Government to use C-130 Hercules plane to fight forest fires
The aircraft can drop up to 15,000 liters of water and will enter into service next Thursday from the María Dolores Airfield in Los Ángeles (Biobío Region). A Chinook heavy-lift helicopter with a capacity of 9,800 liters also will be added to the National Forestry Corporation (CONAF) fleet.
The government unveiled a new plane that will be used to enhance efforts to control forest fires during the 2022-2023 season: the C-130 Hercules. The announcement was made at an event attended by Agriculture Minister Esteban Valenzuela, Minister Secretary General of Government Camila Vallejo, CONAF Executive Director Christian Little and National Office for Emergencies (ONEMI) Acting Director Mauricio Tapia.
Minister Valenzuela discussed the aircraft’s precision and technical capacities. “US pilots have accumulated a great deal of experience in California and can fly the plane just 50 meters off the ground, which speaks to its precision. The agency responsible for firefighting, CONAF, will determine where it should drop water. Given its 15,000-liter capacity, it could be used in an area with two different hot spots and combining water and foam will help us fight fires with greater precision. It is much more efficient than other large planes, which must fly higher, causing a significant amount of the water to evaporate. This model is precise,” he noted.
The plane will enter into service on Thursday, December 22, 2022, following a technical adjustment and crew training period. It will be based at the María Dolores Airfield in Los Ángeles (Biobío Region). This will allow it to reach any part of the territory based on the location of emergencies. The plane will remain in Chile until mid-March 2023 or longer if the circumstances so warrant.
After touring the aircraft, Minister Vallejo noted that, “The State is constantly coordinating these efforts. We wish to recognize all of the preparation and work that our institutions have done under the leadership of ONEMI, the Agriculture Ministry and CONAF. I am deeply grateful for all of their work. We know that it is difficult to be a firefighter and that we have work to do in that regard, but we are making every effort to fight these fires. The State is renewing its call to focus on prevention.”
For his part, CONAF Executive Director Christian Little remarked, “CONAF is very concerned about conserving nature and biodiversity as well as infrastructure and human life. That is why resources like the C-130 Hercules and the 52 planes that we currently use have as their top priority providing safety to people and infrastructure.” He added, “The plane can be used in valleys as well as low-relief mountainous areas.”
The C-130 Hercules has 13 crew members: two pilots, one flight engineer, one pilot who will serve as a translator, and a ground team that consists of six mechanics and three fuel and water/retardant refuelers.
A heavy-lift Chinook helicopter that can drop 9,800 liters of water is currently in service in the Maule Region. That aircraft is based at the Panguilemo Airfield in the municipality of Talca.
The Plan for the 2022-2023 Season
The government designed a solid forest fire prevention and control plan to manage the 2022-2023 season. It features the deployment of a significant number of firefighters, aerial resources, specialized vehicles and technological equipment.
The $83.816 billion peso budget will allow it to hire staff for conventional, nocturnal and helitransported firefighting teams and to maintain an urban-rural interface, cisterns and mechanized equipment.
The effects of climate change are causing forest fires to be much more violent and harmful than they were a decade ago. Global warming also has increased the frequency of fires. The season used to run from October to March but has been extended to August through May. However, fires happen year-round.
CONAF works on various preventative actions throughout the year. These include the Prepared Communities program that trains urban-forest interface area residents; the identification of critical infrastructure (hospitals, schools, reservoirs, electrical facilities, roadways) in order to manage fuel and build firewalls; and increased research on the causes of forest fires in order to create a national plan with the public prosecution service and police agencies.