The aerial team of the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations has finished providing assistance to Israel hit by wildfires, two Beriyev Be-200ChS amphibious planes are coming back to Russia. One of them is flying to the airport in Krasnoyarsk and the other one to Rostov.
Emergency Ministry’s planes arrived in Israel on 25 November following the order of the RF President and the request of Israel. The crews included experienced pilots who fought fires Russia and abroad under the most complicated conditions.
The legendary Be-200ChS planes got water from the Mediterranean Sea. Considerable advantages of this kind of plane are their high rate of climb and high flight speed, the ability to drop water both in a volley and sequential opening of water tank shutters, the ability to work in a restricted space, for example in mountainous or hard-to-reach areas or if there are obstacles. The Be-200ChS can take up to 12 tons of water in its tanks both at an airfield and from the surface of water while gliding within 12-14 seconds. Fire retardants can be added to water by centrifugal pumps to make fire suppression more efficient.
The Emergency Ministry’s planes made 7 flights and dropped 264 thousand liters of water in 22 rounds. They not only extinguished fires, but monitored the wildfire situation to prevent fires from spreading to the cities of Haifa populated by over 270 thousand people, David and southern part of Jerusalem populated by over 820 thousand people.
The Israeli authorities have highly appreciated Russian aerial rescue technologies and efficient capabilities of the Be-200ChS in dealing with fires and aerial monitoring.
Along with Russia Israel is getting help from Greece, Italy, Croatia, Cyprus, Spain, Turkey, Azerbaijan.
The crew is expected to arrive on 1 December. Colleagues and fellow-workers are going to give a proper welcome to the pilots who executed the order of the President efficiently and quickly.
A lot of fires sprang up in Israel last week. According to Israeli emergency services, more than 130 people were affected, about 75 thousand of local residents had to be evacuated to safety, while the fires damaged more than 200 buildings.
