An additional two aircraft will service the South East as part of a major $27.6 million Malinauskas Government investment into aerial firefighting capacity.
An additional fixed-wing aircraft and a Black Hawk helicopter will be stationed in the South East, providing a significant boost to water bombing capacity in the region.
Two observational helicopters will continue to support firefighting operations, advising ground crews on fire direction, size and spread, and allowing incident management personnel the ability to undertake real time reconnaissance work. This is essential to the safe and efficient deployment of ground and aerial firefighting resources contributing towards early control of bushfire incidents.
The State Government has contracted SA-owned and operated companies Helifarm and Aerotech to provide this service with the aircraft based at Mount Gambier Airport and servicing the lower South East during the 2023–24 fire season.
This service will work together with the Country Fire Service's (CFS) strong suite of firefighting resources, as well as forest industry brigades and Department of Environment and Water (DEW) crews.
In this year’s State Budget, the Malinauskas Government committed five new aircraft to the CFS aerial firefighting fleet, increasing the number from 26 to 31, following a $27.6 million State Government investment.
For the first time in Australia artificial intelligence is also being used to detect and monitor fires in the South East as part of the State Government’s more than $2 million upgrade of the region's fire towers.
The project is being implemented in partnership with the Green Triangle Forest Industries Hub with $1 million going towards the implementation of the new technology.
In July the State Government announced Pano AI as the successful tender of the full camera-based fire detection system which will be due to be operational in time for the 2023–24 fire danger season.
The State Government is firmly focussed on bushfire preparedness, and has undertaken several actions to prepare South Australia, including:
- Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) technology being rolled out for firefighting and emergency service vehicles as part of a $12 million State Government investment
- 25 prescribed burns have already been undertaken, with plans for a further 31
- a state-wide advertising campaign, which will commence at the end of October, encouraging South Australians to have a bushfire survival plan
- the Fire Danger Season has been brought forward in six districts, with Flinders, North East Pastoral, North West Pastoral, and West Coast having commenced on 16 October, followed by Mid North and Yorke Peninsula districts on 1 November
- Police Operation Nomad has commenced, focussing on deliberate, reckless and negligent acts that may cause a bushfire. Police patrols will be deployed on total fire ban days (this includes extreme and catastrophic fire danger ratings) throughout the season. Police will also be monitoring persons of interest throughout the season.
The additional aircraft now bring the total CFS aerial firefighting fleet in the South East to six – three fixed-wing bombers, two observational helicopters and one Black Hawk.