SHOULD a major fire event occur in the district, Cootamundra will be well prepared with Canadian outfit Valhalla Helicopters back in town for the summer with two firefighting helicopters capable of dropping 1580 litres of water on a blaze at a time.
The crew was in town last year for the first time, with the company connected to local pilot Andrew Ronning.
Mr Ronning is the operations manager for Valhalla and divides his time between Cootamundra and Canada.
After growing up in Cootamundra, he left to fly helicopters all around Australia.
In 2003 he returned to live in town, with he, his wife Jo and their children now calling Cootamundra home.
Valhalla Helicopters owner and chief pilot Blair Savege said last year they attended fires at the Visy paper mill in Adelong as well as in Griffith.
Having a helicopter on standby, as well as the usual firefighting aeroplanes, is good news for Cootamundra as the chopper is able to load water from any source of water 12 inches or deeper, meaning the pilot can spend more time in the air as they do not have the turnaround time of firefighting planes, which must reload from the airport.
“We are all set, if there was an emergency this weekend we are ready to go,” Mr Savege said.
The two helicopters will be in Cootamundra until the beginning of April, which is considered the end of the fire danger period.
The Bell 212 choppers are two of the biggest firefighting helicopters stationed in regional NSW.
The helicopters were transferred to Cootamundra in a flat-pack from Kelowna in British Columbia late last week where they have been used during the Canadian fire season.
The arrival of the two choppers is good timing with the weather starting to warm up.
Rural Fire Service (RFS) zone manager Elan Palmer said at present the district is looking very green, however warned it only takes a few hot, windy days such as that experienced on Monday to dry out the grass.
“There is a heightened fuel level around compared to what we have seen over recent years,” Mr Palmer said.
He did add that the fuel levels across the district are similar to what they were before the recent drought years.
Mr Palmer said now is the time for rural residents to be carrying out general maintenance on their properties such as cleaning gutters.
“Rural residents should also be creating their fire breaks around houses, crops, sheds and other assets.”
RFS statistics show a major fires event occurs within the district, on average, every three years.
This year firefighters will join local farmers in hoping for good spring rain.
“Spring rain will definitely take the edge off the danger,” Mr Palmer said.
He said the advice coming to the RFS from the weather bureau is that the district can expect elevated temperatures this summer and below average rainfall.
Email a friend