By admin 
Cal Fire helicopters will sweep low over Folsom Lake on Friday and Saturday as crews stage one of the agency’s final major training exercises as peak wildfire season begins across Northern California, giving residents around the lakefront a preview of the high-intensity aerial response used on major California fires.
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The two-day exercise will place multiple helicopters in the air during daylight hours as pilots and helitack crews practice low-level water drops, simulated smoke operations and real-world deployment scenarios designed to mirror the chaotic conditions crews face on active wildfires.
Nearly 40 Cal Fire personnel and multiple helicopters have previously gathered at Folsom Lake for aviation training that includes water drops, passenger loading, cargo handling and communications work, with a temporary helicopter base set up in Granite Bay, according to previous Bee reporting.
Cal Fire has separately conducted low-flying nighttime training flights using night-vision goggles from sunset to 10 p.m. near Folsom Lake, with three to four helicopters practicing simulated fire drops and approaches to landing zones. More recent night-vision goggle training has extended activity until 11 p.m. and expanded beyond Folsom Lake to Georgetown in El Dorado County and Grass Valley in Nevada County, giving crews practice in low-light conditions that simulate real emergencies.
The training also marks a milestone for Cal Fire’s aviation program, according to a statement from the agency formally known as the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention. Once the exercises conclude, the newly trained crew will head to San Diego County to launch Cal Fire’s 11th helitack base in Ramona, expanding the agency’s statewide aerial firefighting network ahead of summer fire danger.
Cal Fire operates the largest civil firefighting aviation unit in the world, with more than 60 helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, including its newer Fire Hawk helicopters — Sikorsky S70i Black Hawks retrofitted for wildfire response, rescue operations and nighttime flying. The agency currently operates 14 Fire Hawks statewide, with the helicopters capable of dropping more than two-and-a-half times the water carried by Cal Fire’s older Super Huey aircraft.
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Residents and visitors near the lake should expect to see and hear repeated low-flying aircraft throughout the day, though officials emphasized there is no active wildfire and all operations are being conducted under FAA-approved safety protocols.
Crews are already battling several significant wildfires in Southern California as Cal Fire officials warn that rapidly drying vegetation and a record-low Sierra Nevada snowpack could accelerate north state wildfires in the months ahead.
Cal Fire Chief Joe Tyler said this week that grasses across the Central Valley and Southern California have already “cured,” meaning the fine fuels are dry enough to ignite quickly from sparks or wind-driven embers and spread rapidly under hot, windy conditions.
Among the state’s largest active fires Friday morning was the Santa Rosa Island Fire off the Santa Barbara County coast, which had burned 18,379 acres and was 59% contained, according to Cal Fire. The River Fire in Kern County had charred 3,535 acres and reached 98% containment, while the Sandy Fire in Ventura County had grown to 2,141 acres and remained 40% contained. The Bain Fire in Riverside County had burned 1,497 acres and was 67% contained.
Statewide, more than 48,000 acres have burned since Jan. 1 — already more than double the recent four-year average for this point in the year, according to Cal Fire data analyzed by The Bee.
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The Bee’s Andrew Graham and Corey Schmidt contributed to this story.