An HH-212 helicopter of the Italian Air Force intervened in the early afternoon of today in the municipality of Calatafimi, in the province of Trapani, to put out a vast fire that broke out in the area.
The helicopter, under the 80 ° CSAR Center (Combat Search and Rescue) of Decimomannu (Cagliari) and deployed on the Trapani air base as part of the Defense device in support of the Civil Protection for the fight against fires, today over two hours of flight and sixteen drops, releasing over 11.000 liters of water. Once the fire was suppressed, the crew returned to the base of departure to resume the emergency service. S is a trim equipped with a special bucket capable of loading about 700 liters of water and crews specialized in firefighting activities.
From mid July to today, over 90 are the flight hours made, for a total of more than 600 trips and about 450.000 liters of water spilled over the areas affected by the rocks in Sicily. The interventions, coordinated by the Poggio Renatico (Fe) Air Operations Command (Fe), in direct contact with the Universal Civil Aviation Operations Center (COAU), focused mainly on certain locations in the Sicily region of the provinces of Agrigento, Trapani and Palermo.
Fire fighting was also carried out in the Sardinia region, which once again deployed a HH-212 helicopter of the 80 ° CSAR Center in Decimomannu (CA) in a firefighting mission in Sorgono, in the province of Nuoro.
Firefighting is one of the dual capabilities that the Air Force, in competition with the other Armed Forces, makes available to the community on a daily basis in cases of public utility or in the event of disasters, operating in this case in close synergy and in support of the state agencies and bodies engaged in ground and in-flight rescue.
The Air Force Search and Rescue Centers located throughout the country, including the 80th CSAR of Decimomannu, are Flight Departments that depend on the 15th Wing of Cervia, which guarantee 24 hours a day, for 24 days at year, the search and rescue of flight crews in distress. They also contribute to activities of public utility such as the search for missing persons at sea or in the mountains, the emergency medical transport of patients in danger of life and the rescue of seriously traumatized patients, as well as intervention in cases of public utility or on the occasion of calamities and emergencies, such as fire fighting capacity, one of the dual activities that the Air Force, in competition with the other FFAAs, makes available to the national community on a daily basis.