From staff and wire reports

BOISE – Airport officials in some states face jet fuel shortages and are concerned they’ll have to wave off planes and helicopters that drop fire retardant during what could be a ferocious wildfire season, potentially endangering surrounding communities.

Sporadic shortages at some tanker bases in Oregon and Utah have already been reported. However, similar shortages do not extend to Washington, said Joe Smillie, spokesman for the Washington state Department of Natural Resources.

“We don’t have any concerns,” said Smillie, who was aware of reported fuel shortages in other states. “We have contracts with jet fuel suppliers and they have plenty of stuff ready for us.”

That fuel supply is critical as hot and conditions in the Northwest have created the conditions conducive for major fire activity.

For example, Smillie said from 2011 to 2020 Washington has averaged about 317 fire starts at this point in the season. So far in 2021, state crews have responded to 630.

But fuel shortages reported in other states have not added to the problem, he said.

“As far as Washington is concerned,” Smillie said, “we are confident we will have enough fuel supply.”

Elsewhere in the country, the worry is that multiple bases go dry simultaneously during what is shaping up to be a very busy wildfire season in the U.S. West.

Tanker bases in Arizona, where many large fires are burning, have also had jet fuel supply issues in the last month.

“We haven’t run into that before,” said Jessica Gardetto, a National Interagency Fire Center spokeswoman in Boise, and a former wildland firefighter. “It’s a scary thought, with all the shortages going on right now.”

Airport officials, aviation supply companies and jet fuel transport companies said jet fuel demand declined sharply and supply chains atrophied during the coronavirus pandemic.

They have yet to bounce back in the western U.S. even as the economy zooms ahead and more passengers flock to airports for long-delayed trips.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, jet fuel supplied in the U.S. in 2020 fell 38% compared to 2019 pre-pandemic levels.

Jet fuel demand has increased about 26% since the start of this year, though it hasn’t reached 2019 levels.

The administration’s Weekly Petroleum Status Report for July 2 shows demand at 78% of 2019 levels. That’s up from 44% of 2019 levels for the same time period in 2020 when the pandemic had taken hold.

Overall, the administration said, jet fuel inventories in the U.S. are at or above the five-year average, except in the Rocky Mountains, where they are 1% below.

That appears to point to the supply chain as the potential problem, various industry officials said.

“COVID, it lulled everybody to sleep,” said Mark Haynes, vice president of sales for Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Avfuel Corp., which supplies jet fuel across the U.S., including to about half of the nation’s 44 air tanker bases operated by the U.S. Forest Service or U.S. Bureau of Land Management in western states. Some states also maintain tanker bases.

“Our business went to about zero,” Haynes said. “A lot of trucking companies had to lay off (jet fuel) drivers. What happened with the opening up of the U.S., demand for leisure travel has boomed.”

Chris Kunkle is vice president of operations for the Central Coast Jet Center in Santa Maria, California.

It’s a private airport known as a fixed based operator that provides services for private jets, such as refueling.

It also serves as a Forest Service air tanker base, and is large enough for DC-10 air tankers.

“In the blink of an eye, we can have a fire here within our response area that can bring in one to three DC-10s and a bunch of variable-sized air tankers,” he said. “We can go from a couple thousand gallons a day to 50,000 to 60,000 gallons.”

He said he likes to keep 60,000 gallons at the airport but is having trouble with limited deliveries. He fears running out if a large fire breaks out in the area.

Decisions on where the fuel goes can be difficult. Commercial jet travel can be a huge economic driver in many communities. Air ambulances also need fuel. Industry officials said problems at large commercial carriers this year appear to have more to do with worker and pilot shortages than lack of jet fuel.

Jeff Cyphers of Stockton, California-based Humboldt Pacific LCC, said he’s expanding the company’s fleet of 20 jet fuel tanker trucks to transport fuel to West Coast states and, during the wildfire season, Idaho, Montana and Utah. He said there’s currently both a shortage of drivers as well as jet fuel to deliver.

“The supply chain right now is probably the most fragile I’ve ever seen in my years of experience,” said Cyphers, who has been in the industry since 1986.