SACRAMENTO, Calif.- A C-130H assigned to North Carolina's Air National Guard 145th Airlift Wing taxies down the ramp July 1 at McClellan Airfield in Sacramento, Calif., after completing a successful mission of dropping fire retardant on the Piute fire burning in California's Sequoia National Forest. The 302nd Air Expeditionary Group's C-130 aircraft include aircraft from two Air National Guard units, the 153rd Airlift Wing of Cheyenne, Wyo., and the 145th AW of Charlotte, N.C. and one Air Force Reserve unit, the 302nd AW from Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. The C-130 aircraft's deployed location in Sacramento allows the aircraft to fly with maximum fuel loads and operate MAFFS with a nearly full fire retardant capacity, flying support of California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and U.S. Forest Service operations. The 302nd AEG provides unique capabilities and is part of a unified military support effort of U.S. Northern Command to provide assistance to the U.S. Forest Service, CAL FIRE, and the National Interagency Fire Center. USNORTHCOM continues to closely monitor the California wildfires to anticipate additional requests for Department of Defense assistance to local, federal, and state civil authorities. (U.S. Air Force Photo by Staff Sergeant Luke Johnson)