Fire fighting helicopter down in Portugal

[Tigger4Me]

Sadly, today we have lost one of the pilots helping to fight the wildfires ravaging Portugal. I have witnessed the amazing flying skills of these pilots at very close quarters and cannot speak highly enough of their amazing flying skills. One of these fires came within 80 mts of a friend's property and it is was thanks to the skill of these pilots that the house was saved.

News item here in Portuguese that translates pretty well with Google.

https://goo.gl/1QAGCn

[etudiant]

Portugal has had an awful fire season, with more than 50 dead already while the summer is still far from over.
Firefighters and machines are pushed beyond the limit under these circumstances.

[Tigger4Me]

Thanks for your kind comments Etudiant. In fact the figures are even worse with over 100 dead in one fire alone. It was reported last week that, so far this year, there have been in excess of 10,116 fires reported. As you say, the crews and equipment are pushed to the limits. What is remarkable is that over 80% of firefighters are volunteers and in the main, are badly equipped with outdated and worn out equipment.