Belgium will soon have its own firefighting planes to extinguish major fires. This is a first for the country: in the past, it has relied on France, the army and the police for large-scale aerial firefighting operations.
The first firefighting aircraft can take off from the small regional airport of Zwartberg (Genk, in the province of Limburg) by the beginning of next month at the latest, VRT NWS reported. A second aircraft will follow a month later. Both are AT-802 Fire Boss aircraft from Cargolux, one of the world's largest cargo carriers.
Once operational, the firefighting planes could be in the air within 12 minutes in the event of a major fire and can be deployed all over the country, as the radius of action is roughly 600 km. This means Belgium is no longer reliant on neighbouring France or the army and police, who used to hang fire extinguishing bags under helicopters, in the case of such an emergency.
Filling tank while flying
The plane can remain in the air for up to three hours, touch down on water and land, and even scoop up water while flying above.
"They position themselves on the water, maintain their speed and after 15 seconds they take off again with a full water tank," said Wieger Ketellaper of Cargolux. "This method is used in firefighting to quickly load 3,000 litres of water and return to the fire."
Due to climate change fuelling wildfires, firefighting aircraft are deployed increasingly often, including in northern Europe. "We are also noticing this in neighbouring countries such as Germany. Even in Sweden we have four aircraft permanently available in the summer to extinguish fires," Ketellaper said.
The aircraft will be privately owned by Cargolux. The Federal Government does not deem it necessary to purchase firefighting aeroplanes for the time being. "There are too few secure water collection points for firefighting aircraft and there are also risks involved," said Damien Dermaux of the Interior Ministry.
