As L.A. County considers the future of Whiteman Airport, it’s important to remember the facility’s essential role in emergency response and regional transportation — an asset that has proven its worth when it mattered most.
Last year, when the Hurst Fire exploded across Sylmar, Whiteman Airport proved essential to emergency response. Cal Fire needed to stage helicopters to contain the fire, which had grown from 10 acres to over 500 acres overnight. The Van Nuys and Burbank airports were already at capacity with other firefighting operations. Whiteman provided the critical staging base. This facility’s proximity allowed faster turnaround and rapid refueling for continuous response.
This was not theoretical emergency planning. This was a proven public safety asset performing exactly when the community needed it most.
Whiteman Airport supports wildfire response, law enforcement operations, emergency management, and regional transportation. The L.A. County Fire Department operates its helicopter base there with maintenance resources and training facilities. In a state facing deepening wildfire risk and the certainty of future earthquakes, these capabilities are essential infrastructure. When disaster strikes — whether wildfire or earthquake — this facility becomes the operational backbone for search and rescue, emergency medical transport and coordinated response.
In a region facing growing disaster risks, closing such a critical facility would be shortsighted.
Beyond emergency response, Whiteman sustains meaningful economic activity. The airport supports $110 million in economic activity within the county annually, along with jobs in flight instruction, aircraft maintenance, aviation services and related fields. It handles over 126,000 annual operations and is home to nearly 500 based aircraft.
The airport hosts flight training through Glendale Community College and Vista Aviation, creating pathways for people to build careers in aviation. The Civil Air Patrol and Experimental Aircraft Association programs operate from the facility, with the Young Eagles program providing free flights to young people ages 8-17. The U.S. Marshals Service operates from Whiteman. An aerial surveying company conducts mapping and research. These aren’t abstract numbers — they’re jobs, training and community services that work today.
Beyond today’s needs, Whiteman sits at the intersection of Southern California’s next transportation revolution. Advanced Air Mobility — utilizing quiet, emission-free electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft — is expected to transform regional transportation over the next decade. Whiteman’s proximity to Los Angeles makes it ideally positioned for AAM as it is adopted in metropolitan areas, here and elsewhere, and integrated with existing multimodal transportation infrastructure. Closing the facility would eliminate a strategic asset precisely when its value to the community around it is set to grow even larger.
Positioning California as a leader in aviation innovation requires maintaining and strengthening facilities like Whiteman. Investing in the airport today — upgrading infrastructure and supporting educational programs — positions the region to lead in AAM.
California faces rising wildfire risk and the certainty of future seismic events. In that environment, communities need every available tool to respond when disaster strikes. Whiteman Airport has already shown what that looks like in practice.
The question now is whether L.A. will recognize that value before it is gone. That means treating Whiteman as the public infrastructure it is: investing in the facility, strengthening the emergency-response capabilities it supports, and sustaining educational and workforce programs that serve the community.
Whiteman is not surplus land. It is a working public asset that helps protect lives, trains the next generation of aviation professionals, and expands the region’s capacity to respond when emergencies hit.
Los Angeles County should protect it accordingly.
William Rollins Murrow
President, Emergency Volunteer Air Corps
