After the Psatha collision, Greece pulled every Bell helicopter then flying the Attica fires. [1] The two aircraft had left Elefsina on a Hellenic Fire Service lease. [2] ERT said the grounding followed protocol so search-and-rescue could run and the coordinating center could reassess. [1] An official investigation is open. No official mechanical cause has been published.

Grounding the type is the correct first mechanical act. It is also a hole in the only tool that was reaching slopes the ground crews could not. Violent gusts had already stopped aircraft from scooping seawater. [3] Taking the remaining Bells off the line on that wind is a safety decision with a fire cost. The type that drops the water on those slopes is the type now parked.

Three firefighters had already died last Wednesday — two on Crete, one in the Peloponnese. [2] Sunday added a Danish pilot and a Greek coordinator. The fleet that remains is whatever is not a Bell. ERT said the remaining air on that fire after the grounding was eight Ericksons, two Canadairs, and two Chinooks. [1] Until the inquiry says why two 214s occupied the same air, grounding is prudence. It is not containment.

-- DARA OSEI, London