2024 Wildfire Season
- Thread starter Cloud Cover
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Colin Parkinson
Army.ca Myth
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Yea we are getting a lot of rain in the South Coast, but I know the Nechako reservoir is at it's lowest since it's creation and the Nechako river and Upper Fraser are in drought conditions.
FSTO
Army.ca Fixture
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My son in in Prince George and he has been mentioning the amount of rain they are getting. Not enough to refill the reservoirs by any means but enough to suppress the existing fires a bit,
- Reaction score
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last i looked the area burned at this time last year was substantially less like 3 or 4x and that was counting overwintering fires area as 2023 and not 2024. No idea why they would do that. Theoretically we should be transitioning from a strong El Nino to a weak La Nina so that will change precipitation patterns as well
- Reaction score
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I just do not understand this NDP government.
Britt Coulson sat down with NowMedia this week to discuss the recent announcement that Coulson Aviation will be converting its first Boeing 737-700 into the world’s highest capacity Large Air Tanker (LAT).
Last week, Bruce Ralston, minister of forests, told NowMedia all the leases were signed for aircraft for this year’s wildfire season.
On Monday, NowMedia asked Coulson if the Port Alberni-based company had any aircraft contracted to BC.
“We do not,” Coulson said, adding that they had 38 aircraft in their fleet.
He said that BC traditionally focuses on smaller aircraft but Coulson Aviation sees the most value in larger aircraft. “I think you know BC has traditionally focused more on smaller aircraft. We don't run any small aircraft. We see the best bang for your buck and the best results out of large aircraft.” “Canada is, I'd say, unique in that it doesn't have any large ones. They focus more on higher numbers of small aircraft (...) it's just a very different tool.”
Once complete, the newly converted Boeing 737-700s will have an increased capacity of 19,000 litres, something Coulson said was double the size of what was typically seen in Canada.
(1).jpg "<who> Photo Credit: Coulson Aviation")
Photo Credit: Coulson Aviation
NowMedia asked Coulson why he thinks the province does not employ his company more often.
He said that based on historically political issues with past provincial governments led the company to “go where we're wanted,” which includes contracts in the US and Australia.
Coulson said in the past there was “a negative stigma” attached to the use of the Martin Mars bombers in the early 2000s because they were owned by a private company. “After we bought them, we thought, Hey, this is amazing. We're going to be able to work with the BC Forest Service. We're going to be able to do a great job for the taxpayers of BC and support wildfires better, get those fires out early, and what we were told was the Mars had a negative stigma attached to it in the government,” Coulson said.
NowMedia asked Coulson what his hopes were going forward and whether he thought the current government could employ his company's assets for firefighting in BC.
“We used to work with BC foresters quite a bit on our rotary wing side. We always had helicopter contracts with them. It was really when we got to (the Martin Mars bombers) that I'd say some of that negativity really stepped in,” Coulson said, adding that it wasn’t like that now but was in the past.
“We don't really support one government or the other because fire is bigger than that. It kind of crosses all party lines, right? Everybody is supportive of that.”
NowMedia then asked if any of the new firefighting aircraft, which will eventually be 10 converted Boeing 737-700s, would actively work in the province in the future.
“Well, put it this way, the last bid we did when BC Forest Service tendered for a bunch of their air tankers, we did not get any award and we were told by the government that our company did not have the experience required to fight fires in BC,” Coulson said, referring to previous governments. “We do it all over the world and they said, ‘Well, in our opinion, you don't meet the requirements.’”
However, he did not indicate if that relationship had changed over the years.
On Monday, NowMedia reached out to the Ministry of Forests for a comment on the future of the relationship with Coulson Aviation.
Our request was forwarded to the BC Wildfire Service who said that Coulson Aviation is currently on the list of vendors for “several” helicopter services and have been for several years.
A statement from the BCWS to NowMedia said Caulson helicopters were deployed to support wildfire operations in 2021 and 2023, however, they did not provide a reason for why their aircraft weren’t contracted out this year.
Last year, the province contracted out Calson’s Chinook CH-47 helitanker in late August after posting to social media that said the helicopter was in Kelowna on standby. However, the helicopter sat on the Kelowna airport’s tarmac for about three days before signing onto a five-day contract with the BCWS. However, it remained on standby before moving onto another contract.
“The BC Wildfire Service is always interested in new and innovative tools for wildland firefighting,” said the wildfire agency in an email to NowMedia. “Aviation contracts are awarded through a competitive process. The BC Wildfire Service welcomes any future proposals from Coulson Aviation, which may include the planned Boeing 737-700 converted firefighting aircraft.”
The emailed statement says the BCWS will continue to upgrade its existing aviation fleet this year to include more planes and helicopters with “a focus on a diverse and modern set of aircraft suited for BC’s vast and challenging terrain.”
The statement said the BCWS will continue to trial night-vision technology this year to fight fires after the sun goes down.
(1).jpg "<who> Photo Credit: Coulson Aviation")
Photo Credit: Coulson Aviation
However, Coulson suggested there was likely a budgeting issue for the government as well. “You know, bigger, more capable, newer airplanes cost more money,” he said. He said his company would be “happy” to build some aircraft for BC but he said the types of helicopters and planes they built were not meant for short-term contracts. He said planning with customers ranged from two to four years out from the contract start date.
Coulson said he was hoping to see more outreach programs between Canadian agencies and foreign agencies to learn more about different aircraft types for firefighting. “We're seeing fires get worse and worse; hopefully there can be some additional learning,” he said. “I think that there are tools that are available in the market that would greatly benefit Canada, specifically BC, that could be better than it is now.”
Coulson finished by adding that the company will officially be retiring the two Martin Mars bombers later this year and that the company was excited to “give them a good final resting place.”
Earlier this year it was announced that the Hawaii Martin Mars water bomber will be enshrined in the British Columbia Aviation Museum.
Relationship between BC aviation firm and Province strained by 'politics'
The president and chief operations officer of the world’s “largest aerial firefighting company" has said not a single one of its aircraft is being contracted out in its home province of BC.Britt Coulson sat down with NowMedia this week to discuss the recent announcement that Coulson Aviation will be converting its first Boeing 737-700 into the world’s highest capacity Large Air Tanker (LAT).
Last week, Bruce Ralston, minister of forests, told NowMedia all the leases were signed for aircraft for this year’s wildfire season.
On Monday, NowMedia asked Coulson if the Port Alberni-based company had any aircraft contracted to BC.
“We do not,” Coulson said, adding that they had 38 aircraft in their fleet.
He said that BC traditionally focuses on smaller aircraft but Coulson Aviation sees the most value in larger aircraft. “I think you know BC has traditionally focused more on smaller aircraft. We don't run any small aircraft. We see the best bang for your buck and the best results out of large aircraft.” “Canada is, I'd say, unique in that it doesn't have any large ones. They focus more on higher numbers of small aircraft (...) it's just a very different tool.”
Once complete, the newly converted Boeing 737-700s will have an increased capacity of 19,000 litres, something Coulson said was double the size of what was typically seen in Canada.
Photo Credit: Coulson Aviation
NowMedia asked Coulson why he thinks the province does not employ his company more often.
He said that based on historically political issues with past provincial governments led the company to “go where we're wanted,” which includes contracts in the US and Australia.
Coulson said in the past there was “a negative stigma” attached to the use of the Martin Mars bombers in the early 2000s because they were owned by a private company. “After we bought them, we thought, Hey, this is amazing. We're going to be able to work with the BC Forest Service. We're going to be able to do a great job for the taxpayers of BC and support wildfires better, get those fires out early, and what we were told was the Mars had a negative stigma attached to it in the government,” Coulson said.
NowMedia asked Coulson what his hopes were going forward and whether he thought the current government could employ his company's assets for firefighting in BC.
“We used to work with BC foresters quite a bit on our rotary wing side. We always had helicopter contracts with them. It was really when we got to (the Martin Mars bombers) that I'd say some of that negativity really stepped in,” Coulson said, adding that it wasn’t like that now but was in the past.
“We don't really support one government or the other because fire is bigger than that. It kind of crosses all party lines, right? Everybody is supportive of that.”
NowMedia then asked if any of the new firefighting aircraft, which will eventually be 10 converted Boeing 737-700s, would actively work in the province in the future.
“Well, put it this way, the last bid we did when BC Forest Service tendered for a bunch of their air tankers, we did not get any award and we were told by the government that our company did not have the experience required to fight fires in BC,” Coulson said, referring to previous governments. “We do it all over the world and they said, ‘Well, in our opinion, you don't meet the requirements.’”
However, he did not indicate if that relationship had changed over the years.
On Monday, NowMedia reached out to the Ministry of Forests for a comment on the future of the relationship with Coulson Aviation.
Our request was forwarded to the BC Wildfire Service who said that Coulson Aviation is currently on the list of vendors for “several” helicopter services and have been for several years.
A statement from the BCWS to NowMedia said Caulson helicopters were deployed to support wildfire operations in 2021 and 2023, however, they did not provide a reason for why their aircraft weren’t contracted out this year.
Last year, the province contracted out Calson’s Chinook CH-47 helitanker in late August after posting to social media that said the helicopter was in Kelowna on standby. However, the helicopter sat on the Kelowna airport’s tarmac for about three days before signing onto a five-day contract with the BCWS. However, it remained on standby before moving onto another contract.
“The BC Wildfire Service is always interested in new and innovative tools for wildland firefighting,” said the wildfire agency in an email to NowMedia. “Aviation contracts are awarded through a competitive process. The BC Wildfire Service welcomes any future proposals from Coulson Aviation, which may include the planned Boeing 737-700 converted firefighting aircraft.”
The emailed statement says the BCWS will continue to upgrade its existing aviation fleet this year to include more planes and helicopters with “a focus on a diverse and modern set of aircraft suited for BC’s vast and challenging terrain.”
The statement said the BCWS will continue to trial night-vision technology this year to fight fires after the sun goes down.
Photo Credit: Coulson Aviation
However, Coulson suggested there was likely a budgeting issue for the government as well. “You know, bigger, more capable, newer airplanes cost more money,” he said. He said his company would be “happy” to build some aircraft for BC but he said the types of helicopters and planes they built were not meant for short-term contracts. He said planning with customers ranged from two to four years out from the contract start date.
Coulson said he was hoping to see more outreach programs between Canadian agencies and foreign agencies to learn more about different aircraft types for firefighting. “We're seeing fires get worse and worse; hopefully there can be some additional learning,” he said. “I think that there are tools that are available in the market that would greatly benefit Canada, specifically BC, that could be better than it is now.”
Coulson finished by adding that the company will officially be retiring the two Martin Mars bombers later this year and that the company was excited to “give them a good final resting place.”
Earlier this year it was announced that the Hawaii Martin Mars water bomber will be enshrined in the British Columbia Aviation Museum.
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There is more to the story than Coulson lets on.
Leaving aside the helicopter side of things, Coulson focuses on large aircraft conversion to tanker. When you look the Province of BC, there just are not that many airfields with runways long enough or (very crucially) strong enough to operate the kind of aircraft Coulson operates. Which means that transit distances between airport and fire scene can be long, which makes your cycle time also long (you aren’t getting many drops/day/aircraft.
BC tends to favour small/medium waterbombers that can base close to a fire and generate high cycle rates.
Coulson’s aircraft work better in the US, where there seems to be a B52 capable runway every 25NM.
Leaving aside the helicopter side of things, Coulson focuses on large aircraft conversion to tanker. When you look the Province of BC, there just are not that many airfields with runways long enough or (very crucially) strong enough to operate the kind of aircraft Coulson operates. Which means that transit distances between airport and fire scene can be long, which makes your cycle time also long (you aren’t getting many drops/day/aircraft.
BC tends to favour small/medium waterbombers that can base close to a fire and generate high cycle rates.
Coulson’s aircraft work better in the US, where there seems to be a B52 capable runway every 25NM.
- Reaction score
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Kelowna airport?
- Reaction score
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The bigger jet aircraft seem to fly out of Kamloops. The only jet powered ones I’ve ever seen in the Okanagan are BAE 146 flown by a US company I think from Montana.
For all the rain we’ve had, every creek, river, lake, reservoir, acquirer, pond and rain barrel are low to very low.
For all the rain we’ve had, every creek, river, lake, reservoir, acquirer, pond and rain barrel are low to very low.
foresterab
Full Member
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It's funny because I thought Conair had a significantly larger fleet out of Abbotsford and supplies BC, AB, YK? and France and then has a US based division with more planes. But the aircraft fleets are quite different too with Conair mostly AT-802, Dash 8 Q400's, and RJ85/Bae-146.I just do not understand this NDP government.
Relationship between BC aviation firm and Province strained by 'politics'
The president and chief operations officer of the world’s “largest aerial firefighting company" has said not a single one of its aircraft is being contracted out in its home province of BC.
Britt Coulson sat down with NowMedia this week to discuss the recent announcement that Coulson Aviation will be converting its first Boeing 737-700 into the world’s highest capacity Large Air Tanker (LAT).
Last week, Bruce Ralston, minister of forests, told NowMedia all the leases were signed for aircraft for this year’s wildfire season.
On Monday, NowMedia asked Coulson if the Port Alberni-based company had any aircraft contracted to BC.
“We do not,” Coulson said, adding that they had 38 aircraft in their fleet.
He said that BC traditionally focuses on smaller aircraft but Coulson Aviation sees the most value in larger aircraft. “I think you know BC has traditionally focused more on smaller aircraft. We don't run any small aircraft. We see the best bang for your buck and the best results out of large aircraft.” “Canada is, I'd say, unique in that it doesn't have any large ones. They focus more on higher numbers of small aircraft (...) it's just a very different tool.”
Once complete, the newly converted Boeing 737-700s will have an increased capacity of 19,000 litres, something Coulson said was double the size of what was typically seen in Canada.
Photo Credit: Coulson Aviation
NowMedia asked Coulson why he thinks the province does not employ his company more often.
He said that based on historically political issues with past provincial governments led the company to “go where we're wanted,” which includes contracts in the US and Australia.
Coulson said in the past there was “a negative stigma” attached to the use of the Martin Mars bombers in the early 2000s because they were owned by a private company. “After we bought them, we thought, Hey, this is amazing. We're going to be able to work with the BC Forest Service. We're going to be able to do a great job for the taxpayers of BC and support wildfires better, get those fires out early, and what we were told was the Mars had a negative stigma attached to it in the government,” Coulson said.
NowMedia asked Coulson what his hopes were going forward and whether he thought the current government could employ his company's assets for firefighting in BC.
“We used to work with BC foresters quite a bit on our rotary wing side. We always had helicopter contracts with them. It was really when we got to (the Martin Mars bombers) that I'd say some of that negativity really stepped in,” Coulson said, adding that it wasn’t like that now but was in the past.
“We don't really support one government or the other because fire is bigger than that. It kind of crosses all party lines, right? Everybody is supportive of that.”
NowMedia then asked if any of the new firefighting aircraft, which will eventually be 10 converted Boeing 737-700s, would actively work in the province in the future.
“Well, put it this way, the last bid we did when BC Forest Service tendered for a bunch of their air tankers, we did not get any award and we were told by the government that our company did not have the experience required to fight fires in BC,” Coulson said, referring to previous governments. “We do it all over the world and they said, ‘Well, in our opinion, you don't meet the requirements.’”
However, he did not indicate if that relationship had changed over the years.
On Monday, NowMedia reached out to the Ministry of Forests for a comment on the future of the relationship with Coulson Aviation.
Our request was forwarded to the BC Wildfire Service who said that Coulson Aviation is currently on the list of vendors for “several” helicopter services and have been for several years.
A statement from the BCWS to NowMedia said Caulson helicopters were deployed to support wildfire operations in 2021 and 2023, however, they did not provide a reason for why their aircraft weren’t contracted out this year.
Last year, the province contracted out Calson’s Chinook CH-47 helitanker in late August after posting to social media that said the helicopter was in Kelowna on standby. However, the helicopter sat on the Kelowna airport’s tarmac for about three days before signing onto a five-day contract with the BCWS. However, it remained on standby before moving onto another contract.
“The BC Wildfire Service is always interested in new and innovative tools for wildland firefighting,” said the wildfire agency in an email to NowMedia. “Aviation contracts are awarded through a competitive process. The BC Wildfire Service welcomes any future proposals from Coulson Aviation, which may include the planned Boeing 737-700 converted firefighting aircraft.”
The emailed statement says the BCWS will continue to upgrade its existing aviation fleet this year to include more planes and helicopters with “a focus on a diverse and modern set of aircraft suited for BC’s vast and challenging terrain.”
The statement said the BCWS will continue to trial night-vision technology this year to fight fires after the sun goes down.
Photo Credit: Coulson Aviation
However, Coulson suggested there was likely a budgeting issue for the government as well. “You know, bigger, more capable, newer airplanes cost more money,” he said. He said his company would be “happy” to build some aircraft for BC but he said the types of helicopters and planes they built were not meant for short-term contracts. He said planning with customers ranged from two to four years out from the contract start date.
Coulson said he was hoping to see more outreach programs between Canadian agencies and foreign agencies to learn more about different aircraft types for firefighting. “We're seeing fires get worse and worse; hopefully there can be some additional learning,” he said. “I think that there are tools that are available in the market that would greatly benefit Canada, specifically BC, that could be better than it is now.”
Coulson finished by adding that the company will officially be retiring the two Martin Mars bombers later this year and that the company was excited to “give them a good final resting place.”
Earlier this year it was announced that the Hawaii Martin Mars water bomber will be enshrined in the British Columbia Aviation Museum.
Coulson has C-130's and is getting into 737's which a) drop water different and b) have different runway requirements than at least AT-802's.
Coulson has 38 aircraft? and contracts with the USFS, NSW - Australia, and Chile:
- Is focusing upon 737 and C-130 airframes
- Mostly it appears to be heavy lift helicopters which have been hired when needed.
- has its own MAFFs technology used on its machines.
Coulson Aviation
Coulson Aviation currently provides aerial firefighting service under contract to clients in Canada, the United States (California, and Idaho), South America (Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile), Australia, and Asia (Indonesia). Coulson Aircrane Ltd., a subsidiary of the Coulson Group, is a...
Conair has 70 aircraft and contracts with BC, AB, SK?, France, Australia
- main fleet is Dash 8-q400's but also operate RJ85's, AT-802 and CL-415's.
- mix of support service for government owned airframes and full service contracts.
- has been the lead design of the Dash 8 Q400 tanker conversion.
About
For over 50 years Conair Group Inc. (Conair) has led the aerial firefighting industry, supporting government agencies with the largest, privately owned, fixed-wing fleet in the world, flying up to 12,000 flight hours per year. A skilled team of 500 professionals equips the company’s 70 aircraft...
conair.ca
Air Spray - 43 aircraft and contracts with AB, MB, USA
- has traditionally had the L-188 Electra (P-3 Orion for military name) as main tanker
- operates government aircraft for MB, AB
Air Spray - Wikipedia
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources - 25 aircraft
- mix of larger CL-415 and smaller Twin otter aircraft + helicopters
- government owned
Coulson for years had the largest dog in the forest - the Martin Mars - which to be fair was a very capable aircraft when compared against the DC-6's, PBY Cansos, and TBM avenger aircraft of the day. However I would argue that with more modern airframes and a need to protect the entire province and not just the coastal areas of BC/Okanogan the Mars - with a need for large DEEP lakes and the different forest types - is a less suitable machine than many think....and its' been a messy public fight in BC over the use of their aircraft that has been going on for many years.
And if you think military procurement is ugly don't look into the politics/marketing/issues around air tankers around the world.
foresterab
Full Member
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This is actually nowhere near the earliest dates...I just can't express how nutty last year was.
May 5 2023 alone in Alberta I've counted over 14 towns/reserves evacuated and over 30,000 people evacuated...and for some it was their 3rd evacuation of the season.
May 3 2016 caused 88,000 people to be evacuated from Fort Mac Murray alone.
The first Emergency Alert for wildfires in Alberta went out April 21 and the first evacuation order went out April 23rd this season...
The difference for many is where the fires are located and how much more interest some of the more "remote" areas are getting in the news.
foresterab
Full Member
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That would be Neptune Aviation out of Missoula who were one of the first users of the RJ-85/Bae-146 airframe for tankers in the US. The same plane is also now in use by a couple of other operators in Canada.
gryphonv
Sr. Member
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How does everyone feel about a national response team for forest fire fighting? Something like a 5 to 10k standing force that can be drawn upon during the forest fire season . Use the off season for their downtime and training.
The issue isn't going to get better any time soon and this is a national issue not just a provincial one.
Relying on our military for emergency relief isn't viable long term as it eats into operational capability of the units.
At least with a national response team local teams can have reliable support to draw on.
I just feel the way we are approaching this now is inefficient and not reliable.
It would take significant investment but the costs will be offsetting costs in other areas like economic disruptions we experienced when the highway in bc shut down.
The issue isn't going to get better any time soon and this is a national issue not just a provincial one.
Relying on our military for emergency relief isn't viable long term as it eats into operational capability of the units.
At least with a national response team local teams can have reliable support to draw on.
I just feel the way we are approaching this now is inefficient and not reliable.
It would take significant investment but the costs will be offsetting costs in other areas like economic disruptions we experienced when the highway in bc shut down.
foresterab
Full Member
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I'm really split on this as there are a couple of key questions and priorities that need to be established first:
1) is this just wildfire or all hazard response. It's similar, but often different training and requires additional infrastructure/vehicle/equipment response than simple wildfires do. For example in 2022 were the highways damaged in BC due to wildfires or was it the rain/flood events in part due to wildfire earlier in the season that caused the infrastructure/travel breakdowns.
2) is this seasonal or year round. Hate to say it but we haven't had a month off wildfires in quite a long time locally and if you think community evacuations have issues in summer try evacuating a community in December due to a fast spreading fire.
3) Why are you fighting the fire? What values are you trying to protect or is it just Fire = bad.
4) If the fire is being actioned due to risk to timber values or watersheds or wildlife....that a provincial responsibility. So it should be the province leading the charge on protecting the resources and not the federal government (Natural Resources Acts - Wikipedia.)
5) Whose tactics are to be used. Frankly each jurisdiction uses manpower and aircraft differently around the country due to cost/terrain/values/politics and resource availability. Add in a pool of people under Federal uniform and it changes again. My full and utter respect to those members of the CAF who assisted fighting fires...but its a different set up and resource usages of staff than I'm used to.
6) Is this just crews? or supervision? or Incident Management Teams? ICS works off of a rule of 7 situation where each person can have up to 7 subordinates. A unit crew leader has 4 sub-leaders who each supervise firefighters....and in turn will report to a Task Force Leader -> Division Supervisor -> Branch Director - Operations Chief -> Incident Commander (fire situation and needs will shrink or expand this reporting chain as needed). The point I'm trying to make is it's not enough to have a bunch of Privates but you need the Corporals, Sergeants, Warrant Officers, and multiple officers to make this effective...and you only gain that through experience.
7) what training standard to be used...there's no national standard for what experience needs and currently each province/Parks Canada conduct most of the training independently and then through the CIFFC office recognize each provinces certifications as equal to their own level X. This is slowly changing and there are some national/international level courses out there but they are rare.
8) who is paying for it all?
9) 5-10k national force? That is a HUGE amount of capacity anywhere in the world...
-PEI is up to 13 firefighters/staff last I heard. That's if every trained person leaves the office. But I use them to show the small end of the scale here in Canada. vs. BC Wildfire Services I think has the largest crew capacity in the country...there are ~1250 firefighters split between 30 unit crews and 162 Initial Attack Crews
- the United States Forest Service has approximately 115 hotshot crews...that's ~2600 firefighters for the nation. Add in their other crews and they are currently at 8638 wildland firefighters (all classes/roles) out of 11,300 authorized strength. Wildland Firefighting Workforce | US Forest Service.
- I've used those two organizations as I've been on several wildfires here in Canada with 1000+ personal on them. It shows how significant a major fire like that is anywhere in North America or the world for that matter.
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I’d rather see 10,000 civilian forestry workers assigned to forest management duties through private contracts between commercial logging operations. But we don’t have 10,000 spare civilian forestry workers, because blue collar forestry = bad and it’s very hard work requiring fit men and women fallers and operators who know what they are doing. And so the forests will continue to thicken and burn, burn, burn.
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I did not say there were none in BC. Compared to the size of the Province, there are very few, conveniently located airports, capable of 737 sized (plus) tankers.
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A few Interesting, to me, at least, differences ( recruiting, compensation, and natural disaster experience ) between CAN-TF2 and CAN-TF3.
TF2 is open competition.
MEMBER INFORMATION — CAN-TF2 | Canada Task Force 2
www.cantf2.com
RECRUITMENT — CAN-TF2 | Canada Task Force 2
www.cantf2.com
They get paid only when deployed,
TF2 has a lot of natural disaster ( including wildfire ) experience,
PAST DEPLOYMENTS — CAN-TF2 | Canada Task Force 2
www.cantf2.com
TF3 is closed competition,
They are already getting full-time pay, without being deployed,
TF3 did the 2011 Goderich tornado. As far as I know, that is the only natural disaster they were ever sent to.
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June 2021 about < 1KM from our farm. He made 4 passes in 2 trips, boxed in the fire on 4 sides, then choppers hit it for about an hour, and next local crews from the lumber mill and volunteer fire department and put it out with water and Cat dozers.
Attachments
Mr Coulson was being very diplomatic as he has always been with the BC government. There is a big write up done on the connections of another major company in BC and their ties with the government at the time.
Coulson put a lot of Forest fires out in BC before all the bs started to be spewed.
TimberWest used the MARs for years successfully, they would hit fires hard and fast.
I do not care what the "experts" say. Aerial tankers with large water drops are the way to go for most fires in heavily treed areas.
I watched more then a few fires put out easily with Big Red after others tried using small helos, ground attack crews etc. Theis kept the fires from spreading to large from the start.
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