HELICOPTER DRAFTED IN TO HELP WITH FIRE FIGHTING TRAINING

Part of their on-going professional training, the day was an ideal opportunity for the team to cover basics - such as embarking and disembarking safely - and also to refresh their knowledge of some techniques - such as water-bombing.

Tim Cockerill, Forestry Commission Scotland in Dornoch, said:

“Forest fires can cause millions of pounds worth of damage to timber crops and also devastate habitats that support a huge range of wildlife. In a matter of minutes a forest fire can devastate decades of work and it can take decades to return a fire damaged area to its former glory. They can also be a serious danger to human life so it is important that we are able to respond to a forest fire as swiftly and effectively as we can.

“All our foresters are trained in fighting fires and know what they can do themselves and what they need help in tackling. The fire service are obviously the experts but in remote rural area it can take time for them to get to the scene of a fire so we need to be prepared and ready to take initial action to either put out a fire or prevent it from spreading.

“The nature of forestry means that some locations are quite difficult to get to using wheeled transport and with fighting forest fires, every second counts. When there is a heightened risk of fire, we arrange with local company PDG Helicopters to have a helicopter and crew on standby so that we can get to the scene of a fire as quickly as possible.”