General News
4 December, 2024
Choppers livestream bushfires to help firefighters build plan of attack
Helicopters readied as the bushfire danger intensifies in summer.
Bendigo's air attack firefighting team are now equipped with a livestreaming camera to help firefighters back on the ground make the best decisions during this year's bushfire season.
The two helicopters, Helitak 335 and Firebird 305, work in tandem to drop up to 3500 litres of water during central Victoria's bushfire season.
Luke Waterson, an air attack supervisor with the CFA, said Bendigo's natural terrain meant Helitak and Firebird were one of the busiest teams in the state.
"There's a lot of forest, there's obviously a lot of grassland to the north and west and the undulating hills makes the access and egress for a lot of our crews a little bit more difficult," Mr Waterson said.
The helicopters are managed by Forest Fire Management Victoria and the CFA.
"So we'll be here, every day until after early March, making sure that if there is a fire that we can respond quickly and keep fires small," Mr Waterson said.
The National Council for fire and emergency services has released its Seasonal Bushfire Outlook for Summer 2024, which shows large areas of the western half of Victoria as having an increased risk of fire.
Predetermined Dispatch
The two helicopters work as a team, with Helitak carrying the water and Firebird coordinating.
They operate on a Predetermined Dispatch (PDD) scheme, which means that once certain environmental factors are triggered over the fire danger period, the helicopters respond in the same way as a truck.
PDD was first trialed in Bendigo in 2012 after the Royal Commission into the Black Saturday bushfires recommended a way to send air attack helicopters without requiring a request be put through from an incident controller or the state duty officer.
Without this requirement, the firebombers are able to reach fire sites more quickly than ground crews, preventing the flames from spreading.
There are now more than 50 firefighting helicopters across Victoria working on the PDD system.