A group of firefighting aircraft of the VKS of the Ministry of Defense of Russia, which helped the Greeks fight catastrophic forest fires for 21 days, has completed its task and left Greece. It consisted of two Il-76 aircraft and two Mi-8 helicopters.
"We were here for 21 days, we had 11 flight days," Colonel Igor Matveev, the head of the group, told reporters. - From August 9 to August 10, we received the task, on the 10th we were already here." "At night, we unloaded the An-124 (which brought two Mi-8 fire helicopters) and on the 11th we were ready to work and worked on the first targets and places of ignition," he continued. - Through the coordination center, we established interaction, began to "talk in the same language" in the sense of understanding goals and objectives."
According to the head of the group, the Il-76 aircraft had three flight days. The rest of the days they were used in the form of duty forces. The Mi-8 helicopters worked for 11 flight days, fulfilling the tasks of the coordination center. "The main tasks were focal fires, so the Il-76s were in standby mode," Matveev said.
The planes completed ten sorties in three days, the flight time was 30 hours, the total amount of water discharged was 500 tons. Helicopters dropped about 1,300 tons of water on fires for 308 drains. "Everything was safe, there were no problematic issues in the organization of task coordination, so we worked calmly, safely," the head of the VKS group stressed. "I believe that the task has been completed."
The head of the Greek Fire Service, Lieutenant General Stephanos Kolokouris, who arrived to see off our military, expressed his deepest gratitude for their help in fighting fires. "Our country has experienced a difficult period with six large fires in 20 days," he said. "Russia's assistance turned out to be very important, we managed to eliminate a great danger, primarily for human lives." "In coordination with the Russian side, we managed to bring the fires under control," he continued. "I want to express my deepest respect to the Russian group, it was an honor for me to cooperate with these people."
Denis Kabanov (Athens)
