Firefighting Helicopters Collide Over Greek Wildfire, 2 Dead
The Facts
- Two firefighting helicopters collided midair Sunday while battling a wind-driven wildfire west of Athens, killing a Greek and a Danish national. The two surviving crew members — a Greek and a British national — were recovered alive after the crash in the Psatha area of western Attica.
- The helicopters, both Bell aircraft, had been leased from Australia's McDermott Aviation and took off from the Elefsina military airport. The fire department grounded all Bell helicopters in the area pending an investigation into the collision.
- Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had warned hours before the crash that firefighting aircraft could not "operate safely" in strong winds. Nearly 500 firefighters and 23 aircraft were deployed to battle the blaze, which destroyed more than 100 homes.
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The Spin
Narrative A
Four crew members flew into deadly conditions because the fire left no other choice — that's the definition of sacrifice. Greece's prime minister had already warned that winds over 45 mph made flight unsafe, yet these men went up anyway to protect hundreds of homes. That kind of courage demands recognition of the fact that firefighters routinely risk everything so others lose nothing.
Narrative B
Greece has leased its entire heavy-lift firefighting fleet from foreign contractors for seven straight summers, and the people dying in those cockpits are the hired crews flying rented machines. A Danish pilot and a Greek officer are dead after two Bell 214s clipped rotors and one exploded midair. Outsourcing critical emergency infrastructure is a policy failure with a body count.
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