The Watco Houston Team temporarily housed a helpful, life-saving piece of equipment in early May. The Sikorsky – Erickson S-64 helicopter made its way to the Houston docks at Greens Port Industrial Terminals for a couple days after helping to fight fires in Chile.
The helicopters, also referred to as helitankers, are dispatched around the world to help extinguish forest fires. The helitankers can expel more than 2,650 gallons of water every hour to help in fire suppression wherever its help is needed to protect and preserve lives and resources. The hover pump snorkel or ram hydrofoil sea snorkel are options used to equip the helitanker to allow for water intake of fresh or salt water within 45 seconds or less. The S-64 is designed to quickly take bulk items and transport.
Before arriving in Houston, the helitanker was loaded onto a vessel for its return trip to the States. When it arrived at the Watco docks, it was discharged from the vessel, and the Watco Team began their portion of the reassembling process. Andrew Gossett, director of commercial operations, played an integral part in arranging the flight preparations for the helitanker.
The blades had to be mounted prior to the flight to Fort Worth, where the fire fighting kit would be exchanged for a winch kit.
“This helitanker is a workhorse, and its function is strictly for cargo,” Andrew said.
The helitanker mainly holds a flight crew: a pilot, co-pilot, and a third pilot for winch operations. While in Houston, Houston Stevedoring Team Rigger Angel Vasquez, helped as a flagman for the installation of the blades for the helitanker. Additionally, Operator Terry Beloney, worked as a forklift operator during the installation process, and directly assisted in various tasks to get the tanker up and flying.
The shape of this helitanker is unique to fulfill its purpose. It has the capacity to hold a tank and other bulk items to transport them for fighting fires. Aerial firefighting is an imperative part of fire suppression, and this valuable piece of equip-ment has been designed to continue this vital task for many years to come.
There is a possibility the helitanker might return to the Houston area after completing another significant mission, but whatever the outcome, the Watco Team had the opportunity to house a vital piece of equipment that was designed to be part of a significant task that will help in the mission to save lives and resources around the world for many years to come.