2024 Wildfire Season

[YZT580]

Sioux Lookout.

On a second reading, I find the MNR's public description for its Twin Otter rather curious.

"The DHC-6 Twin Otter is equipped with tundra tires so it can land and take off from anywhere, making it useful for services where airports are not available"​

I can't say I've ever seen a MNR aircraft equipped with what I would call "tundra tires". Besides, since most of northern Ontario is either forest, boreal or water, I'm not sure where they would intend to land that isn't at least a gravel runway.

"Each of our six aircraft can also be outfitted with water tanks to assist in wildland fire suppression"​

I think every one I've seen has had amphibious floats, and I don't know if amphibious+water tank floats is a thing. Since moving their main maintenance centre from the river-based location to SSM airport, I imagine most if not all of their fixed wing fleet is amphibious.

The whole fleet must be getting well up there in hours yet I haven't seen a proposal to replace or re-enforce. When the fires start I guess they will simply blame climate change for being unprepared.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Interesting clip from BCWS regarding how many of X are deployed to fight fires.
While there isn’t a breakdown between rotary and fixed wing aircraft, there are about 196 aircraft of all types being used in the province. I would imagine Alberta is close to that number. The cost of flying nearly 200 aircraft nearly all day for weeks/months on end has to be huge. I wonder what the daily “sortie” rate is.

Also, surprisingly low # of heavy equipment which suggest not a lot of accessible terrain for building firebreaks.

As I wrote in a much earlier post, the wildfire near our farm was first contained using a jet aircraft painting red retardant around the fire, hammered by choppers dropping buckets of water on targets, and then extinguished under the tracks of dozers and later soaked by water trucks. That’s apparently text book and very rarely possible in BC.
For example the fire in Mara lake (Shuswap) currently out of control for weeks, it was only yesterday that ground crews could get at it because of the steepness of the terrain, lack of an accessible road, and hot weather pretty much scorching anyone on the ground nearby. (Almost 50C).

A lot of forestry roads are being deactivated, making for even less access than before.