In order to fight a severe forest fire in the Friuli Alps, Italian firefighting planes landed in Weissensee, Austria, to refuel. They arrived unannounced, which was dangerous.
Klagenfurt/Udine – Along with Lake Millstatt, Lake Ossiach and Lake Wörthersee, Lake Weissensee is one of the holiday paradises that holidaymakers love so much in Carinthia during the summer months. The weather there in the south of Austria, close to Italy, is always a little warmer than further north. The water is ideal for swimming or boat trips. Huge firefighting planes from Italy suddenly landed in the middle of this idyllic setting without anyone on site knowing about it. An unauthorized firefighting operation by Italian firefighting planes caused a scandal between the Alpine republic of Austria and its southern neighbor.
The cause: Since August 19, there have been fires in the mountains of the Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia near the Austrian border. The fire broke out near the town of Moggio Udinese on Mount Cimadors after a lightning strike. By using firefighting helicopters, the emergency services were initially able to keep the flames under control for several days. But high temperatures and winds caused the fire to spread quickly from last weekend. 450 hectares of forest were affected, which is the equivalent of more than 650 football pitches. A dozen people in the municipality of Moggio Udinese, including some tourists, had to be evacuated on Monday (September 2) due to the heavy smoke.
Flames are blazing in the sky in Italy near the border with Austria
The region ordered firefighting aircraft from the central government, which quickly rushed to help. The water used to extinguish the fire was not filled up in Italy, but in the Austrian neighborhood – in Weissensee, which is much closer to the fire than the Adriatic. But the authorities around the lake knew nothing about it on Tuesday morning (September 3). Suddenly the Canadian-Planes were in the water and filling up with fuel. This is not unusual and has happened in the past, but the authorities in Carinthia need four hours’ notice to clear the water areas of SUP paddlers, bathers, sailors or excursion boats and close them off. It was high season at Weissensee!
The firefighting aircraft, manufactured in Canada, fill up with 6,000 liters of water through a hatch on the fuselage at 130 kilometers per hour, which is pressed into the tanks within seconds. A distance of 410 meters is enough. The maneuver went well, nobody was injured and the authorities then cordoned off the lake. Nevertheless, people in Austria are angry: “It was not approved, nobody knew about it. It was really negligent,” complains the deputy disaster control officer for the state of Carinthia, Christian Gamsler, in the Small newspaper.
How could such a dangerous operation have come about? “I don’t know for the life of me. I assume that the pilots acted arbitrarily in an imminent emergency and without knowledge of any regulations,” Gamsler told the newspaper. “We are talking about a bathing lake that is popular with locals and tourists. People could have been right at the water intake point.” Gamsler asked the Interior Ministry, but the Italians didn’t even inform Austro Control.” The Friuli region had asked for the water, but the planes arrived as soon as the request was en route.
Carinthian authorities annoyed: Water landings in the bathing lake without evacuation
Riccardo Riccardi, Civil Protection Commissioner for the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, told the news agency APA then that they wanted to avoid flights from the more distant Adriatic. Mayor Karoline Turnschek (ÖVP) reported that she had observed the approaches from the tourist office. The planned safety corridor had not been set up.
The Carinthian state government then tackled the matter diplomatically: Italy’s incorrect behavior had been discussed amicably and clarified for the future, the state announced in a written statement. The necessary papers have now been received and the firefighting flights have been approved. By Thursday (5 September) the flames had actually been pushed back. Rain had also helped to calm the situation. But the matter is not over yet.
Why didn’t Austria’s Air Force notice anything?
The question that remains for many Austrians is why their air force did not notice the intruders in their airspace. The explanation: the tanker planes were flying very low, so they were not necessarily visible to radar. Michael Bauer, press spokesman in the Ministry of Defense, explains to oRf: “Of course there is never 100 percent coverage. Because of course there are radar shadows when the aircraft flies below a certain minimum altitude.”
In March, there was a huge forest fire in the border region between Italy and Austria. Flames also raged on the Adriatic in July. But heavy Rainfall
caused deaths and injuries.
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