Water-bombing chopper Elvis stands by

Jason South - The Age

ELVIS IS READY: Around 200 fire-fighting aircraft are on standby to fight blazes across Australia this summer.

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Elvis, the water bombing helicopter, has arrived in the Australian city of Melbourne and is on standby as Victoria faces another harrowing bushfire season.

The Erickson Aircrane was unveiled at Essendon Airport on Monday and is one of 200 firefighting aircraft at the ready this summer.

Victoria's Environment Minister Gavin Jennings said aerial water bombers had been called on almost a month early this season, in response to the heightened bushfire threat.

"Elvis can dump 9000 litres of water or fire retardant and is a key element of our fire readiness," Mr Jennings said.

"But it is important to remember Elvis is only one of 200 aircraft Victoria will have access to during the fire season and is part of an unprecedented allocation of resources."

Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) chief fire officer Ewan Waller said Elvis was an invaluable addition to the firefighting fleet.

"Last year it flew over around 100 missions, dropped over six-and-a-half million litres and did something like 1300 drops and that just shows how important Elvis is to our whole firefighting effort and no doubt it saved houses, no doubt it saved lives," he told reporters.

Elvis can drop all or part of its load of water or foam at low speed, enabling it to target wild fires accurately and provide valuable back up to on-the-ground crews.

It can reload in about 45 seconds and can make multiple drops.

Victoria will trial a large water bombing plane for the first time this season and will have support from Elvis' sister aircraft, Elsie.

Mr Jennings said two other large Sikorsky 61N water bombing helicopters would also be on standby from this month. They will be based at Colac, in western Victoria, and Mansfield in the northeast.

Meanwhile, Country Fire Authority (CFA) chief fire officer Russell Rees warned Victorians not to become complacent after the weekend's deluge, saying the rain could actually make conditions worse.

"We saw with the heat in early November that the grass dried out quickly, this will give a green shoot and the green shoot will either help us or when it dries off it will just add to the problem."

Mr Rees said the rain would only delay the summer threat by a week or two and Victorians should use the respite to get their properties prepared.

"Summer will come to the state of Victoria, summer will come with a vengeance if we don't get prepared," he said.

- AAP