With wildfires starting every day, resources stretched to limit
Portugal is entering August with one Canadair water-bomber ‘laid up’ with a technical fault that will see it inoperational for the foreseeable future, and three helicopters out of action (one due to the lack of an available pilot, another due to accident damage and a third because of a ‘serious engine problem’, according to Correio da Manhã).
At a point where wildfires are being reported by the day, authorities are struggling to keep up.
The country should have 76 firefighting air resources this summer, but it has been generally accepted that it may end up, on paper at least, having only 73. Of those 73, four are now ‘hors de combat’.
In this context, the Portuguese Air Force has stepped in, with one of its P-3C CUP+ planes which is now running ‘missions of vigilance’ to support ANEPC (the national civil protection authority), boosting missions already performed by OGASSA drones and Koala helicopters.
A statement from the Air Force has said that in the P-3C CUP+’s first eight hours of mission “new fires were detected and identified in Ermelo, Gandra and Santa Comba Dão, that were immediately reported to ANEPC”.
The P-3C CUP+ is a multi-engine aircraft that can be used for ‘information gathering, with night vision and target tracking capabilities using infrared technology, and with high autonomy, capable of flying day or night for more than 13 consecutive hours.
Source: Correio da Manhã/ SIC
