WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) – Texoma is no stranger to wildfires, and local first responders teaming up with aircraft companies to help battle the fires just made it easier. Probably the first question people ask is: what is a fire boss? You’re about to find out.

An aircraft that is changing the industry.

“They can operate more or less by themselves, with just one manager, and support large areas, they don’t need, big tanker base operations, they don’t need retardant tanks, they just need a little bit of water,” Business Development Advisor for Duantless Air, Dan Carroll said.

And collaborating with local first responders, the AT-802F Fire Boss ensures fires are being de-escalated in the most efficient and safest way, so first responders are able to get on the ground and put it out

“We interact with firefighters and responders that have been in emergency response for over three decades, and they’ve been very thankful for the informative briefing, they haven’t had opportunities like this before to learn about the aircraft that they use on wildfires,” Carroll said

Public Information Officer for Northwest Branch and Wichita Falls Region, Angel Lopez Portillo said it’s important for first responders and the public to have a common understanding of the aircraft.

“Last fire season we dealt with a lot of fire/aerial services in the area, and being able to identify them, be able to know what their capabilities are, being able to know how to communicate with them, and what they expect from us, not only as a firefighter, but first responder, and anybody else involved in that, the do’s and the don’ts, it’s very important so that we are all on the same page,” Portillo said.

“Information is knowledge and knowledge is power, the more folks in the community that can understand about the aircraft the better and local, communities are involved with wildfire response, if you’re not a fire chief or emergency responder, you can still learn a lot about how the emergency responders that are working on those fires, what their operations look like and the tools they use,” Carroll said.

Carroll believes the more training they do, the better approaches will be made while in the air.

“If people are better trained and better informed, they can make better decisions, both on the front end and the preparedness side and on the response side,” Carroll said.

One team, one goal, working together so nobody has to approach wildfires alone

Dauntless Air, the operator of the “Fire Boss” has been working for 25 years and wants to continue getting the word out and helping red zones for wildfires across the country.