Ag Operator in South of Brazil Adds Aerial Firefighting to His Operation

by Ernesto Franzen

The southernmost state of Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul, has a long history in Brazilian ag aviation – the first aerial application in Brazil was flown there in 1947 – but little aerial firefighter activity so far. The state normally has a regular rain regime that keeps vegetation from turning dry and combustible. But summers recently started to alternate between very rainy and very dry. And the summer of 2020 (in the southern hemisphere) has been anything but normal. It has been unusually dry, with only 20 to 50% the normal rainfall and up to over 40 days without any rain.

The same drought that is adversely affecting farmers and ag-aviation operations made conditions favorable for wildfires. In the city of Alegrete, ag-aviation company Itagro - Itapororó Aviação Agrícola Ltda., a very progressive ag operation featured twice in the Brazilian edition of AgAir Update, has suddenly seen calls for aerial firefighting operations.

Itagro had fought fires three times before, including once on a commercial eucalyptus plantation. With the first such call this year, firefighting ops went large scale on April 20, after owner/operator Marcos Antônio Camargo received a call the night before from a farmer, saying there was a fire out of control on a field in a place called Guasso-Boi. Camargo promptly started to plan the operation, in order to waste no time as the day dawned.

Camargo’s training for firefighting started when he completed a simulator course for the AT-502 in the US, which included firefighting operations. Itagro’s fleet of Ipanemas and one AT-402B were made available to use in these firefighting operations in Guasso-Boi. As there was no fire retardant available in Rio Grande do Sul, Itagro’s aircraft had to drop plain water on the fires. The AT-402B has a capacity of 400-gallons, while the 210-gallon Ipanema is limited to about 165-gallons for firefighting salvos.

Despite this, Camargo planned an operation that proved to be extremely effective, proving that when used smartly even smaller ag-planes can be useful in a fire emergency. Before daylight, he located the nearest satellite strip to the fires that could accommodate an AT402B and had water available. He then had a ground crew drive a support truck to set up an operational base there. This turned out to be nine miles away. Many existing strips closer to the fire were out of water due to the drought. As dawn broke, he had ag pilot Luis Augusto Damiani take off in the AT-402B from his home base in Alegrete, loaded with 400 gallons of water and fly straight to the location.

A veteran of eight seasons, three of those flying both the Air Tractor AT-402B and an Ipanema, Damiani is both an ANAC flight examiner and a Flight Safety Manager. He has an aeronautical sciences degree, during which he attended classes about firefighting.

Camargo also took off in his Van RV-10 airplane and flew to the fire location to act as an aerial coordinator and direct drops. Camargo knew that airplanes alone could not extinguish the fires. That would also need the work of ground firemen. The Alegrete fire department was too busy with other calls and couldn’t assist. Camargo texted by WhatsApp a group of neighboring farmers asking for people to help put out the fire on the ground. Although some responded, they had difficulty reaching the fire location.

As the afternoon progressed, the wind increased, fanning and spreading the wildland fire. The AT-402B alone wasn’t enough to suppress the fire despite Damiani flying it non-stop, having had just a quick lunch while the ground crew fueled the airplane. The tension grew even more as the fire approached some farm houses, when Damiani demanded “110% performance” from the AT-402B.

This prompted Camargo to summon one of his Ipanemas to join the operation, flown by André Capellari. Also a veteran ag pilot, with nine seasons under his belt, he was able to fly the smaller Ipanema from another satellite strip, which was closer, only four miles to the fire. Capellari made 17 drops guided by Camargo, through visibility-reducing smoke, heavy turbulence and dust-devils caused by the fire. Wind direction and intensity changed often, requiring attention from all involved.

Both ag planes dropped 21,400 gallons of water in 62 loads during the day – 17 of those drops were made by the Ipanema. The fire was only fully extinguished by nighttime, after an estimated 1,500 acres were burned.

The drought goes on, however, and Itagro received another call three days later, using again the AT-402B and an Ipanema to drop 1,800 gallons on a 74-acre fire four miles from the satellite strip they were operating from; three loads launched by each plane. As this article was being written, Itagro received a fourth call for a firefighting job. It is likely more calls will come before the drought is over.

Itagro also has suffered the impact of COVID-19. At first, the municipality of Alegrete ordered the closing of all businesses, regardless of activity. Camargo quickly explained to the mayor that ag-aviation was essential to avoid even higher losses both to state and city economies, as the crop season is still on. He was quickly authorized to restart activities. Itagro adopted all the recommended measures to avoid COVID-19 contagion – face masks, hand and workplace sanitizing, social distancing, etc.

These temporary setbacks did not change Camargo’s plans for the future of Itagro. Changing climate is making wildfires more common in Rio Grande do Sul, at the same time that public awareness about them has increased. A smart operator like Camargo sees this as an opportunity; he intends to invest in increasing Itagro’s firefighting capacities, including bigger airplanes. He also believes there will be a demand for aerial mosquito control as soon as it is approved in Brazil. With such progressive management, it is sure to soon have Itagro on AgAir Update’s pages again!