Soldiers Help Fight Fires in Hungary

The Hungarian Defense Forces are using military helicopters to help extinguish drought fires in several parts of the country. On Thursday, the so-called Bambi Bucket was also deployed in the Táborfalva and Pécs areas, the Ministry of Defense said on Thursday.

Due to the high heat, undergrowth caught fire in the training area of Táborfalva in the midday hours on Thursday. Following a signal from the National Directorate General for Disaster Management, the Hungarian Defence Forces' Mi-17 helicopter 'Bambi Bucket' joined in the effort to control the spread of the fire.

Due to the prolonged drought, large areas of dry vegetation are also burning in the south of the country, near Pécs in Baranya county. To help citizens, a military helicopter has been dispatched to join the extinguishing efforts there as well.

It was pointed out that there are also emergencies in Hungary, such as this one, where ground fire-fighting units are not sufficient to deal with fires in hard-to-reach, open-air locations. In such cases, the Hungarian Defence Forces can provide aerial firefighting with the help of Mi-17 helicopters, which can be equipped with the Bambi Bucket.

This device, capable of carrying thousands of liters of water, is attached to the underside of the helicopter and filled from a fire-fighting vehicle or from nearby reservoirs or lakes. This enables the aircraft to extinguish fires over a large area with a significant amount of water.