Shania succeeds Elvis in bushfire fight
Posted 4 hours 5 minutes ago
The New South Wales Government has taken possession of a Skycrane helicopter, dubbed Shania Crane, as it prepares for a torrid bushfire season.
The new helicopter replaces Elvis and will be among more than 100 planes and helicopters on call this summer.
It comes straight from firefighting efforts in the US and will support the 4,000 tankers and 71,000 Rural Fire Service (RFS) volunteers on the ground in NSW.
The Skycrane will be based at Granville, in Sydney's west, for the summer months.
It will be the seventh year in a row that such a large-capacity helicopter will be part of front-line bushfire-fighting efforts.
Premier Morris Iemma is upbeat about the added protection Shania Crane will provide.
"Proof that Elvis is dead - a move from the blues to pop," he said. "I'm confident that this Shania will be as big a hit as the real one."
The RFS says while there have been welcome rains across parts of the state, it will only take a few days of hot, dry windy weather for the risk of bushfire to increase dramatically.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/...ction=australia
-Chris
Linear Mode
