Gloucester Aero Club acted as a temporary home for a National Parks and Wildlife Service’s (NPWS) Eurocopter Squirrel last week while they conducted annual pre-fire season training.
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More than 40 NPWS fire crew members from around the region undertook work safe around aircraft training, helicopter winching and hover entry/exit training.
Gloucester staff were among the members, who also came from Taree, Wingham, Great Lakes and Port Stephens for the refresher training.
However, Gloucester’s Coralie De Angelis was undertaking the practical training for her initial qualification, completing the winch manoeuver for the first time on Wednesday, June 8.
NPWS manager Anthony Signor said helicopters form an important part of modern fire management, particularly in remote areas, such as the Barrington Tops.
All NPWS staff involved in remote fire fighting that is not able to be supported directly by vehicles, are trained in helicopter operations safety.
Mr Signor said this training is essential to maintain the high level of skills required for the rugged terrain where many of the fire crews are deployed.
“All our remote fire fighting crews are trained in heli-winching to respond quickly and effectively to fires in rugged and isolated locations across the region,” he said.
He explained that a number of fires, started by lightning strikes over the last few fire seasons, had been contained to small areas using NPWS remote area fire fighting crews.
“Early detection of fires means that crews can be sent in, often by helicopter, to contain an ignition before it becomes a major wildfire.
“Heli-winch skills are also used during other operations such as search and rescue and remote conservation work,” Mr Signor said