Image Credit: CFJC Today / Kent Simmonds

By Jill Sperling

BC WILDFIRE

Airtankers arrive in Kamloops for the wildfire season

May 12, 2021 | 4:24 PM

KAMLOOPS — The airtankers have begun to arrive at the Provincial Wildfire Coordination Centre in Kamloops.

According to the BC Wildfire Service, two large RJ85 airtankers and a bird dog arrived at the centre on the weekend, with six amphibious airtankers arriving on Friday (May 14).

Superintendent of Airtanker Operations Eric Antifaeff says the planes that have arrived have already been up in the air for training.

“The group of RJs that showed up, they went and did a training mission yesterday and same thing will happen with the skimmers,” Antifaeff said. “They’ll go out and as long as we have low levels of activity they’ll train once a week just to maintain proficiency and make sure the systems are working.”

During the fire season, people will often see these aircraft heading toward a wildfire. Each has its role to play in fire suppression.

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“The larger ones let down the retardant, which provides a chemical barrier to the spread of fires and then generally if the fire is of a certain size or intensity we’ll back up the action of the retardant with the smaller skimmers that drop water that’s enhanced with foam,” Antifaeff said. “That just drops the fire intensity and allows the retardant to do it’s job and last longer.”