Wednesday, June 10, 2020

Bell 412 working a forest fire in Spain

I have been catching up on my reading which includes reading aerial wildland firefighting and have read about firefighting helicopters, some of which I have written about recently. One of the mid-sized helicopters that I have read about over the years, and not written about, is the Bell 412. The Bell 412 is mid-sized helicopter with four rotor blades, an off shot of the Bell 212 (two rotor blades). 

Up until 2017, the LA Fire Department had Bell 412's in their fleet. The last of these retired in 2017, replaced by the AgustaWestland 139, go here for more information. The Bell 412 served long and well with the LA Fire Department. In 2019, the Los Angeles County Fire Department still had five Bell 412's in their fleet, see Bill Gabbert's March 9, 2019 Fire Aviation article for more information, Bill interviewed Senior Pilot Tom Short. I am not personally aware of other Bell 412's in service in the United States fighting wildfires but I suspect that there may be others, either from a State, County or City agency, or perhaps on a contract.


There seem to be some Bell 412's in service outside the United States fighting wildfires. Here is a video of a Bell 412 dipping while working a wildfire in Spain last year.

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