They arrive in formation, before sharply banking over towards the thick plume of black smoke ahead of us. Their individual payloads of more than 1,000 gallons of water are then dumped onto the flames below. As the smoke eases, firefighters then move into the forest on foot to try and contain the latest flare-up. Pierre Alexandre explained it was in fact taken in the afternoon, after he told his wife and daughter to leave. When not directly dousing the flames, they water the soil and vegetation to prevent future fires from progressing.