Central Victoria’s team of firefighting helicopters arrived in Bendigo on Wednesday, ready to take on grass and bushfires within a 70km radius from the airport.

The yellow and blue helicopter responsible for dumping water from the sky is the Helitak 335, which works in conjunction with the Firebird 305, used to coordinate the aerial attack.

Forest Fire Management Victoria fire and emergency preparedness regional manager Carsten Nannestad said the pair was an important weapon for the bushfire season.

“They are very important and they work really well with our ground crews,” he said. 

“It’s that combination of air support and ground crews that put the fire out.”

The Helitak carries just under 3000 litres of water and can fill its belly tank in 35 seconds.

“It’s a very quick machine and this is what makes it really well suited for our area here,” Mr Nannestad said.

“We’ve got a lot of small farm dams that can be used as water sources and it generally doesn’t have to go far to find water in the landscape to put the fire out.”

It is the fifth year the firefighting duo has been stationed at Bendigo for the fire season, responding to call outs across central Victoria.

On days above low to moderate fire danger, the choppers are dispatched to any grass or bushfire in their area.

“It’s very important that we get the aircraft airborne as quickly as possible so as soon as somebody detects a fire and makes a triple-0 call, we get a page,” Mr Nannestad said. 

“Statistically, last year they were airborne within 11 minutes of getting the page and they were over the fire within 28 minutes of getting the page.”

The team received its first two call outs within a day of arriving, with a bushfire at Sutton Grange and a grass fire at Tarrengower on Thursday. 

Country Fire Authority Loddon Mallee regional commander Scott Purdy said both were started by common things like slashing grass and lawn mowers, and urged the community to review what they were doing.

“Things are drying out now and those same activities are starting fires,” he said.

“The risk of fire is real, it is occurring. We are seeing that it is going to get worse so people need to have finalised all their preparatory works and be mindful restrictions are in.”