SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 – Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System, or MAFFS, crews have surpassed 1 million gallons of fire retardant delivered during the 2026 wildfire season, marking a milestone in a joint military and civilian effort that brings aircrews, maintainers and U.S. Forest Service wildland firefighting personnel together to fight wildfires across the West.
MAFFS crossed the 1-million-gallon milestone Aug. 28, when operational reporting placed the season total at 1,053,467 gallons. Continued missions increased the running total to 1,070,017 gallons through Aug. 31.
The milestone represents more than the amount of retardant delivered from military C-130 aircraft. It reflects a total-force effort involving aircrews, maintainers, Forest Service personnel, tanker-base teams and firefighters on the ground, as well as contributions from all four MAFFS wings: the Wyoming Air National Guard’s 153rd Airlift Wing, California Air National Guard’s 146th Airlift Wing, Nevada Air National Guard’s 152nd Airlift Wing and the Air Force Reserve’s 302nd Airlift Wing in Colorado.
MAFFS provides additional aerial firefighting capacity when most federal contract airtankers are heavily committed to wildfires or otherwise unable to meet nationwide needs. The program brings together the Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve, Forest Service and other agency partners in support of wildfire suppression operations.
“We do our best to integrate seamlessly with the federal and state agencies committed to wildland firefighting,” said Col. Jason Little, commander of the MAFFS Air Expeditionary Group. “We serve as a surge capability, and our responsibility is to be as prepared and effective as possible when called upon.”
A milestone in perspective
By Aug. 31, MAFFS already had delivered more fire retardant in 2026 than in either of the previous two wildfire seasons, with many weeks potentially remaining in the current fire season. MAFFS crews delivered 410,810 gallons in 2025 and 871,205 gallons in 2024.
The recent total also ranks 2026 among the program’s busiest years of the past decade, behind the 1,350,298 gallons delivered in 2020 and 2,583,204 gallons in 2021. While 2021 was the busiest MAFFS season of the past decade, it was not the program’s record. That distinction belongs to 1994, when MAFFS delivered more than 5 million gallons of fire retardant.
In other years, the need for MAFFS support has varied significantly. The program delivered just 16,700 gallons in 2022 and 185,263 gallons in 2023.
Those fluctuations reflect the program’s role as a surge capability rather than a replacement for the national aerial firefighting fleet.
“MAFFS aircraft are valuable to us from a surge capacity standpoint,” said Stanton Florea, a U.S. Forest Service fire communications specialist working with MAFFS operations.
Florea said MAFFS provides surge capacity when other aircraft are already committed and helps ensure additional requests for aerial firefighting resources do not go unfilled.
One system, many roles
The path to a retardant drop begins well before a C-130 reaches a wildfire. When aerial firefighting resources are needed, requests move through the interagency firefighting system. The Forest Service and its interagency partners evaluate available resources and determine when additional aircraft are needed. When MAFFS is activated, military personnel and aircraft join the existing firefighting operation.
The MAFFS operating plan establishes coordination among the Forest Service, the Department of War, Geographic Area Coordination Centers, the National Interagency Coordination Center and MAFFS personnel. That coordination also includes environmental safeguards designed to protect water and aquatic habitat.
“We build protections for water and aquatic habitat into the planning before a retardant drop ever happens,” Florea said. “Avoidance areas are mapped around streams, lakes and other waterways, generally with at least a 300-foot buffer, and that information is shared with incident personnel and aircrews. Any intrusion into the retardant avoidance areas has to be documented and evaluated.”
Once an aircraft reaches an operating base, another team takes over. Maintainers inspect and service the aircraft, retardant crews prepare the aircraft for its next load and aircrews coordinate with firefighting personnel before heading to a fire.
Lt. Col. David McNally, a pilot assigned to the 152nd Airlift Wing in Reno, said the visible moment of a retardant drop represents only a fraction of the work required to make the mission possible.
“For that six to nine seconds of glory up there, we get to have all the fun, but, I mean, you think of all the people that are involved,” McNally said. “It’s a huge team.”
Senior Airman Eric Dobson, an electrical and environmental systems specialist assigned to the Montana Air National Guard’s 120th Airlift Wing in Great Falls, volunteered to support the MAFFS mission despite serving in a unit that is not part of the MAFFS program. The maintenance work on a MAFFS aircraft happens outside the public’s view, and often lasts late into the night.
“People don’t see the long days and late nights,” Dobson said. “We’re there while the planes are flying, monitoring for issues so we can catch them before they become problems.”
When aircraft return from missions, maintainers conduct post-flight inspections. Dobson said maintainers from different specialties work together while deployed, allowing them to complete the work more efficiently.
The teamwork continues once aircraft arrive over a fire. Air attack personnel coordinate aircraft operating over the incident, while lead planes work with air tankers to establish the appropriate drop location and flight path.
For firefighters on the ground, seeing an airtanker arrive can provide another layer of support as crews work to contain the fire. From the cockpit, McNally said aerial firefighting does not replace the work of firefighters on the ground.
“We don’t put the fire out,” McNally said, explaining that retardant can help reduce a fire’s intensity so firefighters can re-engage, reinforce dozer lines or protect structures.
The work of the ground crews, he said, remains essential to putting out the fire.
By 1st Lt. Matthew Greiner
Department of War Support to National Interagency Fire Center