Why are helicopters called to a building fire? Is water on board? Wouldn't smoke obscure the pilot's view?

Question

I just saw a house fire on the news and they mentioned that a helicopter had flown above the scene. Couldn't that smoke be dangerous in terms of the aircraft's visibility and interfere with what good they could do at the scene? If there's an explosion of some kind, couldn't the helicopter -- heaven forbid -- become part of the fire? Do they drop enough water to really make a difference? Is water the only substance that can be used to extinguish a fire? Thanks.

Answer 1

Helicopters are used for observation, taking photos of the scene, taking videos and stuff. They fly far enough away from the scene to be out of the blast radius, if there was to be one. Some helicopters are designed to fight fire, like "Elvis", an Erickson S-64 designed to fight bushfires. Helicopters are not usually used in urban fires though, only bushfires. These helicopters are designed to scoop up water from a nearby water source (e.g. lake) quickly and then dump it onto the fire. They don't necessarily make that big of a difference but help put out the major flames. No, water is not the only substance that is used to extinguish fire. Foam (mainly for plane crashes), Carbon Dioxide, Dry Powder, Halon, Vaporizing Liquid (not halon), Wet Chemical and Graphite Powder are used. Different substances are used depending on the type of fire, like dry powder would be used for a fire involving electric.

Answer 2

Helicopters are rarely used for urban fires, sometimes they are used for large industrial fires, or when very high buildings are in fire.
In Italy Protezione Civile has some Erickson S-64 Skycrane and they were alerted when the only high building in Milan(Pirellone) was in fire because of an airplane crashed in it, but at the end they were not used.They carry a lot of water(+or- 9000 kg), almost 3 times a canadair(3300 kg).
Also Mi-26 are used as water-bombers, they carry 20000 kg of water, but this kind don't have the nose watercannon of S-64.
But this kinds of helicopters are usually used only for forest's fires because when firemen can act directly it's better, they can save people trapped in the fire. Imagine what happens in a building when 9tons or 20tons of water are dropped on it, and what happens to the people in it.

Answer 3

In general helicopters are not used to fight urban fires, as they carry very little water, if any. They may be used to fight forest fires, but they would be carrying flame retardent chemicals, not water.

They may be used for observation purposes in urban fires.

As helicopter's blades send air downward, it is not really affected by smoke rising upwards. Also, in urban area it would not be flying low enough to be affected by the smoke. If the video shots look close, that's due to the hi-power zoom lense used with the camera.

Answer 4

Helecopters don`t fly!!! They beat the air into submission!! Have a fun day