Earlier this week a Rand Corporation report claimed there are more effective means of fighting fires, and its lead author explains how.

Edward Keating is a senior economist at the Rand Corporation in Santa Monica, Calif. He says that according to his research two-thirds of fires in the past decade were within ten miles of a body of water. Keating says this is an interesting statistic because planes that scoop up water and dump them on fires are better than the air tankers that are currently used. He said water scoopers have to make more trips than tankers, but since they do not have to land to refill on retardant they work faster. Keating says ultimately he’s only an adviser, so his report is only a suggestion. He believes the best move would be to use scoopers when there’s a viable body of water and tankers when there isn’t.