Two firefighting aircraft due to aid in Victoria’s bushfire efforts this season are yet to be delivered months into the bushfire season, and despite raging fires on the Victoria/South Australia border.
Fireball founder Christopher Tylor said he’s in discussions to use the state as a test case for his innovation, which uses a combination of satellites and sensors to spot blazes before they can grow out of control.
Adelaide-based company FireFlight Technologies has created a system that uses thermal imaging sensors mounted to a manned aircraft, to detect flames through kilometres of thick and billowing smoke, and accurately track a fire’s path.
The former Deputy Commissioner of Fire & Rescue NSW, Jim Smith, said “not much seems to have been done” a year to the day since the bushfire royal commission report was published.
The aircraft was chartered from Russian airline Volga-Dnepr by Sunshine Coast company McDermott Aviation, just days after Greece's government requested its assistance in combating the nation's extensive wildfires.
The LAT will remain in Bundaberg for four years as part of the deal between the Palaszczuk government and the Victorian government.
