Sask. government says individuals attempted to ‘trespass' into restricted area of La Ronge airport
Conair Dash 8-400AT Airtankers are parked on the tarmac in Abbotsford, B.C., Friday, April. 26, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns
The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) alleges several individuals were caught 'attempting to trespass' at the La Ronge airport earlier this week.
In a media advisory Wednesday, the SPSA said members of its frontline staff reported the group was found at the air operations base on Monday, June 16.
'At any time - but especially during a wildfire crisis - it is unacceptable for anyone to interfere with wildfire and emergency personnel operations,' the advisory read.
The agency went on to encourage residents to respect the safety rules posted around its emergency operations centres.
Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck and MLA for Cumberland Jordan McPhail visited several communities damaged by the fires over the course of June 16-17 - one of which included La Ronge.
The NDP released a statement shortly after the SPSA advisory – explaining that its members were recording a video in the airport's parking lot.
'The Sask. Party government's statement is desperate, ridiculous, and a blatant attempt to distract from the fact that nearly half of their air tankers were secretly grounded during the worst wildfires in a decade,' the NDP statement read.
'Standing in a paid public parking lot to shoot a video is not trespassing.'
Beck shared the video on social media. During the minute-long clip, Beck and McPhail can be seen standing in front of a hangar and several aircraft.
'We're going to continue to listen to those voices from the front line about what is needed now and about the lessons they've learned, should have been learned by the government,' Beck said.
'We're going to push for better preparation.'
Water bomber capacity
On Monday, the NDP highlighted that the province's newest addition to its water bomber fleet, a Conair Dash 8-Q400AT airtanker, was forced to sit idle – due to a lack of qualified pilots.
SPSA officials quickly revealed that four of its pilots were training to operate the new aircraft – and had completed simulator training as well as other requirements.
However, due to Transport Canada regulations, each pilot would have to train for a certain number of hours in the physical aircraft with an experienced instructor.
Due to the provincial state of emergency and overall worsening fire season across Canada, the agency put the training efforts on hold and reallocated the pilots to other aircraft.
'Furthermore, there is a national, critical shortage of qualified and experienced aircraft maintenance engineers (AMEs),' the province said in its statement.
'We have filled some vacancies by partnering with schools to fill positions with apprentices to build our capacity in the future. We have also had some success in contracting AME's and continue to work to increase our capacity.'
According to the Government of Saskatchewan, the province operates four Convair 580A land-based air tankers, six CL-215T turbine powered water-scooping air tankers and seven smaller 'bird-dog' aircraft – which guide air tankers and direct other air traffic near wildfires.
Mandatory inspections caused two of the CL-215Ts to be unavailable for five days this fire season – while another CL-215T is out for the season due to 'extensive structural inspections and repairs.'
Two CV580s are currently grounded due to unavailable parts and necessary maintenance. One of the planes is expected to be up and running by the end of the month while the other is grounded until further notice due to a failed propeller.
The province noted that extra aircraft were also commissioned from other jurisdictions to help fight the blazes.
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