DE LUZ — The De Luz Volunteer Fire Department began training for the upcoming fire season on March 8 with helicopter ground filling operations from fire engines.

Twenty De Luz firefighters, with four of their engines and water tender, drilled with the crew of San Diego Sheriff Department’s Fire Copter 10.

Each of them refilled the aircraft’s 375-gallon tank with water from an apparatus, simulating a forward ground filling heli-pad at fires in which no other water source is available.

The training was realistic Advertisement

[ Shred and Go ] with the aircraft’s blades turning, and it lifting off the pad to conduct precision airdrops nearby.

The De Luz firefighters will do enhanced training in April at the annual County Wildland Fire Exercise in Julian, plus Camp Pendleton’s Fire School with live-firefighting training in early June.

The De Luz Volunteer Fire Department operates eight engines and two water tenders with its 39 firefighters.

They are a member of the newly established San Diego County Fire Authority, which helps fund, train and oversee their operation.