A pilot has been killed after his firefighting plane crashed while battling a major blaze that has destroyed 200 hectares of protected forest in Poland.
The aircraft came down in Solska Forest in the southeast of the country, Poland’s interior minister said on Wednesday.
The fire broke out on Tuesday afternoon near the village of Kozaki, in Lublin province.
Fire crews are using water and beaters in Solska Forest. Pic: Państwowa Straż Pożarna
In a translation of a Facebook post, the state fire service, Panstwowa Straz Pozarna (PSP), confirmed it was tackling an “extensive forest fire”.
They added that a Sikorsky S-70i Black Hawk police helicopter had been deployed with police aviators and PSP officers dropping water using a 3,000 litre “Bambi Bucket” and were “concentrating operations in the most difficult places”.
Helicopters have been deployed to drop water on the fires. Pic: Agencja Wyborcza.pl/Reuters
The Lubin Ornithological Society, Lubelskie Towarzystwo Ornitologiczne (LTO), also posted a video of flames in the forest.
It added the caption: “Massacre! Our Solska Forest”.
RMF24, a Polish news outlet, said the crash had been confirmed by Anna Sternik, spokesperson for the Regional Directorate of State Forests in Lublin.
It said a Dromader firefighting plane, involved in extinguishing a forest fire, crashed in the village of Osuchy near the town of Bilgoraj.
The Aviation Safety Network reported it was a PZL M-18B Dromader, a single-engine, fixed-wing aircraft.
A Dromader firefighting plane, at a Polish airshow, similar to the type which crashed. File pic: iStock
The interior minister, Marcin Kierwinski, told Radio Zet there was no reason to suspect the fire had been started deliberately.
“We’re dealing with a very dry period. Forests and conifers catch fire very easily, and fire spreads very easily,” he said, adding that police Black Hawk helicopters were deployed to contain the blaze.
Smoke can be seen as a fire engine attends the forest fire. Pic: Agencja Wyborcza.pl/Reuters
The situation remained serious, he said, with multiple fires in hard-to-reach areas, and the next few hours would be decisive in determining how the fire could be brought under control.
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The Government Centre for Security, Rzadowe Centrum Bezpieczeństwa, posted a message on social media to local people in Lukowa, Józefów, Aleksandrów, warning them to close doors and windows.
“Attention! Forest fire and heavy smoke… Do not open windows. Listen to the orders of the services,” the translated message read.
