The Alberta Government is at work with your and my dollars as we saw this summer.

We were visiting daughter Karen and husband Don at their farm a few miles west of Burns Lake, B.C. this summer. On Monday afternoon, August 11 we were sitting on their deck enjoying the sunshine when we saw smoke over the hill. A short time later we saw two helicopters with buckets dangling, heading toward the smoke. We hoped they would be successful at putting this fire out.

However, the next morning, there was still smoke coming from this area and then we saw what appeared to be a water bomber heading in that direction. Our son-in-law has a hay field in that direction, so we decided to see what was going on. We had a grandstand view of four Alberta Government CL-215 turboprops at work (costing $20 million each). (Ed. Note: I believe these CL-215T’s are actually owned by Conair and are contracted by the Alberta Government).

These aircraft were working from Elwin Lake and the feature in the background is called China Nose. The fire was in behind it so we could not see the drop. It was taking the aircraft about 12 seconds to pick up 6000 liters of water which was likely mixed with 24 liters of fire suppressing foam. It took about 10 to 15 minutes round trip from pick up, drop and back again. The wind was almost calm and at one point they turned and were picking up in the opposite direction.

These aircraft have 2 Pratt and Whitney 123AF turboprop engines at 2380 shp and Hamilton Standard constant speed 4 blade props. They cruise at 180 Kts. They use 840 liters of fuel per hour and you thought yours swallowed a lot!

These aircraft worked here for about two hours before leaving to go back to what we were told was the temporary base at Prince George. We understand that their usual base is Slave Lake. Unfortunately, they were not successful at stopping the fire and over the next few days there was an evacuation of homes (including our daughter, her family and their animals). This was the view later that evening and as it was less than 3 miles away from us, it was a scary sight. As of late August, the lightening caused fire had covered 4000 hectares and needed 185 firefighters, 16 helicopters and 41 heavy equipment machines to try to bring it under control. At this time, it is listed as only 40% under control.