Orange County, CA December 31, 2025
The Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) will no longer participate in the highly effective Quick Reaction Force (QRF) program starting January 1, 2026, due to a failure to secure the necessary board approval for contract extension.
Established in 2019 under the leadership of then Fire Chief Brian Fennessy, the QRF represented a groundbreaking public private partnership between OCFA, Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD), Ventura County Fire Department (VCFD), and sponsor Southern California Edison (SCE). The program equipped the three agencies with three massive Boeing CH-47 Chinook helitankers each capable of carrying up to 3,000 gallons of water or retardant and a Sikorsky S-76 command and control aircraft.
These “very large helitankers” revolutionized initial attack on vegetation fires by enabling rapid, heavy drops day or night, often using night vision goggles. Advanced features like hover filling allowed for quick turnarounds, helping contain fires while small exemplified by aggressive suppression on incidents such as the Route Fire.
SCE provided significant funding, including $18 million in the most recent year to cover leasing costs. Newly released statistics underscore the program’s impact in 2025:
• 1,836 drops across more than 50 separate fire incidents
• 2,607,496 gallons of water delivered (equivalent to about 4.5 Olympic-sized swimming pools), with 28% at night
• 123,455 gallons of fire retardant, with 19% dropped at night
SCE highlighted the nighttime capabilities as particularly standout, allowing crews to capitalize on cooler evening conditions to halt fire spread.
In an internal statement to personnel, OCFA leadership expressed deep regret over the development:
“My gratitude for your collaborative leadership in creating the QRF is matched only by my regret in having to report that the program will cease to exist at midnight on January 1, 2026. Indeed, despite tremendous support from SCE and all our QRF partners, our 25-member OCFA Board was six Directors shy of reaching the required 13-member quorum for a December Special Meeting to extend the QRF contract into 2026.”
As a result, the four additional QRF aircraft—three CH-47 helitankers and the S-76 platform—will no longer be on automatic dispatch for initial attack on Orange County vegetation fires.
However, a portion of the capability has been preserved for neighboring counties. SCE and LACoFD restructured the arrangement into the new “SCE Exclusive Use Helitanker Program,” based in Los Angeles County. This scaled-down version excludes the mobile retardant base and helicopter coordinators, and provides automatic initial attack dispatch only to LACoFD and VCFD jurisdictions. The program’s name, full philosophy, and multi-county components have changed significantly.
The loss of QRF resources for Orange County raises concerns about response times and suppression effectiveness during the region’s increasingly year-round wildfire threat. OCFA personnel accustomed to the helitankers’ overwhelming force on initial attacks will need to adapt to existing assets.
As Southern California faces ongoing climate-driven fire risks, the end of OCFA’s involvement in this innovative program marks a significant shift in regional aerial firefighting strategy.
Public Statement:
My gratitude for your collaborative leadership in creating the QRF is matched only by my regret in having to report that the program will cease to exist at midnight on January 1, 2026. Indeed, despite tremendous support from SCE and all our QRF partners, our 25-member OCFA Board was six Directors shy of reaching the required 13-member quorum for a December Special Meeting to extend the QRF contract into 2026.
As with any loss of OCFA resources, I write to ensure all personnel are aware of the change, particularly those who respond to vegetation fires and are accustomed to the air support provided by the QRF helitankers and their 3,000-gallon tanks. To be clear, as of January 1, 2026, the OCFA will no longer have the four additional QRF aircraft on automatic dispatch, meaning the three CH-47 Helitankers and the S-76 Command & Control Platform will not be a part of Initial Attack on any Orange County vegetation fire.
Fortunately, last week, as it became clear that the OCFA could not extend its contract into 2026, SCE and LACoFD found a way to salvage a portion of the QRF, although the program’s name, philosophy, and components will change significantly. Now called “The SCE Exclusive Use Helitanker Program,” the program will be based out of Los Angeles County, no longer feature the Mobile Retardant Base (MRB) or the Helicopter Coordinators (HLCO), and will only be available for automatic dispatch to LACOFD and VCFD for Initial Attack on vegetation fires in their service areas.
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