page_title: Aerial firefighting and forestry in southern Australia
section_title: Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System (MAFFS)
hierarchical_section_title: Aerial firefighting and forestry in southern Australia / Firebombing / Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System (MAFFS)
caption_attribution_description: English: MAFFS Trials 1982
context_page_description: The development of aerial firefighting and forestry in southern Australia ran in parallel with the rapid improvements in aircraft technology over the last century. As more advanced and capable aircraft became available firefighters and foresters quickly sought opportunities to utilise and adapt them.
  Aircraft have three main advantages over ground resources: speed, access, and observation.
  Aircraft have been used for a wide range of tasks including reconnaissance, firebombing, crew transport, aerial ignition, back burning, gathering infrared imagery as well as operational forestry tasks like aerial photography, surveys, spraying, fertilising and seeding.
  Much of the early pioneering work in Australia was led by the Forests Commission Victoria in collaboration with other State forestry and fire authorities including the Western Australia Forests Department, Forestry Commission of NSW, Woods and Forest Department of South Australia and Forestry Tasmania. Federal agencies including the CSIRO also contributed significantly.
context_section_description: By the early 1980s, a dedicated core of aviation staff had accumulated considerable expertise at using and managing Victoria's expanding fleet of firefighting aircraft and once again led the innovation of new aerial firefighting techniques in Australia.
  During the summer of 1981-82 equipment was borrowed from the United States Forest Service for evaluation under operational conditions in Victoria. The equipment known as Modular Airborne Firefighting System (MAFFS) was trialled bombing bushfires with a slurry of an Australian made chemical fire retardant (Amgard-A11) in quantities up to 11,000 litres per drop.
  A C-130 Hercules was obtained from the Royal Australian Air Force for the trials. The roll on/roll off system was installed and operated by 36 Squadron from RAAF Richmond in NSW but operated from Hamilton, Mangalore and RAAF East Sale for the trial.
  MAFFS could deliver a much greater volume than was possible with the smaller agricultural aircraft contracted to the Forests Commission at the time and was used effectively in the suppression of bushfires at Broadford, Bright and Orbost. Due to its low usage in 1981-82 MAFFS was again trialled in 1982-83 where it made 175 drops.
  Some of the conclusion from the MAFFS trial was that while it was generally successful at integrating into FCV fire suppression organisation it did not significantly expand its aerial attack capability. Larger loads were offset by the lengthy turnaround times, canopy penetration and sometimes difficult terrain. The system was also judged expensive to operate.
  For many years there had been both strong advocates and critics of using large firebombing aircraft in Australia so to settle the controversy the Prime Minister of Australia, Malcolm Fraser, in September 1980, offered to fund and sponsor further evaluation under controlled conditions in “Project Aquarius” under the direction of the CSIRO's Division of Forest Research. This time a DC6 hired from the Canadian company Conair, two medium helicopters (Bell 212, Bell 206B) and a small agricultural aircraft (Thrush Commander) were tested on deliberately lit experimental fires at Nowa Nowa in 1983-84. Aircraft performance was pitted against ground crews.
caption: Trial of the Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System (MAFFS) - 1982. Source: Bryan Rees. FCRPA* collection.
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