Firefighters and police officers from Poland are taking part in extinguishing a fire in the Czech National Park “Ceske Svycarsko”. “On Tuesday evening, they dropped 120 tonnes of water from a police helicopter onto the burning forest”, announced the Chief Commander of the State Fire Service (PSP), Brigadier General Andrzej Bartkowiak.
The Poles are the first foreign team to support the Czechs in fighting the fire. They flew out of Warsaw on Tuesday afternoon in a police S-70i Black Hawk helicopter. The machine is equipped with a special water tank, the so-called Bambi Bucket, with a capacity of about 3,000 litres.
“Yesterday 120 tonnes of water fell on the fire… bravo! Great work by the Polish Police and PSP”, Gen Bartkowiak wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.
By the decision of the Minister of the Interior and Administration, the rescue group taking part in the operation on the territory of the Czech Republic includes a police helicopter crew and three firefighters of the State Fire Service. On the spot, police aviators and firefighters from Poland are cooperating with Czech units, which have already been battling the wildfire that is consuming the forests in the Ceske Svycarsko National Park since Sunday morning.
Eighty-three Czech fire brigade teams, comprising around 400 firefighters from seven Czech regions, have been deployed to fight the blaze. Four helicopters and two aircraft are also taking part in the operation. Only half of the firefighters belong to the professional fire brigade, the rest are volunteers.
The forest fire in the Ceske Svycarsko National Park broke out on Sunday morning. On Tuesday, rescue commanders reported that the blaze had spread to an area of around 30 hectares. There were no reports of injured residents or firefighters in the fire area.
The head of the Czech Interior Ministry, Vit Rakushan, said on Tuesday that Poland, Slovakia and Italy had responded positively to the appeal for help.
“As you can see, European solidarity is working. Other countries are ready and willing to help us in a difficult situation”, he noted.
Arkadiusz Słomczyński