In partnership with the Wyoming State Forestry Department (WSFD), C/NCIA is excited to be the home of the State’s new helibase, adding to the growing list of wildland fire operations at the Airport. Last month the WSFD hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for the new helibase at C/NCIA, where Governor Gordon delivered the 2025 Wildlife Briefing, followed by remarks from Kelly Norris, State Forester; Chris Fallback, AFMO-Aviation (WSFD Helitack Program); Tom Camino, Johnson Co. Fire Warden, the Wyoming Rural Firefighters Association; and Kris Kirby, Acting BLM Director.
“Wyoming takes an ‘all-hands all-lands’ approach to wildland fire suppression. Interagency coordination is important as we continue to work together to protect our communities, infrastructure, watershed, and critical resources. I only have to go back to last year’s fire season to highlight the importance of this group of wildfire suppression entities who responded to our fires and kept our communities, citizens, lands, and themselves safe,” says Kelly Norris, State Forester.
A helibase is the primary location where helicopter-centered wildfire operations are conducted. Its goal is to provide safe, cost-effective, and efficient aerial wildland fire response. The key features of a helibase include fueling, parking, and maintenance. This location will also provide housing for the firefighters, known as the helitack crews, transported by helicopter to wildfires. The WSFD helibase will also house District 2 offices, allowing their helitack and district to be based at one central location and host small conferences. With five total WSFD districts, District 2 covers Natrona, Converse, Albany, Laramie, Carbon, Platte, and Goshen Counties.
Currently, the WSFD’s Helitack operations are based on state trust land, southeast of Glenrock; however, the facility has deteriorated, making it inadequate to support the helitack program. In 2024, the Wyoming Legislature approved funding to relocate the helibase to the Casper/Natrona County International Airport in conjunction with other federal and state fire suppression aviation efforts, such as the BLM SEAT/LAT base. Bringing helitack operations to C/NCIA grounds consolidates all state forestry aerial firefighting assets in Casper, enabling Wyoming to strengthen its capabilities to combat wildfires, provide cross-training capabilities, and offer housing for the helitack crew.
“We understand how important this helibase is going to be, being located here in Casper. Converse County was a great place, and a wonderful place for many years, but having a more central location, co-located with resources from the BLM, really makes us better able to respond across the state in so many ways,” says Governor Gordon.
According to a press release provided by the WSFD, in 2025, the Wyoming Legislature appropriated $7,516,286 from the Strategic Investment Planning Account (SIPA) to relocate the helibase to C/NCIA in conjunction with other federal and state fire suppression efforts. In 2024, the Bureau of Land Management contributed $4.2 million, and the U.S. Forest Service provided $2 million to fund improvements for an interagency air tanker base at the Casper airport. The WSFD’s contracted single-engine air tankers (SEATs) are also located at the C/NCIA grounds to provide statewide aerial firefighting efforts. The Wyoming Legislature allocated $1.1 million for the 2025/2026 biennium to fund the SEAT program.
A unique aspect of the WSFD helibase is the state’s requirement to include artwork within state buildings. Initiated by the Wyoming Art Council’s Art in Public Buildings program, the art is specially commissioned and selected for the captivating, dynamic experience it offers viewers, serving as placemaking markers to strengthen the identity of this specific location.
The two selected artworks, “Vigilance,” by Tiimo Mang out of Colorado, and “Fire Team,” by Robert Martinez of Wyoming, were chosen by a selection committee that is predominantly comprised of community members and stakeholders of the helibase project. Mang’s piece, inspired by the hovering flight of the American kestrel, depicts the bird clutching a Pulaski, a vital firefighting tool, as it watches over the facility.
“The kestrel is the only raptor that can hover for extended periods of time, and so they hover in place and hunt just looking down, and I just thought that crossed over into the helicopter services,” explains Mang. “I brought the kestrel into it and then the kestrel is carrying two Pulaski fire tools. I felt like that was what those guys do and I could boil it down for what their mission is.”
Located inside the helibase, Martinez’s work will layer portraits of today’s responders over historic Wyoming maps, blending the colors of sunsets and the fires they face.
The helibase project has been a collaborative effort from the start, from the blueprint to artwork selection. Bringing helitack operations to C/NCIA grounds consolidates all state forestry aerial firefighting assets in Casper, enabling Wyoming to strengthen its wildfire-fighting capabilities, provide cross-training, and offer housing for the helitack crew.
Construction for the helibase is underway and is anticipated to be completed in the fall of 2026.
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