Saskatchewan says no certified pilots available to bring water bomber into action for wildfires
As wildfires raged in northern Saskatchewan, a new water bomber added to the province's fleet was grounded because there was no one certified to fly it.
The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) was training pilots with ground school and simulators, but Transport Canada requires them to also spend 25 hours learning to fight wildfires in the specific aircraft they'll be using, the provincial government said in a statement on Monday.
When the plane arrived in La Ronge on May 30, 'the operational decision was made not to remove those four pilots from active duty fighting fires protecting our communities so that they could train on the new plane, but rather to continue protecting our communities and saving lives,' said Saskatchewan Minister of Public Safety Tim McLeod, who joined the SPSA for a situational update on Monday.
Earlier in the day, NDP MLA Nicole Sarauer, the critic for public safety, held a news conference where her party publicly asked why the province didn't bring the new Conair Dash 8-Q400AT Airtanker into action during the critical moments leading up to the evacuation of La Ronge a few days later.
Sarauer alleged Premier Scott Moe wasn't transparent about the circumstances surrounding the new water bomber.
'We have two instances where the premier was in the public telling us that the bomber wasn't here yet, when in fact the flight data shows that it clearly was. He needs to answer for why he either wasn't being honest about the bomber being here or why he had no clue about what was going on,' she said.
The SPSA said the new water bomber remained on the La Ronge tarmac only to be towed away as an encroaching wildfire breached the community's airport.
A water bomber, also called an airtanker, can scoop up around 6,000 litres of water from a lake in about 12 seconds, fly it over a burning zone and release it.
The pilots who operate these types of planes require specialized training and certification through Transport Canada. SPSA vice president of operations Steve Roberts noted that while the ground school and simulator training had been completed earlier this year, they needed an additional 20 hours of flight training plus the aforementioned 25 hours of wildfire-fighting-specific training in the type of water bomber they'll be flying.
'There are lots and lots of pilots that can fly the Q400 for commercial purposes, but are unable and wouldn't be qualified to fly them in a firefighting situation,' Roberts said.
SPSA president and fire commissioner Marlo Pritchard said the grounded plane 'did not have a negative impact' on its firefighting because Saskatchewan brought in Q400 bombers from out of province that were used instead.
'The safety of our pilots and the safety of our crews and alignment with the Transport Canada rules required us to pivot and change to really round our focus on the operational necessities at that time,' Pritchard said.
The number of active wildfires in Saskatchewan fell to 13 on Monday, with the Pelican and Ditch fires now contained. The Shoe, Jaysmith, Pisew and Wolf fires are not yet contained, but are not expected to move significantly.
An estimated 10,000 evacuees have either returned home or are in the process of returning, the SPSA said. Evacuation orders are still active for the communities of Creighton, Denare Beach, East Trout Lake, Whale Bay and priority one and two individuals from Cumberland House.
The province also said it will rescind its fire ban across the province as of 5 p.m. Monday.
Saskatchewan wildfires: Officials seeking those responsible for "intentional human acts" of arson
'I don't understand': Evacuees question Sask. gov't response in wildfire fight
nyking@postmedia.com
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