Finland develops rapid response team for wildfires with helicopter transport

Finnish authorities are developing a new rapid response system to combat wildfires, using helicopters to transport personnel and equipment more efficiently, Yle reports.

The Kymenlaakso and Lapland rescue services, under the Ministry of the Interior, are leading the initiative. Currently, deploying reinforcements from southern Finland to Lapland can take 10–12 hours by road. Helicopters would cut this time significantly, allowing faster deployment to remote or difficult terrain.

Kymenlaakso Rescue Chief Teemu Veneskari said the approach would also improve resource efficiency as wildfire seasons grow longer and more intense due to climate change. The first phase involves developing helicopter-transportable equipment packages, followed by solutions for personnel transport.

Veneskari, who has studied wildfire suppression techniques in Southern Europe, noted that Finland is reviving controlled backburning—a method used in countries like France and Spain, where fuel is burned in a controlled manner ahead of an advancing wildfire to deprive it of material.

In Australia, drones drop small ping-pong ball-sized incendiary devices to create controlled firebreaks. Veneskari described this as a more resource-efficient alternative to transporting large volumes of water into rugged terrain.

He also highlighted the challenges posed by pyrocumulonimbus clouds, which generate their own weather systems, spreading fires unpredictably and shifting wind directions. Such conditions were observed during recent wildfires in Spain and France, where hundreds of thousands were evacuated.

In large-scale wildfires, Veneskari explained, crews now operate on a daily suppression rhythm, using predictive modeling to anticipate fire spread and strategically allocate resources, including leveraging terrain and waiting for favorable weather shifts.