DENVER — Holiday boaters at Lake Pueblo State Park shared the water with giant firefighting aircraft over the Fourth of July weekend as crews battled the nearby Aspen Acres Fire.
Video from Colorado Parks and Wildlife shows “Super Scooper” planes skimming across the surface of Lake Pueblo, collecting thousands of gallons of water before flying back to the wildfire burning in western Colorado.
The aircraft were making trips to the lake every 12 to 15 minutes, creating a dramatic sight for visitors gathered along the shoreline.
“There aren’t that many bodies of water that are conducive to scooping in Colorado,” Lake Pueblo State Park Manager Joe Stadterman said. “What the pilots ask is for a mile and a half straight line where they can collect the water,” Stadterman said. “It’s a pretty unique situation that we’re in, that the lake is big enough, and it’s close enough to the fire.”
Despite the constant firefighting activity during one of the busiest boating weekends of the year, the park remained open.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife added extra officers to patrol the lake while boaters were asked to stay near shorelines and avoid the main channel used by the aircraft.
“We had a really successful Fourth of July weekend,” Stadterman said. “The operations were very safe.”
He said visitors largely followed directions from park staff and officers.
“We asked them to hug the shorelines and to avoid the main channel, and we got great compliance from the public,” Stadterman said.
Many people also stopped by simply to watch the planes in action.
The “Super Scoopers” are designed to skim across large bodies of water, refill in seconds and quickly return to active wildfires to drop water on flames.
