More military planes join Colorado firefighters

The Air Force is sending two more tanker planes to help fight massive wildfires burning in Colorado.

The military said Thursday the specially equipped C-130s will fly missions out of Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. They will join two other C-130s that started firefighting work on Monday.

A modular system of pumps and tanks is loaded into the planes’ cargo bay, allowing them to dump 3,000 gallons of water or fire retardant in 5 seconds.

The newly enlisted planes are from the Wyoming Air National Guard in Cheyenne and the Nevada Air National Guard in Reno. The two planes already on the scene are from an Air Force Reserve unit at Peterson.

More than a half-dozen large fires are burning across Colorado.