Our two C130 waterbombers “Herc” and “Ty” worked together in Western Australia recently supporting firefighters and emergency services personnel against some pretty fierce fire conditions for communities. The WA Minister for Emergency Services the Hon Francis Logan and WA Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner Darren Klemm AFSM met one of the crews of Ty, the C130 based at Busselton Airport for the summer including Coulson Pilot Dawn.
According to the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES), Ty and Herc conducted 23 drops, and dropped over 346,000 litres of retardant including more than 180,000 litres at the Red Gully bushfire during the week they worked together.
Herc is normally based in Victoria and returned to its base after the week interstate.
These large capacity aircraft are designed to be shared across states and territories where needed as part of an arrangement through the National Aerial Firefighting Centre (NAFC).
Photography by Joel Baverstock