Crews talk Hayden Pass Fire fighting equipment

the latest growth and containment numbers.. the fire has gotten bigger.. but so has the containment area.. the fire is in red on this map, the containment are is represented by the black lines on the upper part of the fire .. right now just over 16- thousand three hundred acres have burned. the fire is 20- percent contained. evacuations and road closures from earlier this week remain in effect.. but there hasn’t been any new closures or evacuations. no new damage to buildings or injuries .. over 800 fire fighters are battling the blaze. the incident management team says a lot of the new containment is due to the air support they have recieved. krdo news channel 13’s katie spencer is live in coaldale with how these flights operate. flight crews have been doing water and slurry drops since —- and because of the hours they put in everyday the containment keeps rising. nats of helicopter taking off for more than a week …. the salida airport has seen countless take off and landings from helicopter support for the hayden pass fire sot chad walker, assistant helitech supervisor “the aviation support that we provide to the team and to the firefighters is a crucial element to our job.” 1:26 into first interview with man in hat the helicopters vary in size and in capability…. but all play a critical part in fighting the fire “the right tool for the right job, so where we’re at with this fire as far as our progression, we’re kind of working the fire up into the wilderness.” 3:38ish into second interview with man in hat ” this kmax helicopter is just one of the ones helping fight the fire and it’s so specialized that there are only 36 of them in the us.” “it is capable of bringing up to 700 gallons of water to the fire and also retardant if we do have a mobile retardant base” :09 into second interview with man in hat some of the helicopter crews also drop these ping pong like balls that help back burn and create a perimeter around the fire nats of ball catching fire sot d.w. cook, squad leader helitech “what we do is fill in the gap with fire and we slowly control that fire, bring it to the line and then we got what we call is good black” 1:03 into interview with man with helmet which is especially helpful in the rough terrain that this fire is flourishing in “in in accessible country or rough country, something that’s difficult or dangerous for those guys to go into” :25 into interview man with helmet the fire has started moving west toward westcliffe. crews say they are prepared to drip those balls near the fire line tomorrow if weather conditions are favorable. live in cotopaxi katie spencer krdo nc 13.