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Firefighting plane moves to Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport

The U.S. Forest Service has moved a large water tanker to the Valley to prepare for wildfire season. 

A DC-10 that is usually based north of San Bernardino , Calif.  is now at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport . Clay Templin of the Tonto National Forest said the plane carries more than 20,000 gallons of fire suppressant.

“It gives us some capacity that we don’t have with our other air tankers that are within the fleet or the contracts that are available to us," Templin said.

Templin said the plane is a former passenger jet that was converted to serve as an air tanker. It’s already been used to fight two wildfires burning in New Mexico .