On a recent evening, pilot Toni Lindschinger boarded a reconnaissance helicopter that accompanies the helitanker. He donned military-grade night-vision goggles that give him and his team the ability to fly after dark and hover safely over large bodies of water during a refill.
The night-vision goggles turned the blackened landscape shades of green, allowing a view of individual trees and bushes on the hillsides, as well as waves on a lake as the helitanker dipped close to the shoreline and used an orange snorkel pump to fill its tank in less than a minute.
Being able to hover over any body of water means the team doesn’t have to land and wait for a refill, giving it extra time at night, when winds typically die down and temperatures ease—an ideal time to try to get a handle on a blaze.
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