A water bombing helicopter based at Central Coast Airport is on standby at Warnervale if the region is threatened by bushfires this Summer.
Central Coast Aero Club member and keen aerial photographer, Allan Cooper, said the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) has a long history of incorporating airborne capabilities into their firefighting strategies.
“This Summer will be the fourth year of a pre-determined dispatch trial where aircraft are activated with the initial call to bush and grass fires in rural fire districts during elevated fire danger conditions,” he said.
“With 30-years-plus experience in firefighting, the McDermott Aviation water bombing helicopter, now based at the Warnervale airport, is contracted through The National Aerial FireFighting Centre NSW to the RFS.
“The service includes a mobile refuelling capability that can support the aircraft either at the airport or from a forward deployment location.
“On a day of elevated fire danger, the helicopter can be airborne within 15 minutes of receiving a call from the RFS Command Centre providing the pilot with the co-ordinates of a fire.
“The pilot is then able to accurately fly to the designated point, similar to a vehicle GPS where the latitude longitude is in the background, translated on the screen to an address for the driver.”
Cooper said with the advantage of flight the helicopter is often first on scene (particularly for fires in remote locations) and can slow the spread of a fire.
“The pilot is also able to assess the situation from his vantage point in the air, communicating valuable information back to the control centre to maximise the deployment of firefighters on the ground,” he said.
Cooper said the helicopter operated with a crew of three – the pilot, supported on the ground by an engineer and re-fueller.
“(It) is able fly for 2.5 hours enabling coverage of the whole Central Coast,” he said.
“Its water tank has a capacity of 2,700 litres and can be refilled in 30 seconds from any suitable fresh water source, golf courses, rivers and lakes etc.
“In the absence of a local natural supply the RFS ground crews can quickly set up a 10,000 litre ‘collar dam’ on open ground in an area safe for the experienced helicopter pilot to hover as low as 1.5m.
“In this event RFS road tankers would park nearby to refill the collar dam (think of a massive inflatable kids’ swimming pool) as required.”
The McDermott Aviation helicopter and crews fly in support of firefighting authorities including NSW RFS, National Parks and Wildlife, Forestry Corporation and Fire and Rescue NSW.
For information on bushfire safety visit the NSW RFS website https://rfs.nsw.gov.au