Credit: Viking Air

By Mel Rothenburger

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER – Should B.C. get its own air wing for fighting wildfires?

Jul 28, 2021 | 4:50 AM

KAMLOOPS — ONE OF THE MANY QUESTIONS on everybody’s mind during this smoky, fiery summer is, “how can we do this better?”

That is, are there more effective ways to fight wildfires than what we’ve been doing? Armchair Mayor reader Tony Klancar thinks so. He thinks B.C. needs its own air wing, one that could be anchored with a made-in-B.C. airtanker designed and built specifically for fighting fires, unlike others that are adapted for the job.

The answer, he suggests, just might be the made-in-B.C. Canadair CL-415, a big red and yellow bird that costs $30 million apiece and can scoop up 5,300 litres of water in 12 seconds. Nicknamed the Super Scooper, 69 of them fly in eastern Canada, and another 100 in other parts of the world. This is not your grandfather’s Mars Martin.

Thirty million is nothing to sneeze at but its manufacturers claim that, due to its capabilities it’s actually highly cost effective.

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Klancar believes the CL-415 and, potentially, others could greatly increase B.C.’s wildfire-fighting effectiveness if formed into a provincially owned air wing. He’s sent a lengthy letter to that effect to MLAs Todd Stone and Peter Milobar, who apparently concur.

Not everybody does. Kamloops resident Tony Brumell responded to the idea by saying that planes are the most expensive way to fight wildfires and that ground-based equipment is experiencing innovations — such as high pressure ground sprinklers called FireBozz made by a Nanaimo company — that could prove a better answer at much less cost.

Wildfires will always require both air and ground attacks, and there are many options. The province currently contracts with several firefighting companies, including airtankers.

Not being a wildfire expert, I have no idea which is the best plane or the best ground-attack system, but maybe there’s value to a B.C.-owned and operated air wing. One thing for sure, today’s wildfires need ever-more innovative, and expensive, technology to fight them.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media