Vertical Magazine Features the Bambi Bucket - SEI Industries Ltd.

Reprint of VOL. 7 No. 4 

North America’s Helicopter Authority 

www.verticalmag.com 

Bambi Bucket 

More...With Less 

August/September 2008 1

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More... 

With Less 

With wildland fires getting 

bigger and more frequent, 

and less money available 

in agency budgets to fight 

them, operators need a tool 

to help them do more. 

Story and photos by Jon Mayer 

With United States Forest Service (USFS) budgets 

being cut by nearly 10 percent, and unprecedented fire 

seasons becoming commonplace, fire managers are 

going to have to find more efficient ways of fighting 

fires with fewer resources at their disposal. 

Everyone in the industry, whether directly fighting fires 

or not, can already tell you what is needed to fight fire 

with a helicopter — a Bambi Bucket. For 25 years, the 

Bambi Bucket has remained an essential tool in the aerial 

fire fighting effort. Day after day, season after season, each 

bucket drops thousands of gallons of water, without fail and with 

relatively little maintenance required. But, can this stellar device be 

improved upon 

Addressing the Limitations 

The Bambi Bucket was designed by Don Arney to increase the accuracy of 

water drops and reduce turnaround times for the helicopter to reload at the nearest 

water source. Its one limitation has always been that if the pilot wants to maximize 

efficiency, he or she must choose a water source of sufficient depth (generally at least 

four feet) to fully submerge the bucket. Otherwise, they will leave the dip site with a partial 

load. Searching for water sources of this depth can dramatically reduce the number of 

potential dip sites available, especially when operating in the dry western areas of the U.S. 

Now, what if there was a way to make use of those shallower water sources significantly 

closer to the fire line Ironically, fixed, belly-mounted tanks hold the answer. These tanks 

make use of an ingenious snorkel pump that is lowered into any water source, shallow or 

deep, and “powerfills” the belly tanks. 

In 2001, SEI Industries of Delta, B.C., manufacturer of the Bambi Bucket, adapted this 

powerfill technology for its buckets. Not only is the option now available on all new buckets, 

model 2024 (240 US gallons) and larger, but existing buckets can be retrofitted to accept 

this snorkel-filling capability. 

SEI offers two versions of its PowerFill pump technology. The widely publicized Torrentula 

Valve Bambi Bucket has the PowerFill pump incorporated into the design of its variable-dump 

valve, and is ideal for larger buckets. The smaller, and far-less-known version is the Bambi 

PowerFill snorkel. It utilizes a one-way flapper valve built into fabric shell of the bucket, 

approximately 12 inches below the top rim. From this fitting, SEI bolted an external snorkel 

pump, which draws in water from the bottom 12 inches of the bucket, and requires as little as 

12 to 18 inches of water depth to achieve a completely full bucket. 

Real-World Proof 

The Bambi PowerFill is the snorkel my company, Heli-1 Corp of Reno, Nev., has been using for 

the last three fire seasons on our Bell 212HP with a 240-gallon Bambi Bucket. Our experience has 

been very positive, and in more ways than we could have foreseen. 

Everyone’s first reaction, upon seeing the pump for the 

first time, is to ask, “What’s that” This is followed by, 

“We’re not going to need that around here.” Close on the 

heels are statements that the snorkel looks heavier and 

bulkier than what they are used to. Granted, the sturdy 

pump makes the standard bucket 45 pounds heavier, but 

you can remove the bucket’s 20 pounds of lead ballast. 

(Lead is no longer needed to keep the bucket from spinning 

in forward flight as the offset mounting of the pump now 

performs this function.) Twenty-five pounds extra weight 

is a small price to pay for the efficiency gained. 

Once the snorkel pump is put to work, though, all skepticism 

is quickly put to rest. Even I, who believed in the 

snorkel idea, had no idea just how useful it would be on 

practically every fire we worked. It has gotten to the point 

that our pilots feel like they have one arm tied behind their 

back if they have to use a bucket without the pump. 

Our first experience putting the pump to good use came 

on its first assignment in the Kaibab National Forest on 

the north rim of the Grand Canyon in 2005. This particular 

area of the “Arizona Strip” is arid high-desert Pinion and 

Juniper trees with little water available. Due to the lack 

of available water, we were directed to a remote Pumpkin 

(SEI portable water tank), only to find it was only a third 

full, or about 2.5 feet deep. As we now do every time this 

happens, we laid the bucket on its side in the water and 

then stood it up. This got it about half full. We then moved 

the thumb-activated cyclic switch to turn on the 425-gallon-a-minute 

pump, and it topped off the bucket in about 

15 seconds. This effectively doubled the amount water 

delivered to that fire without adding extra flight time 

or expense. 

Imagine if each time, every helicopter left a pumpkin carrying 

10 to 50 percent additional water, on a fleet-wide 

basis. That would conservatively translate to millions of 

gallons of additional water delivered per season. With the 

extensive use of pumpkins as dip sites for water buckets, 

opposite For 25 years, the orange-colored Bambi Bucket has 

been an essential tool in fighting forest fires from the air. 

top right Heli-1 of Reno, Nev., has been using the PowerFill 

snorkel with a 240-gallon Bambi Bucket on its B412HP for the last 

three fire seasons. It has had great success in fighting fires with it, 

even outdelivering a Skycrane on one day. 

below The Bambi PowerFill snorkel can fill almost any size 

bucket from shallow water sources. Dan Sweet Photo 

this is an area the snorkel pump can 

consistently pay off. If 10 percent 

more water delivered is the equivalent 

of 10 percent more helicopters in the 

air (at no additional expense), then 

the Bambi PowerFill is truly a force 

multiplier that cannot be ignored. 

On another fire, in Sedona, Ariz., in 

2006, with a full pumpkin available, 

our Bell 212HP was out-delivering a 

Bell 205++ because its 324-gallon 

bucket was too large to fully submerge. 

It had to leave with a partially 

full bucket. 

An interesting thought to ponder 

is that all the assumptions made by 

interagency decision-makers for their 

best-value performance calculations 

(based on pennies per gallon of water 

delivered), are figured on full buckets. 

In fact, these numbers are valid only if 

everyone flies with their buckets full 

all the time. The government assumes 

this to be true, but, as we’ve seen, it’s 

frequently not the case. 

One of my favorite stories about SEI’s snorkel happened 

in 2006 in Grants, N.M. Over the radio, a local engine 

captain, enroute to the fire, radioed our helitack personnel 

with the message, “Don’t bother hooking up the bucket, 

because there is no water around here.” But, he was too 

late, and we didn’t know any better. Shortly after his radio 

call, our pilot on the job, Eddie Thoroughgood, emerged 

over the fire, dumping his first full bucket of water on the 

flames — in full view of the flabbergasted engine captain. 

The fire was out shortly thereafter… but maybe we should 

have just let his crew dig line and throw dirt at it 

Just Add a Long Line 

When the efficiency of the snorkel is combined with 

a 100-foot (or more) long line to access streams, forest 

ponds confined by trees or any other normally inaccesible 

water source, anything “wet” becomes fair game and 

maximum efficiency is sure to follow. 

This was taken to the extreme in Yosemite National Park 

in California in 2006 when working a fire at the top of El 

Capitan. We were able to utilize a creek running on top 

of El Cap that was 200 feet from the edge of the fire line. 

With designated dip site for Skycranes a 20-minute turn 

away, our Bell 212HP out-delivered a Skycrane that day! 

Regarding the assignments worked in and around the 

Sierra National Forest in California, Patrick Basch, a USFS 

forest aviation officer said this about the Bambi PowerFill 

Day after day, season after season, each bucket drops 

thousands of gallons of water, without fail and with 

relatively little maintenance required. But, can this stellar 

device be improved upon 

2 verticalmag.com August/September 2008 3

Company Profile 

SEI INdustries 

TOP RIGHT The right tool for the 

job. It's in areas like this where the 

Bambi Bucket attached to the end of 

a 100-foot (plus) long line proves its 

worth over tank-equipped helicopters. 

Dan Sweet Photo 

below The PowerFill snorkel allows 

the Bambi Bucket to be fully filled, even 

when using partially filled Pumpkins. 

snorkel: “This added efficiency enabled 

the flight crew to fill complete buckets 

of water from ponds, streams and 

depressions with six inches or more 

water depth. Often, this capability 

enabled this aircraft to produce more 

gallons delivered per hour flight time 

by a factor of four compared to like 

model aircraft with standard Bambi 

Bucket configuration. . . . Other benefits 

were reduced exposure to [the] public when 

water-point options were in close proximity to 

the incident, in case of national parks or wilderness 

areas where aircraft noise and visual effects play on 

public concern . . . .” 

Because the snorkel is always attached to the bucket, it 

is always ready when needed (which, in my experience, 

is conservatively 80 percent of the time). The bucket still 

operates like other Bambi Buckets when the pump is not 

needed. And, if the pump ever became inoperative, 

the bucket will still work normally (unlike a fixed tank). 

At Heli-1, we have had no experience with failures to this 

point, and have not required any unscheduled maintenance 

in three full fire seasons of use. 

Tanks But No Tanks 

Okay, some of you are probably wondering how the 

Bambi PowerFill snorkel stacks up to a typical fixed 

belly tank. 

Fixed tanks excel in both the wildland urban interface 

and grass and brush fire environments. They are used 

primarily for connecting “trail drops” and cooling the fire 

line down for the ground crews. Buckets, on the other 

hand, excel in forest/heavy timber and mountainous terrain 

environments, concentrating on precision drops to 

hot spots, as well as making trail drops. 

Heli-1 has a fixed belly tank 

as vendor-offered additional 

equipment to our exclusive-use 

fire contract H-510 in Chester, 

Calif. During the outbreak of 

the October 2007 Southern 

California fires, our belly tank 

was requested and supplied. 

We found, though, that 

once our tank arrived, most 

aircraft on scene were already 

“tanked.” This made our 

longline- and snorkel-equipped 

Bambi Bucket somewhat of 

a novelty. That novelty soon 

turned into name-requests for 

H-510, due to its versatility and 

ability to remain well above 

the fire and not fan the flames. 

Even though most of the tanked 

helicopters were hydrant filling, 

our turn times were still 

quicker, as we were able to 

access numerous neighborhood swimming pools. 

Once the Santa Ana event subsided and fires were under 

control, mop-up operations began, with precision drops on 

hot spots the order of the day. And, even here, tanked helicopters 

could not keep up with the snorkel/long 

line combination. 

The Bambi PowerFill snorkel also has no downtime to 

reconfigure the aircraft for long-line/cargo missions. We 

have found the snorkel will do almost everything the fixed 

tank can, with the ease of deployment of a bucket. The 

fixed tank has in fact become a monkey on our back due to 

the difficulty in transporting, mounting, dismounting and 

handling of such a bulky and heavy piece of equipment. 

After having used the Bambi PowerFill snorkel extensively 

for three fire seasons throughout the western U.S., 

it is my opinion this additional capability, now available 

to enhance the performance of the battle-tested Bambi 

Bucket, is a winning combination that cannot be beat. It 

is the most important (and overlooked) product available 

to the aerial fire fighting industry since the Bambi Bucket 

itself first arrived. My only complaint is it’s not available 

on buckets smaller than the 240-gallon model. It would be 

great if high-performance light helicopters, such as our 

Bell 206L-4, using buckets ranging in size from 120 to 210 

gallons, could also benefit from the Bambi PowerFill snorkel. 

A helicopter pilot for 22 years, Heli-1 president Jon Mayer 

has logged over 5,800 accident-free 

flight hours and holds an FAA airline 

transport pilot license for both helicopters 

and airplanes. Jon is also an FAA 

airframe & powerplant mechanic, and 

can be reached at jon@heli-1.com. 

Out in the 

Wilderness 

From fire fighting 

buckets to environmental 

protection, SEI has made a 

name for itself creating 

products that allow 

companies to work in and 

protect our wildlands. 

Story by Mike Reyno 

Photos by Graham Lavery 

When the Bambi Bucket went into production 25 years ago, 

its inventor, SEI Industries founder Don Arney, couldn’t have 

foreseen the big orange bucket would become synonymous 

with helicopter fire fighting worldwide. 

In fact, it was the Bambi Bucket that kick-started SEI, based 

in Delta, B.C., into the design, manufacturing, marketing and 

commissioning of structural-engineered fabric products. These 

product lines are not only popular in the aviation industry, but 

cover the remote site logistics supply, environmental and fire 

fighting industries. 

A tour through the company’s 60,000-square-foot manufacturing 

facility gives you a better indication of just how SEI is utilizing 

its engineered fabrics, and a lot of technology, to develop 

a variety of unique products. Currently, the company has in 

place new computerized laser cutters (each bucket used to be 

cut by hand); electronic radio-frequency welding equipment for 

industrial coated fabrics; metal welding, sewing and machining 

equipment; an in-house fabrics testing laboratory; an 11,000 

Cdn gallon (13,200 US gallon) test tank with crane; and inhouse 

computer systems. But, it all began with just one idea. 

The Original Bucket 

Folklore will have you believe the bucket got its name from 

a sultry waitress named Bambie, who worked at a famous 

firefighter bar in Boise, Idaho. In fact, Arney originally planned 

to call it the SEI-Flex, and the real, though less exciting, story 

opposite It was the Bambi Bucket that kick-started SEI into structuralengineered 

fabric products. 


Company Profile 

SEI INdustries 

came out in an interview with a B.C. university magazine 

in 2003: “He [CBC’s Bob Fortune] interviewed me on a 

show about inventors and we became friends. One night 

over dinner, he asked me what I was going to call it. I 

didn’t want to talk business, so I said, ‘The Bambi Bucket’ 

— I was just being goofy. But he said it was a great name 

and he was relentless in pushing me to keep it.” 

Back then, fire fighting buckets were nothing new, but 

what Arney was able to perfect that others couldn’t was 

a valve to deliver a concentrated column of water. Today, 

despite the onslaught of new competition, SEI still controls 

over 90 percent of the fire fighting bucket market. 

Since the Bambi Bucket was first introduced in 1983, 

not much has changed to the water-carrying vessel itself. 

“We still have customers sending us in their 20 year-old 

burgundy-colored fabric buckets for repairs,” said Shawn 

Bethel, manager of SEI’s fire fighting division. “All we typically 

have to do is change a few components and these old 

Bambies are fire ready!” 

Bethel joined SEI in December 2007, after 22 years 

with B.C. Ministry of Forests and Range Fire Protection 

Program, including 12 years in its rappel program. He was 

also a provincial fire control officer, and worked on incident 

management teams. “I guess you can say that I know 

the Bambi Bucket well,” he quipped. “The bucket has been 

around for so long — people know it, and they know what 

they are getting when they order a Bambi Bucket. It’s a 

well-proven product.” 

An Expanding Line 

Available in over 20 different sizes ranging from its smallest 

BB6072 72 US gallon (270 liter) bucket, to the HL9800 

2,600 gallon (9,840 liter) version, SEI sells about 400 buckets 

a year. The company has also added 12 options that 

can be added to its bucket line, which, said Bethel, ranges 

from “the variable-drop Aqualanche valve, PowerFill snorkel 

and PowerFill Torrentula, to Sacksafoam foam injection, 

FireSock, Mission Tracker and Remote Load Control.” 

SEI continues to look at new accessories, options and 

capabilities, including its latest offering, the Mission 

Tracker. (A beta version of the product was launched at 

Heli-Expo 2008 in Houston, Texas, with a hard launch 

scheduled for this fall.) The Mission Tracker has features 

like GPS, data recording, electronic load control and preset 

split drops. Said Bethel, “Our new Mission Tracker goes 

beyond knowing where you’ve been dropping loads. It 

will track all types of missions from aerial ignition runs, 

infrared scanning, and locations of helipads, fuel caches… 

everything you’ve done and where you have been. At the 

end of the day, your missions can be simply downloaded 

to a memory stick and you can see what you’ve done, all 

toward maximizing operational efficiencies.” 

Other new capabilities SEI is examining include innovations 

that improve upon delivery of foam and gel products 

in the Bambi Bucket systems for interface fire and community 

protection. “We are always working with our customers 

and fire control agencies to incorporate their feedback 

toward improving what we are doing and developing new 

products to meet the demand of the industry” said Bethel. 

The gel bucket, though, might actually have the biggest 

success in North America. “We really do see gel as the 

new way of fighting fires, because it has much more capability 

over foam,” said Bethel, explaining that gel acts as 

a water enhancer. “When gel dries, it can be re-hydrated, 

Above SEI recently installed a new 

laser cutter for cutting Bambi Buckets 

in a mere few minutes, versus the 

few hours it used to take to cut the 

material by hand. 

below SEI manufactures the bucket 

in 20 different sizes, from 72 US 

gallons to 2,600 gallons. It sells 

about 400 buckets a year. 

Mike Reyno Photo 

"Within helicopter circles, SEI, which employs about 100 

people, is best known for the Bambi Bucket, but it represents 

only about half the company’s revenues." 

top left With new regulations 

coming in the U.S. and Canada, 

SEI's remote site division expects 

to see growth in its secondary 

containment products. 

top right SEI is marketing its 

Red Dragon aerial ignition device, 

and Dragon Eggs, as having an 

almost zero failure rate. 

above SEI sells approximately 

400 buckets a year in all sizes. 

making your water go further. It’s far superior to foam in 

many ways and with new technologies meeting or in some 

cases exceeding environmental regulations, it has good 

potential to be embraced by more agencies in the industry.” 

Bethel acknowledged that SEI is exploring other options, 

too, including the possibility of a lightweight fixed Bambi 

Tank. Unfortunately, he won’t divulge any more information 

than to say the company has a close eye on the tank 

market. In the meantime, SEI, through its Bambi Bucket 

product line, continues to provide its customers with their 

choice of single- or multi-dump buckets and the many innovative 

options that go with them. 

Bethel said that one of the most sought after add-ons 

is the PowerFill product. Available both internally in the 

multi-dump valve or as an externally mounted snorkel on 

the standard valve buckets, PowerFill is retrofittable and 

provides bottom-filling capability in shallow water sources 

at a rate of 450 gallons US a minute. The technology is 

getting gleaming reviews. Said Wayne Coulson, president 

and CEO of Coulson Aircrane, "For the past three seasons 

in Australia, the Bambi Torrentula Bucket with Powerfill 

accessory has done an excellent job for us with 100 percent 

availability over several hundred hours of operation." 

Other new non-bucket related fire fighting products 

include the Red Dragon aerial ignition device. Controlled 

using a remote, the Red Dragon uses a variable sevenspeed 

tether, which allows it to adjust to the dispensing 

speed, rather than having the helicopter changing flight to 

adjust to the machine’s drop rate. This enables dispersal of 

SEI’s Dragon Eggs in perfect concentration levels according 

to the terrain. 

Other Sectors 

Within helicopter circles, SEI, which employs about 100 

people, is best known for the Bambi Bucket, but it represents 

only about half the company’s revenues. The remainder 

comes from its remote site division. Headed up by 

Paul Reichard, this division encompasses four key brands: 

Remote Site (liquid logistics); Environmental (primary and 

secondary containment of hazardous liquids); FireFlex 

(ground fire fighting and water storage equipment); and 

Emergency Response (chemical, biological, radiological, 

nuclear decontamination). 

“Only about 15 percent of our remote site division is 

related to helicopters,” said Reichard. However, with 

new regulations in the United States and Canada, this 

is expected to increase. He added, “There are new environmental 

regulations that include a requirement for fuel 

transfer areas to have secondary containment, which will 

be a big issue for fuel handling in remote locations.” The 

new regulation has existed in the U.S., but has not as of 

yet been enforced by the Environmental Protection Agency. 

Reichard said SEI has also recently revamped its helipumps, 

which are now small enough to fit into a briefcase, 

and has made its sphere-shaped Fuel Easy more durable. 

“We’ve also launched our three series of fuel tanks 

on the ground.” Instead of a standard fuel tank for all 

environments, SEI is offering a version for each type of 

climate: the Arctic King, Jungle King and Desert King. Said 

Reichard, “We will become the leader in extreme climate 

fuel storage.” 

Having both a fire fighting and remote site/environmental 

division with approximately 40 different product lines 

combined is a big part of SEI Industries’ success. The 

company reached record sales in 2007, and has continued 

to hold its place in the market as the industry leader for 

the past 25 years. 


S i m p l i c i t y 

D i v e r s i t y 

Reliability 

Toll Free: 1.866.43.BAMBI 

E-mail: sales@sei-ind.com 

WWW.BAMBIBUCKET.COM 

7400 Wilson Avenue 

Delta, British Columbia 

Canada V4G 1E5 

Tel: 1.866.570.FIRE 

Suite #3, Beaumont House 

Hastings, Christ Church 

Barbados 

Tel: 1.866.43.BAMBI

Vertical Magazine Features the Bambi Bucket - SEI Industries Ltd.

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