Travis Alexander - B3118  
Battalion Chief
Air Operations Officer
(Photo coming soon!)

Ryan Air Attack and Helitack Crews:

 
Perri Hall : Fire Captain, Air Tanker Base Manager

 
Kevin Reed: Fire Apparatus Engineer, Air Tanker Base Manager

Matt Stanford: Fire Apparatus Engineer - Air Tanker Base Manager

 
Glenn Jenkins : Communications Operator

Ray Cordova - Fire Apparatus Engineer - Helitender Operator

 
Les Koehler: Pilot, Air Attack 310
Lee Munson: Pilot, Relief Air Attack 310
Deen Ohel: Pilot, Tanker 72
Mike Venable: Pilot, Tanker 73
Bob Forbes: Pilot, Relief Tanker 72, 73
Travis Bailey: Aircraft Mechanic
Bob Innes : Fire Captain, Helitack
Ted Schaffer : Fire Captain, Helitack
Pat O'Connor : Fire Captain, Helitack 
Frank Abril   : Fire Captain, Helitack
George Karcher: Forestry Pilot, Helicopter 301
David Patrick: Forestry Pilot, Helicopter 301 
 
Firefighter I - Helitack Firefighters:

Jarod Baker

Matt Briskie

Eric Connolly

Jared Collins

Derek Cook

Mike Dykier

David De Leon

Jake Flores

Matt Eddins

Shawn Gallegos

Ray Gonez

Shane Manners

Jose Medina

Andrew Patlan

Ryan Phillips

Ben Powell

Adam Ricketts

Richard Ristow

Charles Santone

Nick Sutton 

The CAL FIRE Riverside Unit operates a joint  Air Attack  / Helitack Base at the Hemet/Ryan Airport.  Ryan Air Attack Base is statistically one of the most active in the nation.   The fleet consists of an  OV-10 Bronco  - Air Attack 310, two  S2-T's  - Tanker 72 and 73 and one  UH-1H "Super Huey" helicopter - Copter 301.  Tankers 72 and 73 assigned to Hemet/Ryan are the “T” (turbine) models with 1200-gallon retardant capacity versus the 800-gallon limit in the older “A” models.  Air Attack 310 is an OV-10 two place twin turbine. As the pilot flies the plane, the Air Tactical Group Supervisor coordinates  the airtankers and helicopters to critical areas of the fire for crew deployment,   retardant and water drops.  The retardant used to slow or retard the spread of a fire is a slurry mix consisting of a chemical salt compound, water, clay or a gum as a thickening agent. At nine pounds per gallon an S-2T can carry 10,800 pounds. To learn more about the CAL FIRE Air Program at Ryan, please click on the logo above.