AUSTIN — Gov. Greg Abbott Friday announced that he directed the Texas A&M Forest Service, through the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM), to open the Austin Airtanker Base at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport to assist state and local responders in wildfire suppression efforts across Texas ahead of the holiday weekend.
Opening the airtanker base will allow for faster response times and greater cost efficiency when responding to wildfires in Texas. The Austin Airtanker Base will serve as a reload station for aircraft coming and going to wildfires and will create an additional reload station to supplement the Airtanker Base in Abilene.
“Texas has activated the Austin Airtanker Base to further assist our brave firefighters and emergency response personnel throughout the state and protect Texans from these wildfires,” Abbott said.
The Austin Airtanker Base is the only airport in the state set up for a Very Large Airtanker, or DC-10. The base is equipped to handle all aircraft in the national airtanker fleet, including those aircraft used to drop fire retardant during wildfires.
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