Medford, Ore.– The Rogue Valley Airport is serving as a base for several air tankers to help with the fire-fight but for the first time it’s housing one of the biggest, a DC-10.

The U.S. Forest Service aircraft has been in and out of the airport since Sunday. It carries retardant and water to the nearby fires. A whopping 550,000 pounds of it.

Airport Director Bern Case said their runways have been ready for a plane like this for the last three years.

“we always wish for no forest fires but if we get a bad fire this asset makes it wonderful for the forest service because they can do so much more with it.”

The tanker sits on the east side of the airport making multiple trips throughout the day along with smaller air tankers.

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