The Tennessee National Guard says that two UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters from Knoxville’s 1-230th Assault Helicopter Battalion departed Monday morning (8/28/23) for Louisiana to support state, county, and local emergency responders battling the Tiger Island wildfire burning in Beauregard Parish, the largest wildfire in the state’s history.
The 12-person team flew to Esler Regional Airport in Rapides Parish, Louisiana. For the next week or more, the Tennesseans will be based out of Esler and using Bambi Buckets, a specialized bucket system suspended from the helicopter, to deliver hundreds of gallons of water from the air to fight the wildfires.
(Photo: Tennessee National Guard UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter equipped with Bambi Bucket helping put out fires near Pigeon Forge in 2022. Courtesy Knoxville Firefighter crews)
