FIREFIGHTING helicopters will take to the sky at night this summer after a successful trial, however, Emergency Management Victoria has confirmed the resource would not have been able to fly during the devastating St Patrick’s Day bushfires.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Emergency Management Commissioner Craig Lapsley said the Civil Aviation Safety Authority had approved the “game-changing” night time firebombing operations.
It comes after bushfires tore through the south-west, destroying 26 homes and more than 50 sheds on March 17. Winds of up to 140 kilometres an hour on the night the fires started would have kept the helicopters on the ground. Coulson Aviation and Kestrel Aviation will undertake the night aerial fire suppression operations, and have been part of a trial led by EMV in Ballarat.
Mr Lapsley said the approval was a “fantastic outcome”.
“The ability to fight fires at night is a game-changer,” he said.
“It is a key milestone in an ongoing trial that Victoria has been undertaking with both operators to develop capability to attack wildfires in the late afternoon and into the night using night vision goggles.”
Mr Lapsley said policies and procedures now needed to be developed to ensure operations could be undertaken in real fire situations.
“We’ll continue to test into the next summer exactly what conditions and processes are required for night operations to be undertaken safely using the helicopters that have been approved.”
There are a number of limitations for aircraft at day and night, which include smoke and wind. An EMV spokeswoman said there was strict restrictions on their flying capabilities.
The ability to fight fires at night is a game-changer
- Craig Lapsley
“A lot of work needs to be put in place for approvals before the aircraft can get off the ground,” she said.