Fires: Why Can’t Agricultural Planes be Part of the Solution?

This is the question that should be asked of the authorities, given that while the outbreaks become unmanageable and the environmental and economic damage is increasing, they have not responded to the FeArCa, which has repeatedly offered the collaboration of agricultural aircraft for the fire control.

Rosario, Argentina—From the Argentine Federation of Agricultural Chambers (FeArCa) we inform that we have the fleet of aircraft stopped in different parts of the country while thousands of hectares are burned in Córdoba, Chaco, Santa Fe, Corrientes and Entre Ríos.

Although agricultural airplanes do not have the benefits of large hydrant airplanes, they can carry out a joint effort with the authorities and pertinent organizations with the aim of ending the outbreaks that are being activated every day in various regions of the country. Regarding the specific hatch for this type of work, the pilot and president of the Chamber of Agro-air Companies of Córdoba, Francisco Casajús, clarifies “we do not have specifically what the authorities say, but we would have the planes that could join” and explained: “We could join under their direction and make ourselves available ”. Casajus also said: “We are not looking to earn money with this, what we do is make our work tool available”.

The Vice President of FeArCa, Diego Martínez stated: “We are committed to collaborating but we have no response from the authorities.” It should be noted that, two years ago, the Chamber of Aeroapplicators of Córdoba made and sent a proposal to the provincial government where they offered their collaboration with the basic requirements that are required, but they never received a response. Today, the province is burning and the planes on the ground. “We are sad to know that we have stopped aircraft in our hangars and we can contribute a grain of sand in the face of this serious situation,” said Martínez and said that “if the agreement had been signed in 2018, today there would be more than 15-20 aircraft available”.

“We regret the lost opportunity to collaborate in a good way with our authorities in these daunting circumstances”, emphasized Martínez and highlighted: “with predictability and coordination, we could be available in the future to contribute in the control of these unfortunate situations, in a better way, always under the direction and organization of the competent authorities ”.

It should be noted that the agri-air companies distributed throughout the country (representing more than 200 operating bases), have the necessary infrastructure, provision of water, fuel and could give the possibility of being operational centers for the coordination of the work of fire control.

For his part, Santiago Pereyra, firefighter specialized in forest fires in the province of Córdoba, said: “There are fires in areas where it is impossible to enter by land and, in those cases, the airway is used to try to contain it, as long as the winds allow us to fly ”. In addition, Pereyra said: “I want to emphasize the importance of aeronautical resources, which is not only the use of the plane with water and retarder, but also as a lookout.”

So far this year, 165 thousand hectares have been affected in Entre Ríos, 48 thousand in Córdoba, 35 thousand in Río Negro, 28 thousand in Santa Fe, 25 thousand in Santiago del Estero and more than 23 thousand in the Chaco. This gives a total of more than 325 thousand hectares of fields and Natural Areas.

That means serious environmental and economic damage. Environmentally, it is about the loss of sustainability of the land, because by losing the vegetation, landslides are favored when the rain comes, all the ash that remains will be lifted and carried by the wind and will produce air pollution in turn, it will be taken to the river beds generating pollution. In Cordovan areas, for example, the residual material is going to be taken to the lakes, therefore it affects the capacity of the dikes, we will have less water to drink and less electricity.

In addition, the flora is affected, in fact the movement of wild animals to urban areas can be seen because when their habitat burns they seek another refuge.

Another direct consequence is the smoke generated by the fires, which entails a reduction in visibility on routes and roads, in addition to air pollution in the towns near the outbreaks.

Economically, it is too early to talk about numbers, but it is clear that all the productive hectares that were affected by the fire today are not producing and their recovery could take a long time.

LANE AVIATION, INC. ROSENBERG, TX