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HELENA - Montana's wildfire suppression agency was already planning to scale back its use of slurry bombers when federal fire bosses announced this week they were grounding the nation's fleet of such World War II-era air tankers.

Bud Clinch, head of the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, said Montana has always been a "cautious user" of the bombers, which drop bright red flame retardant on wildfires. Clinch said the agency was not considering eliminating the tankers entirely, but had decided to use them more judiciously this year because slurry drops are expensive and only effective in a few situations.

The U.S. Forest Service announced Tuesday it was terminating its contract with 33 air tankers, citing safety of the aging aircraft. The planes had been used to fight fire in Montana and other states for years. The announcement leaves Montana with no slurry bombers, a situation that Clinch said could be compounded by the scarcity of Montana National Guard helicopters, which have been used to fight fire in the past and may now be needed in the war in Iraq.

"We don't know right now what number of those will be available to us," he said.

Clinch said it's difficult to predict now what impact - if any - the loss of the slurry bombers will have on Montana. The loss of the bombers "may go unnoticed," he said, adding that the state would have nonetheless preferred to know bombers are available, even if they're not needed.

Slurry bombers are most effective when they drop retardant on the edge of a fire, especially near homes. Sometimes, especially during heavy fire seasons, fire bosses overuse the planes and "the effectiveness is questionable," Clinch said.

"Unfortunately, when you have a large conflagration taking place, people get a little overanxious in their (retardant drop) order," he said. "You have quite a number of planes and quite a lot of retardant and a lot of expense can be incurred in a short time."

For now, the state is making contingency plans to make up for the loss of the bombers. The U.S. Forest Service did not ground a fleet of water and foam-dropping planes from Minnesota and North Carolina the state brought in last year. The owners of those planes have made verbal promises to come to Montana again should they be needed. The state is also looking for privately owned helicopters or other state-owned helicopters that might be able to make water drops.

"It isn't as though this is going to catch anybody off guard," Clinch said.

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