{"id":69618,"date":"2023-10-20T23:07:09","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T22:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eco123.info\/en\/?p=69618"},"modified":"2023-10-20T23:07:09","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T22:07:09","slug":"those-magnificent-men-in-their-yellow-flying-machines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eco123.info\/en\/ecology\/nature\/those-magnificent-men-in-their-yellow-flying-machines\/","title":{"rendered":"Those Magnificent Men in Their Yellow Flying Machines."},"content":{"rendered":"

Saturday 21st October 2023.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Yellow Machines<\/em>\u00a0 first came close to me on a Tuesday, 29 August. They came so close that they did get me a bit wet with the sheer quantity of water they offloaded from the sky, over 3,000 litres after all, weighing three tons.\u00a0 Their intended target was of course not me, but the last remains of a forest fire up on the summit of the Picota Mountain in Monchique, in southern Portugal. Yet it did prick my curiosity. The pilots had spotted the remains of a fire from the sky, and the fire services couldn\u2019t find a way into the forest. At the same time I was researching the origin of the forest fire and could see the remains of a tree trunk, still smouldering. In most cases the fire hides in the roots of pine trees and cork oaks, and you only see the smouldering fire at night, or from the air. For the fire services dealing with a forest fire, this forms part of the follow-up work: to look closely whether there is still some part of the fire left here or there, and then put it out.<\/p>\n

This particular fire had started on the afternoon of the previous day\u00a0 \u2013 that is to say, on Monday 28 August – and I\u2019d already seen the two nimble yellow planes flying over my house in the direction of hell: those voluminous\u00a0 clouds of smoke working their way up towards the stratosphere, silently, looking like the mushroom cloud of a nuclear disaster. Once more, the mountains up there were ablaze, the fire annihilating animals, forests and livelihoods. The northwesterly afternoon winds were fanning the flames, again and again. It was only a question of time before they would reach the old cork oak forest at Corte Grande. As for us, amongst friends and neighbours, we have introduced an informal alert system. Everybody calls the other if and when a fire appears once more somewhere. What\u2019s the idea here? To increase the lead time, to be warned as soon as possible. My friend Helge, his wife Lisa and their two children were in danger, and the fire would be able to reach the Karuna spiritual centre as well as the village of Fornalha. Slowly, a ghostly mood was spreading. The head of the fire was still five kilometres away. I was observing the smoke clouds with their heavy charge of CO2 very carefully, full of concern. This wasn\u2019t the first time and it wouldn\u2019t be the last.<\/p>\n

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Not even two hours later the two pilots, working in conjunction with the fire services and the helicopters, had mastered the fire, and the mushroom collapsed like a punched yeast dough. The industrial eucalyptus forest near the hamlet of Corte Grande \u2013 not looked after, nor cleaned up \u2013 had fed the forest fire well and already destroyed two houses. Don\u2019t we know that the paper industry is always claiming that eucalyptus is the species that transforms\u00a0 CO2 into oxygen \u2013 sure thing, unless it\u2019s not burning once again, for then, eucalyptus will produce CO2, in spades.<\/p>\n

This year, for the first time, the fire services from Monchique and the surrounding districts received regional support in their fire-extinguishing efforts from the sky, by those Magnificent Men in their Yellow Machines. Their first sortie was in the Algarve for the Civil Defence service of Portugal, lifting off from the small Alvor airfield near Portim\u00e3o, and they didn\u2019t even take ten minutes to get to the upper reaches of the Monchique mountain range. Their missions have been spread out across the territory. They also helped extinguish the gigantic forest fire at S\u00e3o Teot\u00f3nio in the neighbouring\u00a0 Alentejo region. Most of their time, the pilots spend sitting in a container in Alvor on the airfield waiting, waiting, and then waiting some more \u2013 for a mission order. From dawn to dusk they keep themselves and their yellow flying machines* at the disposal of the Civil Defence and Disaster Control authorities. Once the order comes in, the runway is cleared in seconds, leaving them to thunder across the concrete and lift off into the skies.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s the first 15 minutes that are decisive.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Why am I writing this here? Because for once these are some good news to report. This year, the missions of these two agile planes made a great difference to everything I\u2019ve seen before in 33 years of covering the blazes as a journalist in Portugal. All of a sudden those damned forest fires are extinguished with water from the sky, released by agile planes, by planes that are fast and nimble, flown by pilots who are masters of their craft. The marvels of a correct decision on the part of the Civil Defence! Tax revenue sustainably invested, for the protection of our forest.<\/p>\n

Smokers in the forest and a discarded cigarette butt. Meeting a smoker in the forest automatically raises my hackles. A red pick-up vehicle at a fountain, men filling canisters with drinking water. This is how far I got researching this case. All that\u2019s needed now is the number-plate of the pick-up \u2013 then I\u2019d have the presumed arsonists. On summer days in southern Europe, forest fires are caused by carelessness and negligence, again and again. This is less about deliberately laid fire but more about the recklessness and hubris of human action. To just not think. To flick a cigarette, still lit, into the undergrowth. Done and dusted.<\/p>\n

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I visit those magnificent men in their planes on one of their last days at the ground base where they have parked their flying yellow machines, on the Alvor airfield. Rui Vaz Ramos (44), the Portuguese part of the team, is now living in Portim\u00e3o. Originally from Santar\u00e9m, Rui is married and the father of two children. His day job is as a pilot, and he is passionate about his calling \u2013 yet he is also conscious of the risk involved and is always looking for a Plan B when flying into a fire to put it out, he reveals\u00a0 to me.<\/p>\n

\u201eIn most cases I\u2019ll release my water above houses that look like they\u2019re about to burn,\u201c he emphasises . And then there\u2019s his colleague from Spain. Carlos Arroyo Mun\u00f5z is originally from Seville and 48 years old, also married, also father to two children. In this past summer of 2023 those two were working in the Algarve between 1 June and 15 October.<\/p>\n