Two Views ~ One Retardant Drop

Yesterday during the latest Santa Ana Wind event wherein the local Santa Lucia Mountains were under a Red Flag Warning a wildfire broke out (Cuesta Incident) on the downwind and south slope of that mountain range along the shoulder of southbound Highway 101. It caused alarm initially given the fire conditions. Fortunately CAL FIRE and SLO Co. Fire Department kept the fire to five acres. Below are two different views of the same retardant drop from a local S-2V (Tanker 74 or 75) based at nearby Paso Robles Air Attack Base. The top-most image was taken by an unidentified passenger riding shotgun in a passenger vehicle headed down the Cuesta Grade while the image below it was captured by the air tactical officer aboard Air Attack 340 operating over the fire.

Photo credit unknown (all rights reserved)

Courtesy of CAL FIRE's Air Attack 340 (all rights reserved)