothing downstairs. It’s a pretty stripped-down model of what these aircraft looked like when they were operational in a 121 or an airline configuration," said DC-10 captain Matt Ringlein.
The Forest Service said it is glad to have the DC-10 as a resource, and that it will use it when needed as the busy wildfire season stretches on.
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