Monday, September 7, 2009

Firefighting and spectacular flying

Fire on Monte Moro, over Quinto and Nervi - at the Eastern limit of Genoa. Due to the exposure, this picture is overly dramatic. The fire is very large and quite close to the houses, but thanks to the hard work of the firemen, there has been no risk for the population.


At the moment I am writing, two Canadair CL415's and one S-64 Skycrane are flying in a vast firefighting operation just above my house.
In the past 24 hours a fire has burnt most of the woods in the Eastern part of Genoa, requiring a major effort by firefighters who have been working continuosly. There seems to be no risk for the the population, as the fires nearby the inhabitated areas have been extinguished - so it is possible to admire the spectacular flying of the Canadairs and the Skycrane collecting water from the sea and immediately dropping it on the nearby hills, without worrying too much for people's safety.

The Canadair is really an amazing machine. It is an usual guest at the local airport during summer and I've seen its demo in several airshows - and its maneuverability never fails to impress me. Seeing it landing on the water is simply spectacular - and it is even more spectacular seeing two of them in action together with the Skycrane. It is also a machine that would deserve more attention in FSX. Massimo Taccoli created an excellent FS2004 freeware model (link below) but afaik there is no triple-A FSX native model so far... But do not start asking me to do one, as my agenda is full...
Skycrane is also impressive, as it is considerably larger than the average chopper - and surely much larger than the ones that usually populate the sky over Genoa.
Kudos to the aircrews and the firemen for their courage, skill and professionality - they acted promptly so that there has been no major incovenience to the population (apart from a blackout and a traffic-jam, of course) - and the only trouble I had was to clean my scooter from the ashes before going to work.
EDIT: I've just read in the news that the Canadairs were 4 and not 2 - I can only imagine the level of training and coordination required in such a scenario.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mr. Dino Cattaneo,

I'm glad you and your people are OK; sorry for the loss of the habitat and perhaps the wildlife that was harmed.

I'll pray and hope that your land recovers quickly from this tragedy.

PS: I'll be sending you an Email soon. :)

Vigilius said...

WOW, non sapevo fossi così vicino al fuoco. In bocca la lupo, ma mi sembra di capire che non ci siano rischi immediati per la popolazione; meglio così.

ScimmiaSpaziale said...

In effetti il fuoco era vicino...ma le fiamme non erano molto alte e non ci sono stati problemi, almeno per quel che mi concerne. Si è trattato di dormire la notte con l'odore della legna bruciata (che mi ha ricordato quando da bambino i miei genitori mi portavano in campagna) e di togliere la cenere dallo scooter prima di andare al lavoro... Avrei voluto allegare delle immagini degli aerei in azione ma sono un pessimo fotografo :-)

Elio said...

Ciao,

io abito a San Fruttuoso: si sentiva fin qui l'odore del fumo e i Canadair passavano sopra P.zza Martinez quasi ogni 5 minuti, per tutto il giorno....

blackbird said...

Seeing fire fighting aircraft in action is a rare bit of luck.

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