The Uruguayan Navy Westland Wessex HC MK II was hovering over the Atlantic Ocean with only 25 ft indicated on the radio altimeter as the 'Bambi' bucket, attached by a cable to its belly, hit the water surface in between the swells. The hot breeze hit the handling pilot's face as he looked down from the open window at the water-carrying scoop being battered by the 5 ft waves. The winch operator, half-hanging out of the helicopter's right-hand door, visually checked that the bucket was full, and informed the pilot that it was time to climb.  The Rolls-Royce Gnome turboshaft engine whined, as if complaining about the additional weight of the 800 litres of water on the scoop.  The aircraft headed inland - it was time to put out a fire!

In late January 2005, the worst forest fire 

in Uruguay's history destroyed over 5,000 acres of woodland on the coast of the eastern province of Rocha. The authorities called in the Air Force, Navy, Fire Brigade, Army, and civilian air assets in an effort to control the blaze. Whilst these efforts were going on, a second fire broke out at the Santa Teresa national park, near the Brazilian border, close to the small fishing village of Punta del Diablo, where 8,000 people were camping. Although bush land and property were destroyed by these fires, fortunately no lives were lost.
Starting on January 24, and continuing over four days, the fire was fought by a combined military and civilian effort.

The Air Force (FAU - Fuerza Aerea Uruguaya) was first on the scene with four helicopters - two Bell UH-lHs and a Westland Wessex HC MK II fitted with 'Bambi' buckets, and an AS 365 'Dauphin' - all from Escuadrón 5. A CASA C-212 'Aviocar' from Escuadrón 3 provided transport and logistical support, and the Navy contributed two Wessex HC MK II from Curbelo NAS, near Punta del Este. Civilian operators were also put on alert at 1500 hours on the first day, on the direct orders of the country's president, Jorge Batlle. 

With great foresight and excellent timing, ANEPA (the Uruguayan national association of aero agricultural companies), had carried out a forest fires combat course for agricultural aircraft the previous August. This course was held in conjunction with the National Fire Department and the National Emergency Committee. It involved training pilots, ground fire-fighters and Civil Aviation Authority personnel in fire combat so that all participants achieved a common operating and communicating procedure.

At dawn on January 25, civilian aircraft arrived from all over the country - an assorted fleet of crop-spraying types, including Grumman Ag-Cats, Air Tractors and Cessna Ag-Trucks.  At the time, many operators were involved in spraying the rice harvest, but they still managed to send aircraft and support ground teams immediately to the fire region. Other suitable aircraft located inside a 50nm radius were put on standby. A Cessna 182 was nominated as the control aircraft, this being the first civilian type to arrive.

A command and communication post was set up on the motorway between the Santa Teresa national park and the resort of La Coronilla. As a neutral nation with limited air attack and defence capability, Uruguay's defence policy is to disperse its assets throughout the country. To do this, the military often operates from selected straight sections of motorways, after temporarily closing them to traffic.

Now this arrangement seemed to be paying off, although this time the 'enemy' was a natural foe, in the shape of a raging forest fire. The selected road was Ruta 9, a highway running east to west, parallel to the sea and extremely close to the fires. This became a landing zone/runway for all the aircraft involved. with the western end accommodating the Command Post, the seven military helicopters and support equipment. 

Lt. Colonel Carlos Amado, commander of the FAU's helicopter Escuadron 5 and one of Uruguay's presidential helicopter pilots, was tasked with overseeing the operation of all the military (both Air Force and Navy) aircraft, plus the civilian ones. His was a sensitive task as he not only had to deal with another service branch, but also with civilian pilots unaccustomed to military procedures. Liaison with local and foreign ground fire-fighters (a Brazilian detachment had arrived), as well as with Uruguayan army and civilian personnel, who saw to the distribution of aircraft fuel, water lorries, heavy machinery and food supplies, meant that it was also a challenging one. 

Following an observation flight in the fire department Schweitzer 300C, the local fire chief outlined the area of operations and determined the mission's priorities - to save human lives first, then property and the local forest. Not only were the wooded areas ancient and made up of indigenous trees. but they were also some of the last remaining in the country. 

One RT frequency was allocated to the military air units and another to the civilian crop-sprayers - before this had been put into practice, it had become obvious that there were some hazards to the air operations. A Navy Wessex, flying at 300 ft AGL while inbound to a water drop, narrowly missed a civilian crop-sprayer. The Wessex's pilots could only stare in disbelief as a civilian aircraft carne out from behind a hill and passed just a few feet below their heavily-laden helicopter. A decision was quickly taken that the crop-sprayers would fly circuits north of the LZ at 700 ft AGL whilst the helicopters would do so below 500 ft. 

When government officials arrived on the scene in a FAU SA-365N2 Dauphin, the narrow two-lane Ruta 9 suddenly became too crowded. To ease operations, the FAU helicopters were re-positioned on a disused road running parallel to Ruta 9. The constant take-offs and landings made by the helicopters (the Hueys in particular) turned the landing zone into a scene reminiscent of the Vietnam War. In the middle of all this activity, a FAU C-212 turboprop transport landed, carrying fuel and relief personnel. The FAU's Cessna C-206H circled continuously above the blaze, advising highway patrols where to close roads and redirect vehicles.

The civilian crop-spraying aircraft flew non-stop, reloading their water tanks three at a time, and keeping their engines running all the while. They discharged their loads every four minutes, the pilots risking their lives to fly at 90 ft above the flames, battling against high temperatures and turbulence before returning immediately to their improvised runway to refuel, and re-load with water. To speed things up, a water truck was placed halfway along the landing strip, allowing aircraft to land, replenish their tanks and leave again on the remaining stretch of runway. Ground crews achieved a level of synchronization that would put a Formula One team to shame.

Evidence of the trust and professionalism between the services and the civilian personnel grew as the task progressed, and became evident when a FAU C-212 on final approach was ordered by ATC to taxi immediately to the end of the runway after touchdown, as there were six crop-spraying aircraft behind on final approach. By the time the Aviocar completed its turn at the runway's end, two of the 'ag' planes so recently on finals had been reloaded with water and were airborne again! 

At this time Ruta 9 was, without doubt, the busiest 'aerodrome' in the country. The contribution made to the fire-fighting effort by civilian ground teams and pilots was extremely valuable, especially as some aircraft, such as the Air Tractor, could carry up to 1,700 litres of water, more than double the load of one of the helicopters! The six 'ag' planes took off in turn every four minutes, and dropped some 55,000 litres of water hourly.

As the fire raged close to the sea, the helicopters were able to take on water from the ocean - for endurance and time on-station purposes, the ground crews adjusted the 'Bambi' buckets to take 800 litres out of 1,100 possible - setting up a circular fiying pattern of loading, dropping, and returning to the coast for more water. Each circuit of three to five minutes was nicknamed a 'calesita' (merry-go-round) and one naval crew achieved 37 drops during a flight of one hour forty minutes. To save time, replenishing was done sporadicafly from adjacent water holes and lakes. 

The water-dropping method varied depending on the size of the area pilots wished to cover - a stationary drop whilst hovering released more flow, whilst a launch with forward horizontal motion covered a wider area. The decision on when to release (opening the lower horizontal ribbon on the bucket), was made by the winch operator, usually a non-commissioned officer (called 'contramaestre' [boatswain] in the Navy, and 'rescatista' [rescuer] in the Air Force).

Pilots found the mission rewarding, and were keen to aid people and save property and land. At first some local citizens were reluctant to abandon their homes, although the low-flying helicopters emphasised the severity of the situation. The 'merry-go-round' pattern became rather monotonous, and extremely tiring, although the crews were reduced to awe by the sight of so many burned-out trees and destroyed properties. However, their fraught with peril – highly flammable eucalyptus trees flew upwards like missiles, and one Navy crew reported a tree exploding right in front of their Wessex! Flames shot high above the tree-tops and burning pine kernels flew up and exploded like grenades.

Fiying conditions were extremely tough, as mechanical, orographic and dynamic turbulence from the rising hot air also had to be dealt with.

At times it was impossible to avoid the rising columns of smoke just before a drop, and a close eye had to be kept on the engines' EGT (exhaust gas temperature) gauges to avoid exceeding the temperature limits of the turbines.

Luckily, operations were aided by strong winds blowing in from the sea, which provided the rotors with more lift. But the aircrews were not the only ones who faced danger - civilian, and military ground teams (one from Santa Vitoria do Palmar in neighbouring Brazil) fought a constant battle against the unpredictable nature of the fire, in which the flames were quickly spread by the hot, dry and windy conditions.

They built fire-break barriers and lit 'back burns' (small fires which stop the progress of the main fires by burning off combustible material in a controlled fashion). However, on the third day of the blaze, during a brief lull in operations (with a 40 kts crosswind) an increase in wind intensity brought smoke and flames blowing across towards the command centre. This required the helicopters to be repositioned to a nearby field, fiying IFR as they escaped through the dense smoke.

The battle against Nature was finally won on the fourth day, when the combined effort by civil and military aviators produced a positive resuft. Many lessons had also been learnt, which will stand the pilots in good stead for the next hot summer.