Canadian waterbombers to Greece

[lew]

I heard on this mornings news that Canada is flying a couple waterbombers over to Greece to help them fight the fires that are covering so much of the country and killing many people.

 

I think it's great that were able to use our equipment to help folks so far away.

 

Kudos to whoever made the decision.

[TennesseeGuy]

Canadian waterbombers sometimes make it to Tennessee prior to their fire season up north. They're down here partly to fight fires, but also to train and exercise equipment.

 

40 years ago my neighbor and I took his plane on a 30 mile flight from Cookeville to Crossville, TN where a waterbomber and crew were stationed. We struck up a conversation with the crew, got a tour of the aircraft and gladly accepted their offer to ride along for a 40 minute flight. We touched down on a lake several times, but didn't take on any water. Then they'd make a practice run on a stand of timber, coming close enough to have dropped water. It was a frightnening experience for farm animals that had not seen such powerful aircraft fly so low.

 

The crew explained that they may fly for a only a limited number of hours each day while fighting fires. They had a small fishing boat with oars on board so they could test the waters during their off time.

 

Those guys are good and they have a dangerous job.

[OhioFisherman]

Yes hats off some pretty bad fires over there, they need the help.

[Toronto_Angler]

Hopefully they can help to get this situation under control. I have relatives and a house over in Greece and the fires are getting dangerously close to them.

[John]

It's too bad that they declined our original offer a few weeks ago when they claimed that they had it under control.

[steve_paul]

I had never seen a water bomber in action until the Civic Holiday weekend at the French River. There were 2 fires burning around our island there and this water bomber was flying right over the cottage getting loads and going and dumping them. He did about 8 or 9 passes in total. It was quite amazing watching this pilot as he seemed to be missing the trees and roof of the cottage by about 5 feet every pass. We had a little scare though as our aunt was coming back to the island - she came around another island headed to the cottage as the pilot was beginning his run to load with water. Fortuneately, she saw him and was able to quickly get out of the path. Here are some of the videos we shot of him.

 

 

 

 

This is one we took as we were on the water, we thought the air show was over and went fishing. He reappeared as we were heading down the river.

 

 

Hopefully they can do some good over there and help get the fires in control.

[lew]

Thanks steve_ paul, those video's are incredible

 

Gives a pretty good example of how skillful those pilots are !!

[John]

Amazing video, thanks. The skill is incredible.

[fatherof3]

great video

[Toronto_Angler]

Anybody ever see a 747 water bomber in action?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfCwChAg6lE

[Headhunter]

I saw that one the news last night Lew... the funny thing is it will take them a week to get there!

HH

[bigbuck]

Better late than never. Hopefully they'll help make a difference. It's pretty bad over there. Entire villages in the mountains are burning.

[lunkerbasshunter]

amazing aircraft!! sure hope they can help out over there!

[huntervasili]

Yup canada is one of several countries sending over firefighting equipment... fortunate that canadians are willing to help out around the world... full villages are being burned down out there and I have loads of family in villages around greece... I have seen them use some helicopters with boxes or something underneath to carry water... it really is amazing, hopefully its not too much longer till its out of control... Anyone else hear about it being a possible arson? I couldn't really understand that...

[John]

Several people have been arrested on suspicion of arson since Friday, although some were accused of starting fires through negligence rather than intent. One man, however, was charged with arson and homicide in connection with a fire near the southern town of Areopolis on Friday that killed six people.

 

Building on forest land is forbidden in Greece, but unscrupulous developers are blamed for setting fires to forests in an effort to circumvent the law by disputing the area's status. Greece has no land registry, so once a region has been burned and cleared, there is no definitive proof of whether it was initially forest, farm or field.

 

"It is rather late now, but the state should designate these areas to be immediately reforested, map them and complete the forest registry without further delay," said Yiannis Revythis, chairman of the association of Athens real estate agents.

 

The destruction has infuriated Greeks -- already stunned by deadly forest fires in June and July. Outraged residents heckled Culture Minister George Voulgarakis Sunday when he visited Ancient Olympia to see the firefighting efforts.

 

"The government was totally unable to deal with this situation," said Gerassimos Kaproulias, an Ancient Olympia schoolteacher.

 

From Sunday morning to Monday morning alone, 89 new fires broke out, fire department spokesman Nikos Diamandis said.

 

"This is an immense ecological disaster," said Theodota Nantsou, WWF Greece Conservation Manager. "We had an explosive mixture of very adverse weather conditions, tinder-dry forests -- to an extent not seen for many years -- combined with the wild winds of the past two weeks. It's a recipe to burn the whole country."

 

The government appealed for help from abroad, and 19 countries were sending planes, helicopters and firefighters, including France, which dispatched four water-tanker planes and Russia, which was sending three helicopters and an amphibian plane.

 

The fires hit during the traditional August holidays when villages across Greece are filled with people Athens and other large cities returning to their ancestral areas.

 

Desperate residents appealed through television stations for help from a firefighting service already stretched to the limit. The government declared a state of emergency on Saturday.

 

The worst of the fires are concentrated in the mountains of the Peloponnese in the south and on the island of Evia north of Athens. Strong winds blew smoke and ash over the capital, blackening the evening sky and turning the rising moon red.

 

In the ravaged mountain villages in the Peloponnese, rescue crews found a grim scene that spoke of last-minute desperation as the fires closed in. Dozens of charred bodies have been found across fields, homes, along roads and in cars.

 

Weekend wildfires also killed two elderly people in neighboring Bulgaria, officials said Monday. They died in a fire that burned down their house in the southern village of Prisadets, said Darina Stamatova, spokeswoman of the regional administration.

 

An Associated Press photographer on the scene said almost all houses in the villages of Prisadets, Varnik and Filipovo were destroyed by the flames.

 

A blistering hot summer has led to more than a thousand wildfires across Bulgaria in the past three months burning down 84,000 acres of forests and farm fields, the government said.