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Ministers Welcome Skycranes To Fight Fires

Sunday, 29 October 2006

Australian Government Minister for Local Government, Territories and Roads Jim Lloyd and NSW Minister for Emergency services Tony Kelly today welcomed the arriving Skycrane helicopters, “Elvis” and “Shania”, as a valuable tool to help protect lives and property against bushfires this summer.

The Ministers were joined today by NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) Commissioner Phil Koperberg at Sydney Airport ,where the skycranes arrived, aboard the Russian Antanov super-carrier.

After a few days fine tuning they will then fly directly to their operating bases in Sydney and Melbourne.

“Part of the Australian Government’s funding package for aerial firefighting is being used to assist the states and territories with the high costs of having such effective heavy aircraft in Australia during this summer,” Mr Lloyd said.

“I am sure all Australians will welcome the extra protection that aircraft like these will provide to their communities,” Mr Lloyd said.

Mr Kelly said based on all the available meteorological evidence, we’re facing one of our most critical bushfire seasons in recent times.

“The drought, the early warm weather and the expectation of more extreme fire days indicates this will be a challenging summer for our firefighters,” Mr Kelly said.

“To support them we need large-capacity helicopters like these as part of our frontline bushfire fighting efforts in NSW,” Mr Kelly said.

Mr Lloyd said the Skycranes are particularly effective in protecting properties from bushfires on urban borders.

“They have a 9000 litre water capacity and play a vital role in attacking fires from the air and supporting our firefighters on the ground,” Mr Lloyd said.

Mr Kelly said in addition to the Sydney-based skycrane, the NSW RFS will have access to more than 100 fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters for the 2005/06 season through the coordinating body for aerial firefighting resources, the National Aerial Firefighting Centre.

“The aircraft would be strategically placed across NSW and can be moved to wherever the fire risk is greatest,” Mr Kelly said.

“We are working hard to ensure that wherever aerial firefighting resources are required this bushfire season, aircraft will be available,” Mr Kelly said.