Government presents "Hercules" airplane to strengthen fight against forest fires

In order to prevent and combat forest fires in the 2025-2026 season, the Minister of the Interior, Álvaro Elizalde, along with the heads of the General Secretariat of Government, Camila Vallejo, and of Agriculture, Ignacia Fernández, announced that the C-130 “Hercules” airplane will be available to face possible disasters in the southern area of the country, which will form an air contingent of 77 aircraft. The activity, held at the Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport, also featured the participation of the national director of Senapred, Alicia Cebrián, and the executive director of CONAF, Rodrigo Illesca, who specified that the “Hercules” can transport 15,000 liters of water, suppressants or retardants, has an operational autonomy of 3 hours and will be based at the María Dolores de Los Ángeles aerodrome, Biobío Region. Regarding this, Minister Elizalde explained that “human action is what causes 99.7% of forest fires, in some serious cases, with malice, intentionality, ...