Residents want answers

[LTD]

that's not really a problem theyre pros its not there first time out at the end of the 03 fire there was about eight planes doing laps one after another it was pretty cool they were flying over are place pretty low

[flamingfingers]

I bet they still had a ground controller. And in heavy smoke areas, pilots can't rely on visuals to see where the other guy is. And at the very least they have a bird-dog plane directing them.

[GordonH]

Anyone who lives within a possible interface fire area, should be doing everything they can to remove as much if not everything that can easily ignite on their property i.e pine needles, tall grass/dead grass etc... etc.
Also make any building as hard as possible to ignite as well i.e stucco (instead of wood), metal roofing etc.... etc

Wildfires is the new reality now, unfortunately.

[alfred2]

again alfred it was put out by bclibs who donated money . its the law . instead of posting nonsense go look . it isnt rocket science to see whats been going on the last 16 years

prove that because of donations not all fire fighters are being used, if anyone posts nonsense it is you.

[maryjane48]

wayne coulsom refuses to donate large amounts to bclibs. doesnt get contract. has equal if not superior equipment. now you prove clark hired folks who didnt donate to bclibs

[Walking Wounded]

wayne coulsom refuses to donate large amounts to bclibs. doesnt get contract. has equal if not superior equipment. now you prove clark hired folks who didnt donate to bclibs

How about you prove he didn't get a contract just because he didn't donate to the liberals. You are just making assumptions based on your own prejudices.

[Cactusflower]

Back to the coordination of the water bombers. They could take a half dozen of the ones they are presently using on one particular fire, deploy them to other fires throughout the province, and bring in the Martin Mars to handle that one fire. The Mars can cover an area in one fell swoop in less time than it takes several other bombers to cover the same area.Why spend all that precious time coordinating several bombers when you can send one plane to do the job?

Oh, I know there are those who think the Mars should be mothballed and put in a museum, but that's because they were brainwashed by the previous government into having that mindset, and don't know the real reason the Mars' contract was cancelled. It was, as usual, all about the money. Coulson didn't make big enough donations to the governing party. If you want to dispute that, just google the BC Liberals list of donors over the years, look up Wayne Coulson and see how much he donated.

[Walking Wounded]

Back to the coordination of the water bombers. They could take a half dozen of the ones they are presently using on one particular fire, deploy them to other fires throughout the province, and bring in the Martin Mars to handle that one fire. The Mars can cover an area in one fell swoop in less time than it takes several other bombers to cover the same area.Why spend all that precious time coordinating several bombers when you can send one plane to do the job?

Oh, I know there are those who think the Mars should be mothballed and put in a museum, but that's because they were brainwashed by the previous government into having that mindset, and don't know the real reason the Mars' contract was cancelled. It was, as usual, all about the money. Coulson didn't make big enough donations to the governing party. If you want to dispute that, just google the BC Liberals list of donors over the years, look up Wayne Coulson and see how much he donated.

Again baseless accusations based on personnel prejudice. And those smaller water bombers can get more water in less time where it is needed. The Mars takes to long to turn around, get more water and get back to the fire. Bigger is not always better, especially in this case.

[Cactusflower]

Where's the proof of those allegations? And I don't accept any links to the previous government's website. Also, I asked you to tell me how much money Mr. Coulson, owner of the Martin Mars, donated to the BC Liberal party in the years prior to the year his contract was cancelled. I think that's another thing the residents of those fire zones want answered.

[maryjane48]

the proof is the fact conair did donate to bclibs. wayne coulson didnt. and the fact austrailia , us army us forestry hired that company speaks to they are competant at what they do . infact the us military had such confidence they supplied him with aircraft.

but the biggest question is how did the fire service end up so woefully unprepared and 2hy did they not implement the changes the report after 2003 said they should have. was it lets crosz our fingers and hope nothing bad happens ? or what ? .


we know our climate mixed with the bug kills was going to come to this so im not really seeing why our govt sat around doing nothing for last 14 years is not culpable. this is a time to be non partisan and start facing some facts .

[maryjane48]

CBC interview. 10 minutes long. First half is our group of companies offer. Second half is Kevin Skrepnek with wildfire BC explaining that there is no "operational need" for our equipment. He says mid season is not the time to introduce a "new service", then that this service is "not a new service" and similar equipment is already in place around the province.

I do agree with him that our timing was bad. However, hundreds of other services were brought in this fire season to meet their last minute needs.

Please take the time to comment after listening. Thanks

[LordEd]

the proof is the fact conair did donate to bclibs. wayne coulson didnt. and the fact austrailia , us army us forestry hired that company speaks to they are competant at what they do . infact the us military had such confidence they supplied him with aircraft.

.

Got it. Conair has no contracts anywhere else, could not have out bid, and is only there by conspiracy.

[LordEd]

Conair is a Canadian company established in 1969 that employs over 300 skilled people. Conair safely flies 6,000 to 10,000 aerial firefighting flight hours with over 65 aircraft each year and has operations in Canada, USA, France, and Australia. Conair France has supported France’s Sécurité Civile for over 30 years, providing aerial firefighting and emergency response aircraft to the people of France.

Clearly fake. They only get contracts by bribery.

[seewood]

OK, how much loot did Air Spray give the Liberals even though they are an Alberta company?

This donation thing is a load of There is always two sides to the story and anything the armchair conspiracy theorists put forward is just that, a load of nonsense.

Coulson flies a lot in the States as he is a business man and the contracts down there are paid in US dollars which immediately give him a 25% rate increase compared to Canada. All the spares for his aircraft are bought in US dollars where here the companies get paid in Canadian $ and have to purchase spares in US dollars. I know of helicopter companies that do the same.
Ever pay attention to the registration numbers on many of Alpine Helicopters 212"s ? many have a " N : number on their tail booms and not a "C" registration. Guess where they fly?

[fluffy]

The same thing that makes the Martin Mars bombers so impressive, their massive size and capacity, also means limited maneuverability and thus restrictions in close quarters/mountainous terrain. They need lots of room to reload and lots of room to deliver their load. They also need specialized facilities to refuel as we saw the last time they were deployed to Penticton. They had to return to their home base on Vancouver Island daily, a cost borne by the BC Fire service, so in terms of actual performance vs cost they're pretty expensive. As cool as they are to see in action, they're simply not suitable to fight many fires.