Morocco helps Portugal in wildfire fight with two Canadair planes

Morocco’s Royal Air Forces deployed two Canadair firefighting planes and a “Casa” support aircraft, this Wednesday Sept. 18, to Monte Real in Portugal, to help the Portuguese authorities fight forest fires in the north of the country, in a joint action also involving Spanish, French and Italian aircraft.

Pursuant to the high instructions of King Mohammed VI, Supreme Commander and Chief of the General Staff of the Royal Armed Forces, four crews and a technical team from the Royal Air Force’s 3rd Air Base fire-fighting squadron have also been mobilized as part of this mission, which comes in response to a request for support from Portuguese authorities, a statement by the Royal Armed Forces General Staff said.

Since 2012, Royal Air Force “Canadair” aircraft have taken part in the fight against forest fires in Spain, Portugal, and Italy. In Portugal in particular, where Morocco has intervened for the 3rd time since 2016, Moroccan aircraft carried out around 70 sorties in 230 flight hours during their interventions in 2016 and 2017. Morocco’s recurrent participation in the fight against forest fires in Portugal bears witness to the deep ties of solidarity and cooperation between the two countries, covering several areas of common interest, the FAR statement added.

Morocco has a large fleet of “Canadair CL415” and “CL215” water bomber aircraft. Since 2011, when the first aircraft were delivered to Morocco, these aircraft have demonstrated their effectiveness in fighting forest fires both inside and outside the Kingdom.