Dominican Air Force extinguishes forest fires with Bambi Buckets
The buckets were attached to the Bell UH-1H Huey II helicopters
Villa Altagracia, a municipality of the San Cristóbal province in the Dominican Republic, was covered in smoke after a fire at its municipal landfill that had been burning for several weeks.
Special units of the Dominican Air Force were deployed, including two helicopters equipped with Bambi Buckets. According to Colonel As Henríquez Taveras, the pilot in charge of Public Relations for the Air Force, each aircraft has a crew consisting of two pilots, a maintenance technician, and an observer who directs the pilots to the precise location for water discharge.
The helicopters were deployed due to the ferocity and magnitude of the fire at Villa Altagracia. Two of the Air Force’s Bell UH-1H Huey II helicopters were equipped with Bambi Buckets capable of carrying up to 1,300 liters of water.
The flight to Villa Altagracia began at 09:00hrs and stopped at the nearest river to fill the bucket before transferring it to the fire to cover it with water from the sky.
The fire season for the Dominican Republic usually runs from January to the end of April, making this fire part of peak season.
Editorial Team
The AirMed&Rescue Editorial Team work to ensure timely and relevant news is online every day. With extensive experience and in-depth knowledge of the aerial special missions sector, the team are ready to respond to breaking industry news and investigate topics of interest for our readers.