The three seaplanes working on the extinction of the Forest fire declared on Tuesday in Tenerife they load their tanks almost continuously on the coast of the capital of Tenerife but, despite their low flight and the noise of their engines, they are welcomed because it is “a friendly sound”.
The three seaplanes from the Ministry of Ecological Transition arrived on the island a few hours after declare an unprecedented forest fire due to its characteristics, which began in the southern municipality of Arafo and it has already spread to others in the north of the islandendangering the most important forest area of Tenerife.
The director of extinction of the fire, the Montes engineer Pedro Martínez, acknowledged yesterday at a press conference that I had never seen a fire like this before.which has created its own meteorology and has, in some aspects, an erratic behavior.
That is why today, without being controlled by any means, the fact that the fire is acquiring a normalized behavior has been hailed as good news for firefighting jobs.
In these aerial means are essential in areas inaccessible to terrestrial means and as a complement to the work carried out by some 260 troops from the ground to stop a fire with a perimeter of 41.9 kilometers.
The transfer of air resources is continuous from 8:30 local time and this morning 16 are expected to join due to a helicopter breakdown medium that is expected to be resolved during the afternoon.
A Civil Guard helicopter, CUCO, and a State plane, ACO, control and coordinate the intense air traffic caused by the rest of the aircraft in its continuous loading and unloading of water.
Helicopters do it in nearby depots and seaplanes do it at sea and it is these, and their characteristic sound, that give visibility to the work of extinction of the fire that has the island in suspense.
Already in the great fire of Gran Canaria of 2019 the seaplanes became the great heroes of the extinction work and this is how the population thanked them, applauding them every time they charged off the coast of the capital of Gran Canaria or when they crossed the sky of the island.
On this occasion there are no such signs of affection but there are thanks and the general comments are that despite its low flights and the noise of its engines, it sYour mere presence gives peace of mind.
Although Canary Islands there has always been a debate about the need for a seaplane to be based on the islandsthe technicians state that due to the orography of the Archipelago the helicopters are more effective in the fight against the fire.
tomorrow is scheduled to the Kamov helicopter joins the extinction workwith a transport capacity of 4,500 liters and another air symbol in the fight against forest fires.
