Forest fires in Portugal
Portugal is under the worse forest fire season that I have any recollection of. I think that statistically, 4 years ago we had a worse year, but I'm not sure. This year, even if the burned area is lower, they hit several villages and there was substantial property loss as well.
I live in Figureira da Foz, by the ocean, near Coimbra, and we have a big fire right now near some important paper factories. They called in three CanadAir planes to fight it, and they choose to resupply in the river here 500 meters from my office. This was the fourth time they passed over and they keep coming, 4 or 5 minutes between refills.
The videos where taken with a Sony CyberShot with Auto-focus, so you'll see the image blurring from time to time. Also some solar flash is present sometimes, but I think they are worth the download time.
Tips on how to make the videos smaller (and for future reference, better) are appreciated.
First video was taken from my office window, it just shows the refilling part of the flight.
The second one, I moved over to the river bank, and shows the approach they do near (understatement of the year...) the bridge and the refilling part. The second plane is impressive in that only at touch-down, we curves to line himself with the river...
The third focus only on the approach "near" the bridge.
I don't know nor I care how much this guys earn for this job. It's not enough...
They leave Spain and Italy to come here and clean our mess, when our elected officials are taking a break at the beach, and there are really no words of gratitude that we can give them.
Thank you.
fixed: MIME-types are now fixed. update: all videos now available.