Australia is sending aerial firefighting assets and teams to support the response to devastating wildfires in France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A CH-47D Chinook helicopter, equipped with an 11,300-litre water tank, and a Bell 412 reconnaissance and support aircraft will be deployed to France, accompanied by 24 highly skilled aerial and ground crew from the New South Wales Rural Fire Service (NSW RFS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Together, they will support around-the-clock firefighting operations, providing much-needed relief to emergency services responding on the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The wildfires in France are among the worst the country has experienced in decades, driven by multiple active fire fronts and a prolonged summer heatwave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The NSW RFS is internationally recognised as an expert in bushfire management and represents the very best of Australian emergency management capability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The assistance is being provided in response to a request from the French Government. It will be delivered in close partnership with the Australian Defence Force, which will support the rapid deployment of personnel, aircraft and equipment through strategic airlift and logistics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The deployment will take place in coming days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence,\u00a0Richard Marles:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAustralia and France work closely together in our region, and we are proud to be supporting them now during their time of need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Australian Defence Force will make an important contribution to these efforts, using its assets to help get assistance to where it\u2019s needed.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Penny Wong:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFrance is a close and valued friend of Australia, and we stand with the French people as they respond to these devastating wildfires.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe scale of these fires is immense, and it is in moments like these that the strength of our partnership and solidarity is most evident.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n the Minister for Emergency Management, Kristy McBain:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHaving seen firsthand the severe impacts bushfires have had on both my own community and many others across Australia, my heart goes out to the people of France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAustralia has some of the finest fire-fighting capability on the planet and we are only too happy to do whatever we can to assist, just as France came to our aid during the 2019-2020 Black Summer Bushfires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI want to thank the emergency services personnel who are travelling to France. I wish you a safe deployment.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n NSW Minister for Emergency Services, Jihad Dib:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur emergency services are proud to support our international partners in their time of need, and the Chinook will be a welcome boost to French firefighting capabilities with its large water storage and night-time capabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe deployment of RFS personnel, the Chinook and Bell 412 support aircraft, together with the ongoing work of the Marie Bashir large air tanker in the US, demonstrates the depth of capability NSW can deliver during major fire emergencies.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Australia is sending aerial firefighting assets and teams to support the response to devastating wildfires in France. A CH-47D Chinook helicopter, equipped with an 11,300-litre water tank, and a Bell 412 reconnaissance and support aircraft will be deployed to France, accompanied by 24 highly skilled aerial and ground crew from the New South Wales Rural … Continue reading “Australia provides firefighting support to France”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40201"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40202,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40201\/revisions\/40202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n
\n
\n