Helicopter Emergency Services for Fire and Floods
HeliSpirit is always prepared for northern Australia’s extreme conditions, particular over the wet season. We have aircraft ready to be mobilised on demand for fire and flood relief operations from Karratha and Kununurra to service the Pilbara and Kimberley regions.
Fire Services
Fire is an integral part of land management in northern Australia. Every year extensive prescribed burning programs are carried out. Burning during the cooler months to reduce fuel load decreases the risk of large fires that cause greater damage late in the season.
Controlled burning also helps to maintain biodiversity and assists with vegetation management. The lasting effects and devastating impact a hot wildfire has on a community is well documented and takes years to recover from.
HeliSpirit has a complete fire management package. We have the capability to burn the fire breaks using our Robinson R44, slinging a drop-torch (“Spitsfire”) capable of igniting 30 nautical miles on one line. This builds effective fire breaks as wide or narrow as desired.
For fire fighting, HeliSpirit has helicopters that specialise particularly in fire suppression Our Bell LongRanger with a Bambi fire fighting bucket can utilise water from any nearby water source.
All fire aircraft are fitted with dual VHF radios and aerial mapping equipment. This can be overlaid onto topographical maps to allow accurate information to be transferred to ground crews. The HeliSpirit firefighting aircraft can be deployed at short notice and have a mobile team of engineers to ensure that no time is wasted in the field. Fire services include:
- Water bucketing (Bambi bucket)
- Drop-torch and incendiaries
- Fire surveillance and mapping
- Crew and equipment insertion
