Crews Practice For Fire Fighting

State officials are concerned that the wet spring could bring some serious wildfires this year but even with that concern, this year is expected to be an average year for fires.  Training to fight any of those fires has already begun at Magic Valley Regional Airport.  The Times News reports a C-130 aircraft from the North Carolina National Guard made practices runs Tuesday carrying water from the airport to a practice drop area between Twin Falls and Boise.  It reports that the exercise on Tuesday was a snapshot of the Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System (MAFFS), which blends people and resources from different agencies that include the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, and military planes and air crew.  The BLM’s Twin Falls at Magic Valley Regional Airport  was certified earlier this year as an approved landing area for C-130 planes as part of MAFFS operations. The base at the airport is a fueling station for fires on BLM land and in national forests.