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The concept is simple 鈥� if it won鈥檛 rain, make it rain.

While firefighters battle the over 2,000-acre Myrtle Beach-area wildfire bravely from the ground, planes and helicopters have dropped water on the wildfire from above daily since Sunday, March 2, the same day S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster declared a state of emergency.

Members at McEntire Joint National Guard near Columbia readied up their copters and made the hourlong flight to Horry County in a quick response that has made a difference.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a big impact because it keeps firefighters out of danger. We can hit a lot of targets that the firefighters can鈥檛 get to,鈥� said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Dustan Oliver.

The execution, though, is not simple.

鈥淲e train for it, so it鈥檚 not frightening. It鈥檚 in fact challenging, but we enjoy the challenge of doing it,鈥� Oliver said.

Oliver said challenges to the operation include smoke causing a decrease in visibility, navigating with other aircraft in the area that are also dropping water from above, and identifying where to drop the water for the greatest impact.

鈥淲e鈥檙e in constant communication with the ground guys on where they want the water at,鈥� Oliver said. 鈥淪ometimes it can be challenging because their perspective is a lot different than our perspective in the air.鈥�

The South Carolina Forestry Commission has utilized the National Guard to drop water on the more than 2,000-acre blaze using two UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters and a CH-47 Chinook helicopter.

黑料社入口

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• By Hannah Strong Oskin and S.T Cardinal info@myhorrynews.com

National Guard members like Oliver make up crews of four on the helicopters 鈥� two pilots and two crew chiefs.

The crew chiefs monitor and control the 660-gallon water bucket, which is operated by an electronic lever and hangs about 25 feet below the helicopter. Crew chiefs sit on the side of the helicopter with their legs dangling below to get a good look down at the bucket.

鈥淭hey can lean out, look down and see where the bucket is and see where the target we鈥檙e trying to hit is,鈥� Oliver said.

When fighting the blaze, the helicopters continuously return to nearby bodies of water to refill the bucket 鈥� in the case of the Carolina Forest fire, it's the Intracoastal Waterway. The helicopters repeat the process, pausing to refuel every two and a half hours or so.

On Monday, March 3, Oliver鈥檚 crew performed 48 drops. That鈥檚 31,680 gallons of water dropped on the fire in one day with one helicopter. Not a drop in the bucket.