Story NSW sends for two more Elvis helicopters The NSW government will bring in two more Erickson Air-Crane Helitankers hopefully within three days to aid firefighting efforts across the state. Emergency Services Minister Bob Debus confirmed the pending arrival of the two helicopters at the Rural Fire Service coordination centre this afternoon. "The government has today taken the decision to engage two more of the Erickson ... Elvis helicopters," Mr Debus said. "They will be brought in crates from the United States. "It's necessary to engage an extraordinarily large aircraft called a Antonov to bring them here. "I expect that they will be here ... in three to five days." The helitanker, dubbed Elvis, has been invaluable in fighting bushfires that have been raging on the outskirts of Sydney and across the state for the past 11 days. One of the two new aircraft was sitting on a wharf in the United States when Rural Fire Service Commissioner Phil Koperberg requested that it be brought to Australia. "We are persuaded by its performance in recent days that it would be a more than reasonable thing to bring some more of these aircraft," Mr Debus said. "I gather that the commonwealth will be assisting us in the purchase and maintenance of them into the future." Prime Minister John Howard earlier indicated the federal government would consider buying a number of the $US15 million helitankers but was waiting on the advice of experts. An Erickson spokesman in the US said one aircraft was ready to be packaged into the Ukraine-built Antonov at the company's Oregon headquarters. He said it would not be difficult to locate another one as it was winter in the US and out of the bushfire season. Mr Koperberg said the helitankers would take some pressure off ground crews. "The further importation of two Erickson sky cranes will aid the mop-up effort tremendously," he said. "It will also give crews the ability to rest and allow them to be diverted to the enormous task of mop-up, allowing the Erickson Air Cranes to deal with spot fires as they occur rather than to continue to divert resources on the ground away from their other tasks."
