PG&E helicopters return for wildfire season, expanding to support Yuba, Sutter, Colusa, Glenn, Tehama and Plumas counties

For the third year, Pacific Gas and Electric Company is partnering with local fire agencies to provide firefighting helicopters in Butte, Marin and Merced counties.

This year, the program is expanding to neighboring counties, including Tehama, Plumas, Glenn, Yuba, Sutter and Colusa.

A PG&E Blackhawk helicopter equipped for water bombing is stationed at the Butte County Fire Department’s Chico Air Attack Base through Nov. 15.

While based locally, the helicopters can also be deployed to support wildfire response efforts beyond their home counties to neighboring counties through California’s Master Mutual Aid system.

The program, which launched in Marin County in 2023 and later expanded to Butte and Merced counties, helps local fire agencies respond quickly to wildfires during California’s peak fire season.

This year, PG&E’s Blackhawk based in Chico dropped water on the Pentz Fire in Paradise and the Lone Fire in Palermo, both on June 26.

Since the program’s launch, PG&E-supported helicopters have
• Logged more than 445 flight hours.
• Conducted more than 2,600 water drops.
• Dropped more than 2 million gallons of water.
• Supported more than 60 initial attacks across participating counties.

The program places four dedicated Blackhawk helicopters in Butte, Marin and Merced counties through Nov. 15. Three helicopters are assigned to the participating counties, while a fourth is available as a standby aircraft if needed. During that time, local fire agencies direct the aircraft in support of wildfire suppression operations, providing communities with dedicated aerial firefighting resources that can help strengthen initial attack and response efforts.

By placing dedicated aerial firefighting resources directly under local fire agency control, the program helps strengthen wildfire response capabilities while making additional resources available when and where they’re needed most.

The helicopter program is one of PG&E’s many layers of protection against catastrophic wildfire.

Other efforts include undergrounding, Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings, Public Safety Power Shutoffs, AI-enabled wildfire cameras and more.

Click here to learn about PG&E’s wildfire safety efforts.