The history of the formation of aviation protection of forests in the USSR, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan. Chapter 4. Continuation.

14 января 2021

With this article, we continue the cycle of publications devoted to the history of the formation of aviation forest protection in the USSR, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Chapter 4. From the nineties of the XX century - to Avialesoohrany at the present stage.

The quality of radio communications improved. In the nineties, more than 9 thousand radio stations of various models worked in air bases.

For ground communication, the Granit-M complexes were widely used. The airplanes were equipped with the "Cactus" radio station.

The unpretentious portable HF radio station "Angara" provided communication between fire groups and the most remote aviation departments and forestry enterprises. In the nineties, work was actively carried out to extinguish fires from the air by aircraft-tankers An-2P.

According to the technical assignment of Avialesoohrana, the An-32P was created, which at the same time was a landing aircraft for 30 parachutists-firemen, could perform long flights for interregional maneuvering and carried 8 tons of water. It was planned to manufacture up to 70 such vehicles for Avialesoohrana. A special spillway device for extinguishing forest fires from An-2P aircraft was developed and produced, a Be-12P military amphibious aircraft was modernized according to the technical specifications of Avialesoohrana into a forest fire version, and a modern spillway device with electric discharge control for VSU-5A helicopters was created.

The turn of the new millennium was marked for Avialesoohrana by the introduction of a number of new developments. The "Lesnik-3” parachute system was put into operation, a system for supplying wetting agents to the helicopter spillway device VSU-5A in flight was developed.

Special purpose parachute system Lesnik - 3. Designed for airborne paratroopers - firefighters with a full set of necessary equipment from airplanes and helicopters.

As before, international cooperation in the field of forest fire protection (USA, Spain, Canada, Finland, China) was actively developing, which made it possible to improve forest fire equipment and update training programs for specialists. The head of the scientific and technical department of the Central Air Base E.P. Davydenko. Particularly active international cooperation was carried out with the US Forest Service and the US Bureau of Land Management, which also use paratroopers and paratroopers-firefighters to extinguish wildfires.

From 1993 to the beginning of the 2000s, more than 150 traffic police officers and observer pilots from the branches of FGU Avialesokhrana were trained in the USA to extinguish fires in ground-based rapid response teams and as part of parachute fire groups and teams. In 1998, for 4.5 months, the Avialesoohrana team of 16 people under the leadership of the head of the North-Western air base A.G. Shchedrina worked to put out fires not only in the western states, where fires rage every year, but also in the state of Florida. There were also organized programs for the exchange of experience in the management of extinguishing large forest fires, the initial training of parachutists-firefighters. About 30 forest fire specialists from the USA also studied the experience of organizing forest fire protection in Russia. As a result of the exchange of experience in both countries, the parachute equipment was improved. The training programs for employees were revised, a parachute simulator system was introduced at FBU Avialesoohrana and a complex helicopter simulator Mi-8 MTV with the ability to practice extinguishing forest fires using the VSU-5A.

In Russia, they began to use such hand tools as an ax-hoe (Pulaski), AZ-4 incendiary devices. The American side studied the experience of extinguishing forest fires in remote areas with limited resources.

The use of the AZ-4 incendiary apparatus, the mineralized strip made by the tractor acted as the reference strip.

The Bureau of Land Management of the United States began to use the Lesnik-2 parachute deployment system using a stabilizing parachute system. At the end of the twentieth century, work began on the creation of an information system for remote monitoring "ISDM-Rosleskhoz".

Since 1995, separate projects of the system have been created. In 2005, according to the terms of reference and with the direct participation of specialists from the Central Aviation Forest Protection Base, the ISDM-Rosleskhoz information system for remote monitoring, developed by a consortium of RAS institutions (IKI RAS and CEPL RAS), Rosleskhoz, Roshydromet, was put into commercial operation. Forest fires and forest fire conditions are monitored throughout the country. Cartography, data of space sensing of the earth (satellite imagery), Roshydrometeocenter, thunderstorm direction finding systems, operational and statistical reporting of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, archival thematic information are collected together. Any specialist working in the forestry system and in other departments can receive information about forest fires in real time.

This system, which united in a single information space all the subjects of the Russian Federation, would seem fantastic to those who once created Avialesoohrana.

To be continued...

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