A crew of the 82 ° CSAR Center (Combat Search And Rescue) of Trapani intervened from the morning of Wednesday 11 August 2021 to stop the extension of a large fire that developed in the area of Giardinello (PA).
To put out the fire, 4 interventions of 2 hours of flight each were required, for a total of 8 hours and 90 discharges. The first take-off from the Trapani Air Force base took place around 10:00. The flight crew operated the next 4 sorties over the course of the late morning until dusk, where they returned home and landed shortly after 20:00.
To optimize operational efficiency in the area and speed up the intervention times, during the 4 sorties the crew made two stopovers for refueling at the civilian airport of Palermo Boccadifalco.
75.000 liters of water were used by the military carrier, with all the activity carried out in collaboration with two Canadair of the Department of Civil Protection and two helicopters of private companies.
The Wednesday intervention in Sicily is the fourth of the last days, in fact it is added to that of Sunday in the municipality of Poggioreale and Gibellina (TP), on Monday in the Raffadali area (AG), and on Tuesday in the Ciminna area (PA ).
The HH-139B is part of the assets of the Armed Forces that the Ministry of Defense has made available for this year's forest fire campaign in Sicily, which began last June 15, which consolidates the collaboration, which has already been in place for several years. , between Armed Forces, National Fire Brigade Corps and Civil Protection (PROCIV).
The take-off orders came from the AOC (Aerospace Operations Command) of Poggio Renatico (FE), in coordination with the Permanent Unified Operations Room (SOUP) of the Sicily Region. The commitment of the Armed Forces is part of the agreement stipulated between the Ministry of Defense and the Department of Civil Protection as part of the forest fire campaign, which provides for the establishment of the Unified Air Operational Center (COAU), as the coordinating body of interventions in case of emergency .
