Oregon — Oregon National Guard helicopter crews are supporting firefighters battling the Hagen Fire in Umatilla County, dropping thousands of gallons of water across rugged terrain as dry, windy weather strains firefighting resources throughout the region.
As of Aug. 10, the Hagen Fire had burned 51,061 acres and was 11% contained, according to the Oregon Department of Forestry.
Among the aircraft assigned to the fire was an HH-60M Black Hawk operated by Golf Company, 1st Battalion, 189th Aviation. The helicopter was designed primarily to evacuate wounded soldiers from battlefields, but on Aug. 10 its crew used the aircraft to carry a water bucket suspended about 100 feet below the cabin.
Because the pilots cannot see directly beneath the aircraft, they depend on crew members in the rear cabin to monitor the bucket and guide each drop.
Staff Sgt. Kyle Sanders, a crew chief with 26 years in the Oregon Army National Guard, said he had spent two decades training for wildfire missions but had never dropped water on an active fire until two days earlier.
“I’ve been training for 20 years to do this,” Sanders said. “Every fire season, I always end up on a search and rescue medevac standby crew, or the two or three seasons where I was actually on a bucket crew, we showed up at the tail end of the fire and just never got launched.”
Sanders said seeing water leave the bucket for the first time was a memorable moment.
“I had a smile on my face. I was like, dude, this is freaking awesome,” Sanders said. “I texted my buddy, my mom, my dad and my wife.”
One of the crew’s most difficult assignments involved a spot fire discovered well outside the established perimeter. The helicopter had to collect water from a shallow, muddy dip site in a confined area while wind pushed heavy smoke toward the aircraft.
The crew attempted a precision spot drop by bringing the Black Hawk to a near hover over the flames. Rotor wash intensified the fire and caused the bucket to swing, making it difficult to place the water accurately.
“But we got two or three drops that were pretty much dead-on the flaming tree, and we called it in again,” Sanders said.
For much of the day, the Black Hawk rotated through Langdon Lake with a heavy-lift helicopter and two CH-47 Chinooks. The aircraft followed a continuous racetrack pattern between the lake and the fire.
“Langdon Lake is a huge, beautiful, deep lake, so it was really easy to pick up water fast and get back down there and drop it off,” Sanders said.
The crew also encountered equipment trouble when its bucket tumbled underwater during a fill and emerged tangled. Although the bucket flew crooked and could not reach full capacity afterward, Sanders determined its valve and cables continued to operate safely. A later inspection found no damage.
Chief Warrant Officer 4 Nathaniel Carter, the flight’s pilot in command, said the difficulty of wildfire missions often depends on where crews can collect water.
“You go into the fire and they tell you where they want you to go, and sometimes it’s more challenging than others,” Carter said. “Dipping out of a lake is way easier than dipping out of a little pond.”
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Noelan Smith said communication between the pilots and rear crew is essential because the aircraft’s design prevents the pilots from seeing the bucket.
“I’m unable to see anything based on how this aircraft’s laid out, so I have to trust the guys in the back to get it done,” Smith said.
Joe Carstensen, a Cal Fire military helicopter manager, served as a liaison between firefighters on the ground and the military aviators. It was his first mission with the Oregon National Guard.
“My job is to be the subject matter expert for the firefighter side, helping bridge that gap of what the firefighters are saying on the ground and translating that to the military aviators,” Carstensen said.
Firefighters had lined and held spot fires that crossed Highway 204 near Spout Springs. Drone-mounted infrared cameras helped managers identify hot spots and direct helicopter drops more precisely.
Night crews continued holding and mopping up those areas, while daytime operations focused on defensive firing intended to create a buffer between the fire and threatened structures, particularly along the southern portion of the fire. Crews also continued digging hand line around a spot fire in steep terrain south of Bingham.
High winds, low humidity and high temperatures have stretched available aircraft and other firefighting resources across the region. Gina Miner, assistant area director for the Oregon Department of Forestry’s Eastern Oregon Area, said the Guard’s assistance has helped fill that gap.
“The HH-60 pilots and crews’ work on the Hagen Fire has helped ground crews gain access in rough terrain and slow the spread of increased fire behavior,” Miner said. “The aerial water bucket support is an integral part of the complete firefighting system, working together with ground resources, other air resources and heavy equipment.”
Approximately 140 Oregon National Guard personnel were activated for statewide wildfire operations as of Aug. 13. The Guard was supporting two CH-47 Chinooks and two HH-60M Black Hawks conducting water drops, along with another HH-60M assigned to search and rescue.
Guard aircrews had completed 632 bucket drops during the 2026 fire season, delivering approximately 676,290 gallons of water. Operations were continuing.
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