Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Prof. Dr. Vahit Kirişci said, “Today, for the first time, our helicopter will enter our inventory. Good luck to our organization and our country with the fire fighting helicopter produced jointly by TAI and Sikorsky.” said.
Minister Kirişci attended the Forest Fires Year-End Evaluation Meeting and Fire Fighting Helicopter Delivery Ceremony held at the General Directorate of Forestry (OGM) Aviation Department.
Pointing out that more than half of the country's forests consist of fire-sensitive areas, Kirişci said that approximately 90 percent of the fires are caused by humans. Kirişci emphasized that the rate of spread and growth of these fires is mostly related to meteorology and climate.
Minister Kirişci stated that they followed a strategy focused on capacity increase and technology development in the fight against forest fires and said, “We increased the number of helicopters from 39 last year to 55, from 3 to 20 aircraft, and from 4 to 8 of our UAVs. In addition, 25 helicopters, 2 aircraft and 2 UAVs are ready as a reserve power. Our first response time to the fire has been reduced to 10 minutes.” used his statements.
Pointing out that new helicopters will enter the inventory, Kirişci said, “Today, for the first time, our helicopter will enter our inventory. Good luck to our fire fighting helicopter organization and our country, produced jointly by TAI and Sikorsky. This helicopter will be able to throw 2,5 tons of water and will be able to serve at night in forest fires. Next year, 4 amphibious tanker aircraft and 1 air management aircraft equipped with mission systems that provide high resolution images and produce digital maps will be included in our fleet. Again, we aim to strengthen our fleet by including our domestic and national Gökbey helicopters and 16 more aircraft in our inventory.” he said.
Kirişci emphasized the importance of early intervention, underlining that they use technology effectively in preventing forest fires and responding to fires.
“TURKEY IS THE FIRST EUROPEAN COUNTRY TO USE UAV TECHNOLOGY IN MONITORING FOREST FIRES”
Stressing that they have achieved many successes in the fight against forest fires by gradually using the latest technologies in the world in the last 20 years, Kirişci said:
“UAVs, which are our national gurus, also perform a great task in protecting our green homeland. Thanks to the thermal cameras used in the UAVs, the fires are instantly determined and an intervention plan is prepared by integrating them with the data obtained from the meteorology. Turkey is the first European country to use UAV technology to monitor forest fires. With UAVs, we can scan an area of 1 million hectares in 3,5 minute instantly. Another technology we use in firefighting is a total of 162 Smart Fire Towers, 776 of which are smart. These unmanned towers, where artificial intelligence is used, detect fires remotely and transfer them to the fire management center.”
THE PROGRESS OF THE FIRE IS FOLLOWED WITH LOCAL SOFTWARE
Minister Kirişci stated that they gained the ability to intervene more effectively with the Supply and Fire Decision Support System, which is a domestic and national software, and that thanks to this system, the course of the fire was followed and precautions were taken.
Expressing that the air and land vehicles used in the firefighting were monitored for 24 hours, Kirişci noted that the fire coordinates were sent to the navigation devices in the sprinklers and the teams intervened quickly.
Noting that they significantly increased the land response teams, which are the most important force in extinguishing fires, Kirişci reminded that they established ORKUT teams of 462 people who will professionally fight against fires and undergo special training.
Underlining that the land response capacity has been increased, Minister Kirişci said, “Our number of sprinklers from 1350 to 1565, the number of 692 construction equipment to 756, our first response vehicle from 2 thousand 270 to 2 thousand 295, the number of our personnel from 21 thousand to 25 thousand, 20 By increasing the number of our volunteers from one thousand to 113 thousand, we significantly increased our combat capacity.” said.
6,5 BILLION SEEDS MEET WITH THE SOIL
Sharing the knowledge that they plant more than 600 million saplings every year, Kirişci said, “Between 2003 and 2022, 6,5 billion saplings were brought together with the soil within the scope of afforestation. Our target next year is to easily exceed the figure of 7 billion.” used the phrase.
Expressing that they have gained a great momentum in exports with increasing production, Kirişci said, “We increased our non-wood forest products exports, which was 2002 million dollars in 39, to 1 billion 600 million dollars. We are working with all our strength so that our exports reach 2023 billion dollars in 2. In 2022, we contributed 530 million TL to our forest villagers, to whom we provided support and grants within the scope of ORKOY studies. We have increased this support amount to 2023 billion liras for 1,2.” he said.
After the opening speeches, Kirişci examined the helicopter and got information, and stuck the Turkey Century logo on the helicopter.
Later, the helicopter performed a demonstration flight.
T70 FIRE FIGHTING HELICOPTER
The T70 helicopter is capable of throwing 2,5 tons of water at a time. The helicopter, which will serve day and night in forest fires, will be able to fly non-stop for up to 2,5 hours and can carry 11 forest workers when necessary. He will also be able to perform rescue missions with the additional equipment he has on him.
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