The summer of 2024 had been a crucible that forged legends from ordinary pilots and reshaped the very nature of aerial firefighting across the American West. As autumn's first cool winds swept across California's Central Valley, the men and women of DC-10 Aerial Firefighting Systems LLC could look back on a season that had tested every limit of their courage, skill, and equipment.

From the towering infernos that had threatened to consume entire communities in Oregon to the wind-driven monsters that had raced across Southern California's urban interface, their fleet of converted jumbo jets had stood as the final line of defense when all else failed. Thirty DC-10s now bore the scars and honor marks of battles fought in skies choked with smoke and heat, their bellies having delivered millions of gallons of life-saving retardant to fires that had seemed unstoppable.