A third Bell 412 helicopter has been delivered to the NSW Rural Fire Service and it will be reconfigured over the next several months in preparation for the next bushfire season. This helicopter will be part of NSW’s rapid aerial response for the state’s regional communities, and will also be utilized for other emergency services and missions such as search and rescue.
The helicopter, previously operated by the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department, arrived at RAAF Base Richmond, from the United States, on January 25th on a Royal Australian Air Force No.36 squadron C-17A Globemaster III aircraft. This Bell 412 marks the third addition to the fleet of Bells, following two aircraft which were previously delivered by the Royal Australian Air Force in 2020, after the Black Summer bushfires.
“The RAAF’s delivery of these helicopters is a good illustration of how Defence capability can enable other government agencies and state emergency services,” said Commander Air Mobility Group, Air Commodore Carl Newman.
“In recent years at RAAF Base Richmond, we’ve provided airbase support to these emergency services, and witnessed firsthand the benefit these aircraft make to disaster-relief operations.”
It was described in a press release that loading the three-ton helicopter onto the C-17A required its rotor blades to be disassembled and be loaded on-board separately. Additionally, the Bell 412’s skids were attached to a wheeled dolly allowing the aircraft to be safely loaded on, and off, the C-17A cargo ramp, ensuring that neither aircraft received any damage in the process.
The helicopter’s arrival, nearly a year ahead of the next fire season, emphasizes the government’s stance on taking a proactive approach to firefighting readiness. Though improvements have been made since the Black Summer brushfires, other states such as Victoria are still contending with the difficulties of operating an insufficient firefighting fleet.
Victoria is now entering the high-risk portion of the fire season and still has no available night-time aerial firefighting capabilities until its Chinook passes a review and receives approval for night-time firefighting operations.
