Bekir Karacabey, General Director of Forestry, explained that thanks to its equipment, the Otağ firefighting aircraft makes all the data collected immediately available to those affected.
While opening the doors of Turkey’s first and only firefighting aircraft “Otağ”, General Director of Forestry Bekir Karacabey also gave information about the aircraft inside the facility.
Karacabey stated that in addition to the tools to fight forest fires, they designed a management aircraft to manage the processes. They called it “flying headquarters” and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan named the aircraft “Otağ”.
Stating that the aircraft began operations last year, Karacabey said, “The Otağ fire management aircraft has been deployed in Turkey, the fifth after the four countries that are very advanced in forestry in the world. We can say with joy that this aircraft is the one equipped with the latest technology compared to its competitors,” he said.
Karacabey stated that Otağ is a flying fire management center and that there is no difference in technology between the fire management center in the General Directorate and Otağ.
Karacabey pointed out that the capabilities offered by the aircraft helped the fire commander make quick and effective decisions, saying:
“Thanks to its two different cameras and its satellite communication equipment, Otağ makes all the data it receives on the scene during the fire immediately available to those affected. With the TK-9 camera on the aircraft, it can produce images in seven different bandwidths depending on the purpose of the operation. TK-9 produces high-resolution, analyzable data.” “It can detect hotspots in the firing area. It can also reconnect in steep terrain where communication is interrupted during a fire.”
“It offers great convenience in forest planning”
Pointing out that Otağ’s capabilities are not limited to fighting forest fires, Karacabey said:
“In addition to fire data, Otağ is able to instantly transmit all forestry activities in a certain region to the authorities as high-resolution images. For example, detecting trees that are sick or exposed to insect pests, the structure of the forest, the structure of the trees, their type, their volume, the moisture state of the soil with an accuracy of 18 centimeters. “At the same time, we can determine from the plane how many trees of each species there are, even in mixed forests with different tree species. This provides us with great convenience in forest planning.”
Karacabey stated that Otağ could stay in the air for eight hours at full capacity, and explained that the data obtained from the aircraft could also be immediately monitored by the Fire Management Center and the Air Management Center.
The strongest fleet in the history of the Republic
Stressing that the General Directorate of Forestry has the most powerful equipment in the history of the Republic in terms of air and land vehicles for firefighting, Karacabey said, “At the moment, we will fight forest fires from the air with 105 helicopters, 26 planes and 14 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). As a land force, we will have 1,649 sprinklers.” “We are operational with 2,453 first response vehicles, 821 work machines and 25,000 personnel,” he said.
Karacabey, who stated that 4 planes and 2 helicopters used for firefighting last year were included in the OGM's inventory, stated that they added 4 more firefighting planes to the facility's inventory list this year.
Karacabey stated that the UAVs deployed since 2019 are also included in its inventory this year and came to the following assessment:
“We initially started with 1 UAV and increased the number to 4. Then, when we saw the benefits of these vehicles in forest fire fighting and surveillance activities, we increased it to 14. Currently, the station installations of these UAVs are in place.” 4 of them are active within a week, the others will be in use.
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