Large Fierce Mammal

A Canadair CL-415 in action. Source: Viking Air Limited. (Click image to enlarge)

The current news abounds with dramatic images of intrepid firefighters on the ground and water bombers in the air, attacking forest fires around the world. Here in Nova Scotia, the drama is centered near the capital city of Halifax, and near the southwestern town of Shelburne.

With the weather having turned cool and wet in the past 24 hours, as of this morning, the Province has declared Halifax-area wildfires 100% contained, and on this ‘Beautiful rainy day’: Shelburne County wildfire is out of control, but optimism abounds.

By 08:00 Atlantic Time this morning, the Shelburne area fire had burned 24,890 hectares and holds the record as the largest in Nova Scotia history. The rain so far, and predicted to continue in deluge proportions to Tuesday, has afforded some ability for ground based crews to attack the fire in areas that would have been suicidally inaccessible a mere day ago, but even so, the continued availability of aviation assets able to deliver their cargo of water at will (within reason) will be paramount to suppression efforts in coming days, and possibly weeks.

The Province of Nova Scotia has a fleet of five helicopters including one (1) Bell 212, three (3) MD 500E, and one (1) EC 120 tasked to the fire reconnaissance role, and quickly configurable for active suppression. While indispensably enabling fast and accurate water delivery, limitations of rotary wing aircraft in this role include capacity per load, and time on station due to fuel consumption and crew fatigue. Advantages include the ability to dip water from sources that would otherwise be denied to other types of aircraft due to size and depth. Previously mentioned limitations aside, those helicopters are critical to the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources putting paid to most fire events while they’re still aspiring to the big time, so most people never know they happened.

A helicopter drops water on a hot spot at the wildfire in Tantallon, N.S. on 1 June 2023. Source: THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Communications Nova Scotia (Click image to enlarge)

And then there are days when there comes a time for heavy hauling, and in this the Canadair CL-215 and its worthy successors, the CL-415 and CL-515, hold pride of place as the worldwide gold standard in fire fighting aviation. To bring you up to speed, enjoy this courtesy of  Polyus Studios; Home of Canadian Aviation History, and keep the faith.