New York Army Guard aviators train for wildfire response

SCHUYLERVILLE, N.Y. - New York Army National Guard UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter crews honed their wildfire response skills with massive filled Water Buckets over the Hudson River north of Albany Sept. 18.

Nineteen aviators practiced lifting 560 gallons of water from the river and dropping it on simulated targets downstream.

The Army aircrews, based at the Army Aviation Support Facility at Albany International Airport in Latham, teamed with six New York Department of Environmental Conservation forest rangers for the training.

During an actual firefighting mission, National Guard aircrews work with the rangers.

A ranger in the helicopter communicates with a ranger on the ground to move the aircraft into the proper position, said Col. Paul Bailie, commander of the 42nd Combat Aviation Brigade and state Army aviation officer.

"We have been doing this training with the New York Army National Guard since 2023," said Forest Ranger Lt. John Gullen. "We try to do it annually, and this happens to be our second time this year."

"We absolutely love cross-training with the Army National Guard; they have phenomenal crew chiefs and pilots," he added.

The rangers and Army aviators used Garnsey's Airport, a grass runway in Schuylerville, as their base of operations.

Helicopter crews and rangers trained to drop water from 560-gallon water buckets, the trademarked name for the collapsible water containers suspended beneath the helicopters.

Each spring and fall, Army National Guard helicopter crew members and maintenance personnel retrain on attaching the buckets to Black Hawk helicopters before practicing water pickups and drops.

"We do two iterations of training in the spring and fall. All the rangers that will be on the ground fighting forest fires with us are here training with us today," Bailie said.

"We work together now so we know how to operate when there is an emergency. The rangers are a great asset and the capabilities they bring to the table are huge," Bailie added.

The training is necessary because a bucket filled with water weighs more than two tons, requiring pilots to practice flying safely with the additional weight suspended beneath the aircraft, Bailie explained.

The New York Army National Guard employs helicopter firefighting equipment when local agencies request support through the New York State Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services.

The last time New York Army and Air National Guard aircrews deployed to fight fires was on Long Island March 8, 2025. A fire that started in a backyard barbecue burned 600 acres.

Three New York Army National Guard Black Hawks made 43 bucket drops, with each crew flying for three hours and dropping a combined 28,380 gallons of water.

Meanwhile, a New York Air National Guard HH-60W rescue helicopter made 28 bucket drops, putting 14,100 gallons of water on the blaze.

New York Army National Guard aviators from Long Island and Rochester also conducted fire bucket training Sept. 16-18. The Long Island aircrews used Crestview Lake in Newburgh for their training, while Rochester aviators trained at Hamlin Beach on Lake Ontario.

The forest rangers lead fire response by assessing and managing firefighting operations, Gullen explained. The training ensures rangers understand the capabilities of Army National Guard helicopters.

The rangers serve as experts who bridge the gap between firefighters on the ground and the specialized aerial firefighting tactics used by Army aviators operating with water buckets, Gullen said.