South Oak has released Aero Fire Global, a new add-on for Microsoft Flight Simulator that introduces aerial firefighting capabilities to the platform. This mod allows simmers to engage in firefighting missions within the sim, making use of NASA’s real-time satellite data to generate active fires across various global locations.
The add-on is designed to work with all aircraft types available in MSFS 2020. It features an interactive firefighting system where fires are only extinguished when players successfully drop water or fire retardant on them, which definitely sounds like a fun thing to do in the sim!
Aero Fire Global includes an in-sim control panel that offers several key features. Simmers can access a live fire map for tracking fire locations in real-time, directly within their cockpit. The panel also includes customizable drop control settings, allowing pilots to toggle NAV lights, press a ‘Drop Now’ button for immediate action, or arm a drop with a 10-second timer.
Additionally, there’s an option to spawn or remove fires at will, and even generate random fires within a 10 nautical mile radius of their current location.
This add-on also incorporates custom drop effects for water and fire retardant, which are intelligently scaled to match the size of the aircraft being used. By default, the add-on is set up for fuselage drops, but users can toggle this off if they’re using a helicopter with a suspended water bucket.
The release of this add-on precedes the anticipated inclusion of aerial firefighting features in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, so it’s probably an interesting opportunity to practice this kind of aerial mission ahead of the official integration into the platform later this year.
Aero Fire Global is available now on simMarket for approximately $15.00 USD.
