The Italian Canadairs in seasonal firefighting service

This Summer I’ve spent two weeks in Sardinia island, the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily), located to the West of the Italian peninsula. During the period, massive fires, that claimed two people and burnt 25,000 hectares of forest, scorched both the Northern and Southern part of the island. On certain days, up to 15 large fires erupted because of high temperatures and hot winds, and also by arson connected to building speculation or human negligence and carelessness. Firefighting missions were flown by a part of the dedicated fleet of 17 CL-415 Canadairs of the Dipartimento Protezione Civile (Civil Protection Department) deployed to Olbia. Despite being owned by the Italian State, the aircraft are operated and maintained under an outsourcing contract by the SOREM company, based in Rome Ciampino. Even if I spotted only a Canadair during my stay in Northern Sardinia, with the help of Roberto Petagna, I was able to track 12 CL-415 operating in Sardinia for firefighting purposes between Jul. 22 and Jul. 27:

I-DPCD/7
I-DPCE/8
I-DPCO/10
I-DPCP/11
I-DPCQ/12
I-DPCU/14
I-DPCW/16
I-DPCY/20
I-DPCF/23
I-DPCG/24
I-DPCI/26
I-DPCC/27

Roberto Petagna toook some pictures of the CL-415s operating near Cagliari that you can find here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/impala74/3755700146/

Also one of the 4 Erickson S-64F of the Corpo Forestale dello Stato (CFS, Italian Forestry Service) operated in Sardinia: I-CFAI/CFS-10.

About David Cenciotti

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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.