Performance of initial attack airtanker systems with interacting bases andvariable initial attack ranges

Each day, forest fire managers must deploy airtankers at initial attack bas es to minimize initial attack response times. They must decide how many air tankers to deploy at each base and the initial attack range of each airtank er. We develop a daily airtanker simulation model and use it to investigate how airtanker system performance varies as a function of initial attack ra nge, fire arrival rates, and time of day. Our results indicate that the opt imal initial attack range decreases as the daily fire load increases. Fire managers can use this information to design ah-tanker dispatch policies tha t will minimize initial attack response times.