Aerial Firefighting A Strategic Perspective

David Pearce Manager State Aviation Operations South Australian Country Fire Service

The Bluff, Pt. Pirie. Bangor Fire February 2014

Air Fleet and Firefighting Capacity

National Aerial Firefighting Centre (NAFC)

Managing Community Expectations

Aerial Fleet and Firefighting Capability

Front line aircraft

Single Engine Air Tanker (SEAT)

High volume type 1 helicopter

CFS front line aircraft Single Engine Air Tanker 3200 litre tank (3.2 tonne) 1600hp jet turbine Speed 360km/h

CFS front line aircraft High volume Helicopter 7500 litre tank (7.5 t) 2 x 4500hp jet turbines Speed 170km/h

Naracoorte for Air Observation Millicent for Air Attack Supervision Port Lincoln for Air Observation

3 x Cessna 182s

Woodside and Port Lincoln for Air Attack Supervision

1 x Cessna 208B Turbine Caravan

2 x AS 350 Squirrel

Woodside for Air Attack Supervision

1 x S64E Aircrane

Brukunga fire bombing

10 x AT 802F Single Engine Air Tanker

Woodside - 4 aircraft Primary Response Zone Mount Lofty Ranges Port Lincoln - 2 aircraft Primary Response Zone Lower Eyre Peninsula Mount Gambier - 2 aircraft Primary Response Zone Lower South East Woodside - 2 aircraft Secondary response zone

Total aerial firefighting fleet of 17 aircraft

11 fire bombing aircraft providing a first strike capability of 40,000 litres

6 observation and coordination aircraft

located around the State

Ability to relocate aerial firefighting resources in line with actual fire risk

34 recognised aerial firefighting bases

14 Helibases throughout the Mt lofty Ranges

Aerial firefighting fleet selection Some of the principles used for fleet configuration in South Australia are; Any fleet changes must provide increased support to ground firefighting resources

The types and number of aircraft must enhance and support the initial attack strategy through speed of response and total litres delivered (initial total drop capacity)

The types and number of aircraft selected must enhance the capacity to support the broader areas of the State

The types and number of aircraft selected must enhance the ability to resource sustained and multiple aerial firefighting operations

Essentially NAFC was formed in 2003 because the State and Territory governments and the Australian Government saw an opportunity to better utilise highly specialised, highly mobile, relatively scarce and relatively expensive aerial firefighting resources through national collaboration and cooperation.

The South Australian Country Fire Service is a full member of NAFC.

NAFC leases and coordinates a national fleet of highly specialised firefighting aircraft that are readily available for use by State and Territory emergency service and land management agencies across Australia.

NAFC facilitates the sharing of these aerial firefighting resources between States and Territories during the fire season.

Managing Community Expectations

In South Australia, the role of aircraft is integrated within the overall task of bushfire suppression. Aircraft alone do not ‘put out fires’. In order to be effective they must always be deployed in support of ground-based strategies and tactics.

Aircraft support

Firefighters

suppress

Managing Community Expectations

The most common misconceptions are;

Aircraft alone extinguish bushfires.

Aircraft can bomb at night and in low visibility conditions.

The bigger the aircraft, the bigger the fire it can extinguish.

CFS will have aircraft at every fire.

Of course, there is always a very helpful member of the public who has the best idea for putting out fires! What about old

Cessna engines from the Mohave Desert mounted on 6x4 trailers. Then set them up ahead of the fire to blow it back on itself

Fuel air bombs. If we drop a really big fuel/air bomb on a fire it will consume all oxygen and extinguish the fire………..

Sand balls, lets use foundry sand and form it into balls and drop it on the fire. It used to work when I went to primary school in the fire bucket at the front of the classroom!

This may be a crazy thought and I am not sure of the effects of a low level sonic boom from an F18a fighter. Would this provide some sort of huge impact sufficient to blow out some fires?

Overhead sprinklers between helicopters, if we put big sprinklers on a hose between two helicopters it will put out the fire. It works in buildings doesn’t it? Thankyou…..Any

questions?