Taree Airport has become ground control for multiple fire fighting helicopters following a spate of bushfires.
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Up to ten helicopters have been stationed at the site with Rural Fire Service crews using the Manning River Aero club house as a makeshift headquarters.
Illawarra based air service Touchdown Helicopters has provided their UH-1H and Squirrel AS 350 helicopters to assist in the operation.
RFS pilot Shane Daviege was posted to the site this week to help local crews with incendiary (back-burning) operations.
He has to follow a “sit and wait” process before springing into action.
“We’ve got the air attack out their looking over the fires and they’ll come back and give us the intel,” Shane said.
Fellow pilot Nathan Cobey said the ongoing cooperation between the air crew and ground services is important to the outcome of putting out a bushfire.
"The crews do a really good job.
You'll establish with the ground crew with communication by radio and usually we've got an air attack that’s first on the scene that does their surveillance, works out where the hot spots are and the danger areas, depending on the houses or property loss.
If that’s going to happen we'll be tasked straight to that position to try and save that property and get a handle on it so the ground crew can come in, cool the fire down do their job and put it out," Nathan said.
Nathan still wants residents to be wary of the ongoing danger of the fires despite forecasts of rain this weekend.
"This weekend we're getting rain so I think the fire danger would be extremely low at the moment so most of the crews have been detasked.
The first week it was pretty full on and dangerous as the weather has changed- the way its turned out now is actually pretty low.
Sill keep listening to your fire warnings though, your radios and keep in touch with the RFS," Nathan said.