The US "Super Tanker" has completed two runs, dropping 80,000 liters of water and flame retardant on the fires over Ein Hod in the Carmel on Sunday.
Base commander of Netavim AFB, Brigadier General Idan Atias, said "you can certainly see that the areas [in the Carmel] are full of smoke, and with cautious optimism, that there are fewer fires," after joining the crew of the American Super Tanker that began fighting the Carmel fire Sunday morning.
The much-anticipated Boeing 747-based US "Super Tanker" took off from Netavim Air Force Base in the South, a few minutes before 11 a.m.
Two Israeli Air Force Pilots and the commander of the Nevatim Air Force Base joined the US flight crew for the flight. The plane was expected to reach the Carmel fire within 20 minutes.
The aircraft arrived at Ben-Gurion Airport in the pre-dawn hours Sunday morning. Unlike other water-dropping planes sent by various countries, the Super Tanker is able to operate at night and can drop 21,000 gallons (80,000 liters) of water in a single run, 16 times more water than other planes.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Saturday gave orders to rent the fire-fighting aircraft, which is owned by a private US company located in Arizona called Evergreen.
JPost
3 comments:
80,000 liters, thats about 20000 thousand gallons, not even 3 tractor trailer loads. some super tanker. why dont we lend them our Salisbury fireboat, we sure do not need it
Water's very heavy.
We're talking about an airplane here, not a truck.
I'm sure the firefighters were glad to see that little bit of water/chemistry arrive..
172,000lbs of water.....Water weight is roughly 8.6lbs/gal
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