Firefighting aircraft at Canberra Airport
The NSW Rural Fire Service’s first fire-bombing air base at Canberra Airport continues to refuel and support large air tankers in the fight against bushfires in the ACT, New South Wales and Victoria.
This week, it has hosted multiple firefighting aircraft including large air tankers, a Boeing 737 and a Hercules C130.
It’s been almost a year since the air base was launched to help boost our regional fire-fighting capacity, by allowing a local base for the deployment of large aircraft on fire-bombing missions and reduce the time and distance they must travel to refuel. The air base can mix and store 60,000 litres of water, gel or fire retardant to help with different firefighting strategies.
“We want to give the Canberra community the best support we can during bush fire season and Canberra Airport serves a huge region that includes our neighbours in NSW and beyond. As the only curfew-free airport between Melbourne and Brisbane, this facility can operate, uninterrupted, to protect the wider region and other states,” says Michael Thomson, Head of Aviation, Canberra Airport.