Starting this Monday, October 7, another Electra Tanker T481 tanker plane and new Guardian Boxes will join the fight against forest fires in the country. This was announced by the President of the State, Luis Arce, and ratified by the Minister of Defense, Edmundo Novillo. He also maintained that the Armed Forces will reinforce patrols in fire zones.
“We are going to increase a Tanker plane and the flow of Guardian Boxes that we are using to fight the fire“explained Arce, from the Fire Control Center in Santa Cruz.
On September 21, the first Electra Tanker T481 tanker plane and the Airbus BK117 D3 helicopter with Bambi Bucket arrived, and are already working to put out the fires. The Electra Tanker T481 tanker plane, from the Air Spray company of Canada, It has a multiple flush capacity and stores 11,300 liters of water.
The Minister of Defense, Edmundo Novillo, reported that The second Electra Tanker T481 tanker plane will arrive in the country on Monday, and on Tuesday it will be operating, along with the rest of the planes and helicopters available.
“The contract has already been signed for the tanker plane to be here, it will begin operating on Tuesday.”” and a third Hercules C-130 aircraft will also be added, Novillo explained.
Control will also be reinforced on the roads of Santa Cruz and Beni, “so that there are not these people who set fires, we are going to be much more alert”Arce warned.
As explained by the president, these actions are part of the declaration of a national fire disaster, which allows the use of greater resources to extinguish fires, activates international aid and cooperation, among other initiatives.
There have been more than 120 days that the fire has not stopped in several regions of Bolivian territorywhich has Santa Cruz as its epicenter, is followed by Beni. More than 6 million hectares were affected by the fire.
National and foreign firefighters work by air and land. “The news is encouraging, but we must not be careless, these fires are dynamic, today it can reduce and tomorrow increase,” the president warned.
There are at least 200 “Guardian Boxes” that are unloaded from two Hercules planes. A “Guardian Box”, which is a water storage unit of up to 1,000 liters, is a biodegradable container that is launched from the air and releases its contents, creating a rain effect with great precision on fires.
