On September 6 Ambassador of Sweden in Lithuania HE Maria Christina Lundqvist and Defence Attaché of Sweden Örjan Ström thanked crews of Lithuanian Air Force Mi-8 helicopter for helping distinguish fires in Sweden and presented a letter of commendation from Supreme Commander of Sweden General Micael Bydén.
Nearly for three weeks (July 21 - August 13) two crews of Mi-8 of the Lithuanian Air Force were assisting in extinguishing fires that were ravaging Sweden. The Lithuanian helicopter was sent after a call from the Swedish Government.
"I have taken part in firefighting operations in my service, however, I have never worked for so long - it is my richest practice of fire extinguishment and invaluable experience," head of one of the crews Captain Rimantas Lidė said.
"This operation is exceptional for the scope of teamwork - we had to work together with crews of ten, twenty or thirty helicopters. We all had to work together as one team. Concerting the work of such a number of helicopter crews was a real challenge. Another novelty for me was to carry out such an operation in a mountainous terrain," head of the other crew Viktoras Krivobok Major stressed.
This year Sweden was hit by 27 wildfires affecting the area of 25 thousand hectares due to shortage of rainfall and to heat. The Mi-8 of the Lithuanian Air Force with both crews spent roughly 80 flight hours during the fire extinguishment operation and poured out over 500,000 litres of waters.
The Mi-8s of the Lithuanian Air Force in both countries are equipped with type of aerial water delivery systems storing over 2.5 thousand litres of water in one go.
Lithuania rendered assistance to Sweden along with Denmark, Italy, Poland, Norway, France, and Germany.
The Lithuanian Mi-8 and crew with Bambi Bucket system also assisted in fighting fire in Latvia on July 18 - August 4, an area of roughly 100 hectares was on fire in Talsi district, Valdgale county.
Photo credits: Giedrė Maksimovicz
