The audacity of three Croatian CL-415 firefighting planes to save a church

Kaštel Sućurac (Sućurac Castle), with about 6,500 inhabitants, is a town of medieval origin located in southern Croatia.

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The town was originally intended as a defensive outpost against the Turks. For years, one of its main threats has been forest fires. On July 16, a fire broke out near the town due to negligence while burning brush. The fire consumed 30 hectares of pine trees and low vegetation and also threatened the Catholic Church of St. George, the patron saint of Kaštel Sućurac. This church dates back to the 9th century. On June 28, another forest fire had surrounded that same church, burning 25 hectares of pine forest and low vegetation.

Croatia is a deeply Catholic country. Saving St. George's Church in Kaštel Sućurac was especially important to Croatian firefighters and the crews of the three Canadair CL-415 firefighting planes of the Croatian Air Force that participated in the extinguishing efforts. Flying in the area is not easy. The church is on a difficult-to-access mountain, and dropping water from the air in such an area is dangerous, but the pilots of these Croatian CL-415s demonstrated admirable courage and skill.

Darko Maretić, commander of the Kaštela operational zone, stated: "The Canadairs saved us: they defended St. George's Church." You can get an idea of how risky this firefighting mission was by watching this great video posted by EdoStuff Aviation showing those three firefighting aircraft in action (811, 866 and 877), belonging to 855 Protupožarna Eskadrila (855 Firefighting Squadron), based in Zadar, which operates six CL-415 amphibious aircraft:

Here you can see some screenshots from this excellent video. My applause to the crews of these three Croatian planes.

P.S.: On the occasion of the first fire at St. George's Church in Kaštel Sućurac, the Croatian Catholic Network published this beautiful prayer for the firefighters, in Croatian:

MOLITVA ZA VATROGASCE

Svemogući milosrdni Bože,
svrni svoj pogled na svaku našu nevolju.
Pomozi svojom svemoćnom rukom
sve naše vatrogasce i sve druge
koji se bore sa silinom vatrene stihije
i svim drugim nepogodama.

Štiti naše vatrogasce i
podaj im hrabrosti, snage
i vještine da od snažnoga ognja i sviju nepogoda
obrane svakog čovjeka, naše domove, vrtove i polja
i tako očuvaju ljepotu domovine
koju si nam ti darovao.

This is the English translation:

PRAYER FOR FIREFIGHTERS

Almighty and merciful God,
turn your gaze upon all our troubles.
Help with your almighty hand
all our firefighters and all others
who struggle with the force of fire
and all other disasters.

Protect our firefighters and
give them the courage, strength
and skills to defend every person, our homes, gardens and fields
from strong fire and all disasters
and thus preserve the beauty of the homeland
that you have given us.

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Main image: EdoStuff Aviation.