G'day all,
Just consider this before demanding heavy aerial water bombing a/c......
When you see 9000lt of retardant from Elvis coming through the tree canopy, it is ripping branches off so maybe another couple of tonnes of wood falling with it, it destroys everything on the ground below and on slopes, it creates a destructive flood if the canopy has not dispersed the fluid enough. Imagine what 45tonnes from a DC10 will do.............
A slow moving helo can direct the drop accurately, they can see people on the ground, fire trucks and property clearly and funnily enough, usually the fire too! A DC10 cannot and more importantly the height it is above the canopy (a matter of a few metres)also increases the risk of bird strike with a heavily ladened a/c. A helo can carry out multiple drops in the same time as the DC10's turn time and drop it much more effectively to assist the ground crews, what's more, probably carry up to the EQUIVALENT payload as a DC10 depending on the helo type, in the time it takes the DC10 to refuel, reload and return to the fight.
In all likelihood people WILL be injured and property damaged/destroyed with a/c dropping big loads, it probably slows down the work rate other a/c & helo's due to clearance issues. Certainly any ground crews and equipment must be removed from the drop zone or risk damage or injury. All this takes time and fighting a wild fire, time is CRITICAL to its control.
Unless you have been on the ground fighting a fire with aerial bombing or been involved in actual aerial fire fighting ops, you simply dont know what you're talking about.
Armchair generals have never won wars and probably cause politicians to waste taxpayers money, which should be put into essential gear like protective clothing, GPS, EPIRB's, comms for ground crews or more helo's for water bombing etc. Me thinks this is a much better use of taxpayer funds.............
Another factor to consider is the increased tendancy for people to move into the bush for a tree change experience. From memory the DC10 cuts a path about 1.5km long, in the typical bush setting within 1.5hrs drive time of any capital city this one drop could possibly hit anywhere between 2-10 houses. At around $300k-$600k or more per house the $10m for a DC10 for a season is quickly equaled in damages to property if the fire fighting agencies get it wrong.............Remember the Yanks were using 500kg concrete laser guided bombs to smash Iraqi armour in residential areas, just imagine what a misguided payload of 45tonnes of water/retardent would do to people/vehicles/property........
So unless you have flown years of fire fighting ops, you simply are NOT qualified to to comment on this subject. No matter how good your intentions............
D4