(CNN) -- A whirling black and yellow mechanical beast swoops in to battle a deadly wildfire. For victims, it's like the cavalry coming to the rescue. They call it the Firehawk.Â Los Angeles County Fire Department senior pilot Tom Short talks about this helicopter like it's a super chopper. "Having been in all of the aircraft that are out there fighting fires, the Firehawk is the best firefighting machine I've ever seen -- simply because of what it does," Short told CNN on the phone this week. "It does everything: fire, rescue and air ambulance." Basically it's a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter outfitted with a giant water tank. This thing is engineered to get hellishly close to the heat of a raging inferno. Its dual souped-up engines can lift 9,000 pounds -- about the same weight as a large recreational travel trailer.
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The Los Angeles County Fire Department uses three Firehawks to combat wildfires
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Pilot Tom Short worries that California's drought will make for a difficult wildfire season
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Firehawk, a version of the Army's Black Hawk, can load 1,000 gallons of water in 60 seconds
A firefighting super-chopper is especially valuable now, as @placeholder braces for what may be one of the worst wildfire seasons on record.