If and when Friedman Memorial Airport is replaced with a larger field with a longer runway, virtually all of the firefighting aircraft now dumping retardant on the Castle Rock fire could operate out of it and thus avoid refueling and reloading flights to Boise, Twin Falls or Pocatello.
Although no such formal arrangement has been made, Friedman Airport Manager Rick Baird said the planned new airport on a site in south Blaine County would be available to aircraft and helicopters as well as support equipment for loading chemical retardants.
He said Friedman's limited ramp space was closed to the giant Sky Crane helicopters for refueling because their 72-foot main rotors stirred up heavy winds that risked hurling debris into parked aircraft. Landing pads in the forests had to be carved to accommodate them.
Also, the two large retardant bombers—the twin-engine P2V Neptune and the four-engine P3 Orion—needed to make roundtrip flights to Twin Falls, Boise or Pocatello to reload their retardants. Operating out of a new airport closer to the Wood River Valley would have saved up to an hour or more in roundtrips flight time plus fuel.
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The new airport, Baird pointed out, also will have an 8,500-foot runway (Friedman's is 6,900 feet) and stressed for aircraft weights such as the Boeing 737-800's maximum takeoff weight of 174,000 pounds (Friedman's runway has a 95,000-pound weight limit).
The P3 Orion fighting the Castle Rock fire maxes out at about 155,000 pounds when loaded.
Adequate ramp space remote from regular aircraft operations also would be available at a new airfield, he said.
