Half boat, half plane, the super scooper glides over the water's surface and guzzles up to 1,200 gallons of water in 10 seconds, then drops its load on a fire. A tiny propeller plane flies nearby to give navigation and water deployment tips. Seeley Lake was closed to swimmers, boaters and fisher-people on the evening of August 1 to give this plane space to work as it lapped trips over the Rice Ridge Fire, visible in the background, which has put the nearby community on an evacuation warning.
Fire equipment like this that travels across the country and dips into Montana lakes has the potential to spread aquatic invasive species. Find out how Montana is fighting invasive hitchhikers on firefighting aircraft.
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