The B.C. government is asking for help from other provinces to fight the current epidemic of forest fires. It should not hesitate to call in the province’s most experienced firefighting veteran — the Hawaii Mars water bomber.
With 866 wildfires reported so far this year, compared to 358 in 2014, the province has already exceeded its $63-million firefighting budget. As of Sunday, it had spent $87 million, and with no end in sight to the fire season, resources are being stretched.
“We’re at a critical stage in our resources, depending on the number of new fire starts,” Forests Minister Steve Thomson told reporters Monday. “We need to look across the country for support. Requests are in, but those requests need to be balanced against requests from all other provinces.”
And those other provinces, particularly Alberta and Saskatchewan, have their own needs to consider. The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre reported Monday that 2.2 million hectares of forest were on fire, mostly in Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C. One per cent of Saskatchewan’s population has had to move from fire-threatened areas — 13,000 people forced out of their homes are filling gymnasiums and recreation centres across Saskatchewan and northern Alberta. Getting help from those provinces might be a little tough.
Meanwhile, one of the world’s largest water bombers is sitting on Vancouver Island’s Sproat Lake as a fire burns out of control on a peninsula that juts into the lake. The Hawaii Mars, which can scoop up about 27,000 litres of water in 22 seconds, has seen nearly 50 years of service fighting fires in B.C. and elsewhere.
Originally built as U.S. Navy transport aircraft at the close of the Second World War, it and three sister planes were rescued from the scrapyard in 1959 by Forest Industries Flying Tankers, formed by a consortium of B.C. forest companies.
The four aircraft were flown to Fairey Aviation in Victoria, where work began on converting them into flying tankers. One crashed in June 1961, killing all four crew members. Another was damaged beyond repair by Typhoon Freda in October 1962.
The remaining two — the Hawaii Mars and the Philippine Mars — entered firefighting service in 1963. They were purchased by the Coulson Group in 2007 and continued to be effective tools in fighting fires in B.C. and as far away as California.
In 2013, the B.C. government did not renew its firefighting contract with Coulson, saying that smaller aircraft could do the job more efficiently. The Hawaii Mars has been parked on Sproat Lake since then. (The Philippine Mars was retired to become part of the National Naval Aviation Museum in Florida.)
For a generation of British Columbians, the deep drone of the Mars water bomber’s engines was a signal that serious firefighting help had arrived.
“Both big flying boats, adorned with vivid red-and-white paint schemes, became a common sight over the forests of western Canada,” said aviation writer E.R. Johnson in a 2008 website article. “It is said that whenever the Mars tankers arrived in response to a call, no fire ever got out of control.”
Coulson Group CEO Wayne Coulson says the Mars bomber is ready and available, and the government is considering using the plane. While help from other provinces would be most welcome, the B.C. government should not disregard the proven ability of one of the province’s most familiar and beloved firefighters.
