(Toronto) Water bombers are an easily recognizable part of Canada’s wildfire fight, playing a vital support role.
The planes are important in a country where wildfires often spread across vast, remote areas, providing a way to contain fires until ground crews arrive.
But as Canada’s water bombers age and the fire season is expected to intensify, some firefighters and civil security experts say Canada needs to beef up its fleet of firefighting planes, even if several provinces downplay concerns about its capacity.
“We’re really starting to see the effects of the aging fleet,” said Eric Davidson, president of the Professional Association of Wildland Firefighters of Ontario.
This year, Canada experienced the worst wildfire season on record, which exposed flaws in the country’s firefighting capabilities, from retention of firefighters to their recruitment.
Thousands of wildfires have ravaged enough territory to cover Nova Scotia three times, or the city of Toronto 280 times, choking the skies with smoke and prompting the evacuation of communities.
As attention turns to the upcoming season, some wonder whether Canada has the fleet of aerial water bombers it needs to deal with longer, more intense wildfire seasons fueled by by climate change.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY SOPFEU
Forest fires in Lebel-sur-Quévillon, in June 2023.
“If we don’t have support for our teams in terms of retention and recruiting, and if we don’t have planes and equipment… then I think we have a lot of problems,” Mr. Davidson, who has been fighting Ontario wildfires for 10 years.
John Gradek, a professor of aviation management at McGill University, estimates that nearly half of the largest water bombers used to fight wildfires in Canada are nearing the end of their service life.
“Now is the time for us to reflect on how we abandoned our wildfire equipment and rebuild a robust fleet,” he argued.
While provinces have expressed interest in replacing some of their more than 50-year-old models, a Canadian company manufacturing a large “skimmer” water bomber has reportedly received orders from European countries at least until the end of the decade.
Fixed-wing water bombers—also known as tanker planes—are often divided into two types: land-based tanker planes loaded with water or fire retardant before takeoff, and “air tanker” type aircraft. skimmer” capable of recovering thousands of liters from a body of water during flight.
An approach specific to the provinces
Each province is responsible for its own forest firefighting, creating a patchwork of approaches.
Ontario and Quebec, for example, have their own fleets, while British Columbia subcontracts its planes. The Northwest Territories, which had to evacuate the capital Yellowknife and several other communities due to wildfires this year, has a mix of government-owned planes and long-term contracts.
British Columbia’s Ministry of Forestry said it has been renewing its fleet of 19 air tankers under long-term contract since 2020.
Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry says the province has 20 fixed-wing aircraft to help fight wildfires, including nine large water bombers that are 24 years old, on average. The other 11 smaller planes are on average 53 and 55 years old.
“The fleet is well equipped to fight wildfires and support transportation in Ontario,” said Melissa Candelaria, spokesperson for Minister Graydon Smith.
A spokesperson for the Northwest Territories Department of Environment and Climate Change said it would assess the need for additional local firefighting capacity in light of climate changes in the country’s fire seasons. forest.
“While it is tempting to focus on airplanes because they are the most visual and dramatic aspect of wildfire suppression, it is important to note that this is not part of a full suite of tools we use to manage wildfires,” said Mike Westwick.
Although Canada has a system in place to get planes and other firefighting resources to areas that need them, the center responsible for coordinating those requests said it has faced pressure this year .
Too many provinces and territories were dealing with intensifying fires at the same time and there were “very few planes” available to lend to other services, said Jennifer Kamau, communications manager for the Interagency Fire Center. forest of Canada.
Several challenges ahead
Mike Flannigan, a wildfire professor at Thompson Rivers University, argued the unprecedented wildfire season has highlighted the challenges ahead.
“This is going to become more and more difficult over time as fires become more and more intense as our climate warms and more combustible vegetation is available to burn and it burns more intensely,” detailed Mr. Flannigan.
The demand for firefighters, helicopters and water bombers will only increase…we will need to increase our resources strategically.
Mike Flannigan, professor of wildfire at Thompson Rivers University
In Quebec, the Society for the Protection of Forests Against Fire (SOPFEU) said its fleet of 14 water bombers was sufficient to protect southern regions of the province during most fire seasons. But SOPFEU director general Eric Rousseau said last month that the fleet could become too spread out when fires simultaneously threaten communities and hydroelectric infrastructure in the more remote regions of the north.
A breakdown of the Quebec fleet revealed that four of these planes were more than 50 years old, while the others had been flying for between 25 and 30 years. Eight of the new models have undergone electronic upgrades at a cost of $50 million, and Rousseau said he is in talks with the province to potentially replace the older planes.
This could pose a problem, however, given that new production of water bombers would be announced by European countries until the end of the decade.
De Havilland Canada announced this year that it would relaunch the Canadair water bomber program, after production of the last CL-415 ceased in 2015. The aircraft manufacturer has already signed letters of intent with European countries for the purchase of the first 22 copies of the new DHC-515.
The company said it was behind schedule and the first orders would not be expected until the 2027 wildfire season.
The federal government has set aside $256 million over five years for a cost-shared fund to help provinces and territories improve their firefighting capacity, including aircraft.
Mr Davidson said waiting years for new planes could test the limits of an aging fleet. And given that the planes would have cost more than $30 million, he questioned whether the provinces would be able to absorb the costs.
“I think it’s almost time to nationalize the fires in this country,” he said, an idea that Professors Gradek and Flannigan also raised, although all acknowledged there would be obstacles.
Fire management is a provincial responsibility, which raises jurisdictional questions, as well as logistical issues, such as where the planes would come from and how they would be paid for.
However, a national fleet operating from existing military bases and deployed to areas where extreme fires are predicted could make a difference, Flannigan said. He also cited examples of airliners being converted to water bombers as a means of strengthening a fleet.