Sunshine Coast-based helicopters drop 22.5 million litres on Qld bushfires

A Sunshine Coast aviation company is leading the fight from the sky in the Queensland bushfire crisis dropping a whopping 22.5 million litres of water across the state.

A McDermott Aviation helicopter in action on Wednesday at Palmview. Photo: Glen Vidler

A Sunshine Coast aviation company has played a crucial role in fighting bushfires across Queensland, with its helicopters dropping 22.5 million litres of water across the state.

Cooroy-based McDermott Aviation’s fleet of 35 firefighting aircraft joined the fight from the sky, water bombing many of the 83 fires burning across the state, including several on home turf at Landsborough, Obi Obi, Palmview, and nearby Tuchekoi.

McDermott Group managing director Simon McDermott paid tribute to the mammoth effort put in by his pilots and crew to make a difference.

“Those pilots take a lot of pride in what they’re doing, they’re the eyes in the sky,” Mr McDermott said.

“When you get a bird’s eye view, you can really see what is going on, we have a little bit of an advantage by being above.

“This is as close as it gets to our main base at Cooroy, so it’s good to show people what we get up to, we’re not just a business that makes a lot of noise.”

A McDermott Aviation helicopter in action on Wednesday at Palmview. Photo: Glen Vidler

McDermott Aviation helicopters helped prevent the bushfire burning in inaccessible land at Obi Obi from approaching property, keeping the fire 250m away from homes at its nearest point.

A McDermott Group Bell 214B involved in water bombing the Obi Obi Valley bushfire, Witta. Picture: Patrick Woods.

“You couldn’t access it with a fire truck, so the only access was from the air,” he said.

“The helicopters were able to use the water source that’s right next door to suck up water and place it on the fire.

“You couldn’t do this without aerial assets these days.”

Mr McDermott is in no doubt that his helicopters also protected property in the recent Tuchekoi bushfire.

Obi Obi Valley bushfire, Witta. Picture: Patrick Woods.

“The whole hillside is burned and the only remaining things is the infrastructure – everything else is scarred,” he added.

“You can see it from the road, you look at it and you go holy s--t, how the hell did they do this.

“There is no doubt in my mind they would have lost all their properties, if it wasn’t for the fireys on the ground and in the air.”

McDermott Aviation has also aided firefighting efforts overseas, with eight water bombing helicopters recently returning home on a charter flight from Greece to bolster the effort on home soil.