Fighting fires from the sky in Asia Investment and innovation in aerial firefighting aircraft continues around the world, and in the Asia Pacific region, opportunities abound as governments consider whether or not to operate their own fleets or employ third parties to assist in the challenge of fighting forest fires in an increasingly warm climate. Mandy Langfield offers a snapshot of some of the latest investments in aerial firefighting fleets in the region
China
The Helicopter Detachment of China’s Forest Fire Bureau was established in 2009 in Daqing, a city in the northeast Heilongjiang Province. In 2019, a reorganization of assets was performed, which resulted in the aviation team being split into two parts – the first in Daqing, and the other in Kunming, in the southwest of the country. At the time, Zhang Yinghai, Captain of the Kunming Aviation Rescue Detachment, commented: “The new establishment marks a strategic move for China to ramp up its avi