Ocean County, New Jersey. (May 1, 2025): As huge aircraft drop tons of water on wildfires raging across the country, one of the greatest firefighting weapons gets surprisingly little notice. In this photo by Seargeant Michael Schwenk, 1st Sergeant Timothy Witts, a crew chief with 1st Battalion, 150th Assault Helicopter Regiment, New Jersey Army National Guard, uses the Bambi Bucket system to extinguish flames from a UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter. The 150th was responding to requests from local authorities for help containing a 15,000-acre wildfire in Ocean City.
Based in Trenton, the New Jersey Guard also played a crucial role in the rescue and recovery efforts during the fire, which was the second worst in the last two decades. Comprised of more than 6,000 Citizen-Soldiers, the Guard has won acclaim for its role following Superstorm Sandy where more than 2,200 Soldiers and Airmen were mobilized. They rescued over 7,000 residents, provided security, transportation, and logistics, and delivered essential resources like meals and fuel. For their efforts, Guard members received the Humanitarian Service Medal.
The Ocean City fire was started by a couple of teenagers who used wooden pallets to build a bonfire. The youngsters were arrested and will stand trial for arson. The blaze
led to the evacuation of homes and put many in Southern Ocean County at risk as flames moved closer to homes and thick smoke filled the air.
The 150th used Bambi Buckets, a large, collapsible container designed to carry and deliver significant amounts of water onto targeted areas, to battle the fires. Unlike large tanker aircraft that drop massive amounts of water over large areas, the Bambi Buckett takes advantage of the precision and accuracy of the helicopter. Ordinarily trained as an attack squadron, the 150th is trained to use these devices to scoop up and drop enormous amounts of water onto wildfires. The buckets are suspended from the helicopter, filled with water from various sources like lakes or rivers, and then released by a pilot-controlled valve onto the fire below.
The blaze was eventually contained, and recovery efforts have begun to restore Ocean City to normalcy. The people of New Jersey can thank the pilots and crews of the New Jersey National Guard for their quick response.