UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) yesterday supported the local authorities in the intervention to tame a large fire developed in a heavily mined area near the border line Blue Line (demarcation line with Israel established in 2000) in the area of Maroun Al Ras in southern Lebanon.
In particular, the considerable extension of the fire, and the considerable presence of mines (at least 24 explosions were heard during the intervention) which made the intervention of the firefighters from the ground very dangerous, made the intervention of the helicopters of the Task Force ITALAIR which operates on AB-212 and Italian staff.
ITALAIR flight crews operated until late in the evening when the operations were successfully completed, completing 5 steps on the fire front in over 7 hours of flight, pouring more than 7000 liters of water.
Founded in the 1979, ITALAIR, reporting directly to the commander of the UN general divisional mission Luciano Portolano, it is the oldest unit of the UNIFIL mission (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon), as well as the only inter-force flight department deployed from Italy in a foreign operating theater. During his 37 years of activity he carried out more than 40.000 flight hours for peacekeeping in southern Lebanon.
The Army, Navy and Air Force crews, with the six AB-212 helicopters, are ready to take off in less than 30 minutes to carry out different types of missions including eventual sanitary evacuations (CASEVAC) and daily reconnaissance flights and observation throughout the area of operations and in particular along the Blue Line.
