TG -- Thomas Clingerman, How do you fight forest fires?

om solo'd in 1969 while attending college in Virginia (the state). After 10 years on active duty as a pilot/instructor pilot, he worked for Rockwell International for 30 years as an aircraft program manager, while completing 13 more years in the Air Force Reserve. A private aircraft owner and advisor to the Civil Air Patrol, Tom taught Ground School for 32 years. After announcing his retirement in 2010, he was approached by a former student who offered him a job as aerial fire fighter. Tom spent 7 years as an Air Attack pilot for the US Forest Service. He flew 232 incidents, including 171 named fires, mostly in the Northwest US, but with many months also in Texas and Oklahoma. After years as a part year resident of Ely, he and his wife Karen moved up here full time in June of 25. As his time in the Ely area increased, he was surprised by the number of questions he got from local residents about forest fire fighting. He had assumed that folks in the old north woods would have been quite knowledgeable on the subject, but that wasn't the case. Typical questions were things like... ..."What's the red stuff - isn't it toxic?" ..."How come it doesn't put the fire out?" ..."What are all those airplanes doing? How many different types are there? Who's in charge of them....how do they coordinate with the ground fire fighters?" ... "With all those aircraft, why can't they stop the fire?" Tom will answer these questions and any new ones you have pondered based on our recent experiences this summer.