Three forest compartment lands have been on fire and NASC dispatched four fleets to fulfill the fire extinguishing mission.
Forest compartment land No. 81 located in Chishan, Kaohsiung was on fire on March 2, 2020 in the evening. As the fire scene is located in a remote area that is difficult to reach by foot, Pingtung Forest District Office in charge of the forest compartment therefore applied to NASC, Ministry of the Interior to extinguish the fire from the air in order to protect the precious forests. When NASC received the mission application, it was nearly the end of dusk. The staff in charge of dispatching personnel therefore immediately dispatched AS-365 Dauphin (No. NA-104) of Squadron 2 of the 3rd Wing stationed at Kaohsiung Siaogang Airport to firstly transport firefighting personnel of the Forestry Bureau to the fire scene for aerial survey. Upon reaching the forest compartment at 16:36, the AS-365 Dauphin (No. NA-104) helicopter immediately reported to the Center that there were a number of fire ignition points; the burning area was rather extensive; and the water fetching point located in Laonung River had not only many TAIPOWER’s electric towers and cables, but also some pillars with ropes and life buoys. The personnel on duty therefore inform the UH-60M Blackhawk (No. NA-709) of Squadron 3 of the 3rd Wing stationed at Taitung Fengnien Airport to extinguish the fire in the next morning. On the 3rd, NA-709 took off around 6:57 to implement the fire extinguishing mission. However, due to the difficulty of fetching the water and extinguishing the fire, NA-709 requested the Center to dispatch another Blackhawk NA-704 to support the mission.
At this time, around 7:20, Forestry Bureau’s Chiayi Chukou Station immediately notified NASC of the forest fire occurred at Tanayiku Ecological Natural Park. The UH-60M Blackhawk helicopter (No. NA-705 of Squadron 2 of the 3rd Wing stationed at Taichung Ching Chuan Kang Airport) had its mission changed to extinguish the fire at Tanayiku Ecological Natural Park. Upon arrival of the fire scene at 9:32, NA-705 also found a number of fire ignition points and requested the Center to dispatch another Blackhawk NA-702 to support the mission.
When these two Blackhawk fleet was implementing the water fetching and fire extinguishing mission, Forestry Bureau’s Nantou Forest District Office notified NASC of another fire occurred nearby forest compartment land No. 9 of Danda Working Circle at 14:23. The personnel on duty immediately dispatched AS-365 Dauphin (No. NA-110) of Squadron 1 of the 2nd Wing stationed at Taichung Ching Chuan Kang Airport to implement the aerial survey mission. Later at 16:16, UH-60M Blackhawk (No. NA-707) of Squadron 3 of the 1st Wing stationed at Hualien Airport took off to implement the fire extinguishing mission. As it was difficult to fetch water at the fire scene, Forestry Bureau’s ground firefighters were appointed to control the fire, whereas NASC was standby to support the ground firefighters. During its trip back to the station, NA-707 then received a mountain rescue mission request from the police office of Nantou County Government. NA-707 then immediately changed its mission to search and rescue the suspected victim at Taroko National Park.
As the burning area of Nantou’s Danda Working Circle was rather extensive and the ground firefighters suffered difficulties in controlling the fire, on March 4, NASC then dispatched UH-60M Blackhawks NA-707 of Squadron 3 of the 1st Wing (took off around 7:25) and NA-709 of Squadron 3 of the 3rd Wing (took off around 7:44) to jointly implement the forest fire extinguishing mission.
NASC pointed out that it was important and safer for hikers to hike in a group under the leadership of an experienced guide; and that, due to the recent dry season, hikers were highly suggested to pay attention to the fire when cooking. After all, it is difficult to plant and preserve precious tree species. Also, as Taiwan has a steep and rough terrain in mountainous area, it is extremely difficult to extinguish the fire, if any, and helicopters are often required to implement the fire extinguishing mission. Furthermore, electric towers, cables, transport cages and giant trees in mountain areas also result in a high level of risk to helicopters in water fetching and dropping missions. NASC therefore remind all citizens to love the lands of our country and not to waste the country’s limited resources.