Agricultural aircraft helps to battle large fires on Christchurch’s Port Hills
During the large fires on Christchurch’s Port Hills, Fire Emergency New Zealand received a lot of aerial help from numerous helicopters and two fixed wing agriculture aircraft.
An Air Tractor displaying at Wing over Wairarapa | Photo by Noah Stohr-Waldren
The two fixed-wing aircraft helping to battle the blaze were based out of Christchurch Airport on the 15th of February. They operated south of runway 29/11 nearby to the Christchurch Airport Fire Service Station. They received help from numerous fire departments such as DOC High Country Fire Service and the NZCH Airport Firefighters.
A common misconception is that the fixed-wing aircraft are dumping water to extinguish the blaze however, they are instead dumping a fire retardant called PHOS-CHEK. This is for several reasons, one being that adding water to a very hot fire only fuels the flames as the heat would break the h20 water molecule into hydrogen and oxygen, both are needed to fuel a fire. For this main reason, fire retardant is preferred over water, it can also help to prevent the fire from spreading rather than extinguishing the flames. Lay the fire retardant in front of the fire so that when the fire hits, it’s starved of oxygen and stops.
An Air Tractor displaying at Wing over Wairarapa | Photo by Noah Stohr-Waldren
Both fixed-wing planes arrived on the second day of the fires. The first fixed-wing aircraft on the scene was a Pacific Aerospace Cresco, registered to Ravensdown Aerowork as ZK-LTB. It arrived at Christchurch Airport at 7:09 AM on the first day. The plane parked on the southern side of runway 11/29 near the Christchurch Airport Fire Service. It began flying towards the fires at around 7:45 AM and worked throughout the day until 6:30 PM. The aircraft again took off the next morning to continue to battle the blaze from the skies and will continue to provide aerial support.
Ravensdown states on their website “Two of our fleet have even been adapted for firefighting – helping keep their communities safe.” The Cresco aircraft that is battling the fires has been based out of nearby Rangiora aerodrome in recent months and often carries out firefighting training with the DOC Fire Team proving their capabilities.
An Air Tractor displaying at Wing over Wairarapa | Photo by Noah Stohr-Waldren
The second aircraft to arrive was an Air Tractor AT-402B operated by Motunau Ag-Air. Registered as ZK-MOT, the aircraft is 29 years old and has spent its whole flying career with Motunau Ag-Air. The aircraft is based just north of Christchurch Motunau. ZK-MOT arrived at Christchurch Airport at 8:10 AM on the first day. The plane parked alongside ZK-LTB on the southern side of runway 11/29 by the NZCH Fire Station. It began fighting the fires at around 8:45 AM and worked throughout the day until around 6:30 PM when it parked up in Rangiora for the night with operational sistership LTB. The aircraft again took off the next morning to continue to help prevent the blaze from spreading. It will continue to provide aerial support for the next while until the fire is controlled.
The Motunau Ag-Air Ltd website says “[Firefighting] is something we at Motunau Ag-Air Ltd are very passionate about, not the fighting fires but, keeping our clients & the community we live and work in safe.“ Having such a modern and powerful aircraft with purpose-built computerised fire-fighting equipment available in the district is a win for everyone. The operator is FENZ (Fire Emergency New Zealand) approved & accredited.