European fires exact a heavy toll

August 21, 2005 - 2:48PM

An aircraft fighting a fire thought to have been started by arsonists crashed into a rocky hillside in France killing both crew members and adding to a rising toll among firefighters in Europe.

Witnesses said one of the Grumman Tracker's two engines appeared to fail after the plane dropped its load of chemical retardants on a fire racing through a forest in the Ardeche region yesterday.

The bodies of the two fliers were recovered and taken by helicopter to a chapel of rest in the town of Valgorge, where mayor Bernard Bonin praised the heroism of the pilots and angrily accused arsonists of starting the blaze.

The fire continued to burn out of control after ravaging 120 hectares of brushland.

A formal judicial inquiry into a possible case of "involuntary homicide" was scheduled to be opened tomorrow.

Police said a suspected arsonist, a 36-year-old man, had been arrested earlier in the week in the southern town of Ales after rags soaked with alcohol were found at the scene of five fires.

Spanish authorities have also announced the arrest of an arsonist following the deliberate setting of eight blazes.

French leaders, including President Jacques Chirac, paid homage to 43-year-old trainee pilot Albert Pouzoulet and 45-year-old instructor Regis Huillier who died in the latest accident. Both were married with two and three children respectively, according to civil defence spokesman Major Eric Soupra.

It was the fourth firefighting aircraft to crash in France this month, with the loss of five aircrew.

Despite the danger of flying at low altitude over forest blazes to dump tonnes of water and chemicals, the aircraft are an essential tool in fighting the fires that have caused the mobilisation of thousands of men and hundreds of vehicles in France, Spain and Portugal.

The Iberian peninsula has been particularly badly affected because of one of the worst droughts in living memory.

Fires whipped by 70 kph winds continued to rage on several fronts in central Portugal.

Nearly 2,800 fire fighters and 325 military, backed by 680 vehicles and 30 aircraft or helicopters, were fighting the wild fires, which have consumed 134,500 hectares of forest and scrub land.

The entire country was on a state of high alert, and officials said the situation worsened late yesterday, with about 40 fires blazing out of control. In the north, the flames threatened the town of Viana do Castelo, which was covered in thick smoke. Residents equipped with pails and garden hoses fought to prevent the fire entering the inhabited area.

Ten Portuguese firemen have died this year, along with three civilians killed defending their homes.

Conditions have been equally dramatic across the border in Spain, where 13 fire fighters have been killed since the start of the summer.

