The battle to contain wildfires in British Columbia turned deadly this weekend, as two crewmen were killed when their air tanker crashed Saturday in the province’s Interior region.
The tanker, a Convair 580 owned by Abbotsford, B.C.-based Conair, went down outside the town of Lytton, B.C., about 260 kilometres up the Fraser River from Vancouver.
Initially search-and-rescue crews were unable to reach the crash site because of the intensity of the wildfires, but on Sunday a helicopter made it in and confirmed the deaths of the captain and co-pilot, two experienced pilots, said Rick Pedersen, a vice-president at Conair, the company that owned the plane.
The tankers’s crash actually sparked another small fire, but the half-hectar blaze was contained Sunday, authorities said.
The company said it could not discuss potential causes for the crash while investigations into what had happened were underway.
The captain was a 58-year-old man from B.C.’s Lower Mainland, who had 26 years of experience with the company and with fighting fires from the sky, Mr. Pedersen said.
His co-pilot was a 36-year-old man from the Edmonton area, who was new to the company this year, but who also had a great deal of experience, Mr. Pedersen said.
Their names were not released pending the notification of their families.
B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell expressed his condolences to the families of the two men.
“As British Columbians, we owe a debt of gratitude to those who bravely put their lives in danger to keep our homes, our families and our communities safe,” the premier said. “All British Columbians are grateful to those who are fighting the fires and their ongoing efforts.”
Conair employs a fleet of 50 aircraft around Western Canada, and Mr. Pedersen said this was their first fatal accident in nearly 20 years.
Despite that, the dangers of the aerial work to combat fires are well known.
Only days earlier, a helicopter flying for the B.C. Ministry of Forests crashed near Lillooet, B.C. In that incident, the pilot, a 61-year-old from Vernon, B.C., suffered minor injuries, and a 27-year-old co-pilot escaped largely unscathed.
“It’s hard work, it’s dangerous work, and they’re out there day in, day out,” said RCMP Cpl. Dan Moskaluk.
“Our thoughts are with the affected families,” he said of the dead men in a statement. “It is difficult to truly express the deep sense of appreciation that all of us here in B.C. have for those who dedicate their lives to the preservation of our well being, fire season after fire season.”
Teams from both the RCMP and the Transportation Safety Board have been dispatched to the scene of Saturday’s crash to investigate what happened.
The fire around Jackass Mountain is one of 353 burning across British Columbia, 150 of which have erupted in the past three days, according to the B.C. government’s Wildfire Management Branch.
Attempts at corralling the fires will be aided by firefighting crews flying in from Alberta and Ontario on Sunday. Two hundred and thirty firefighters and fire specialists from those two provinces were to arrive to assist in containing the blazes in the Cariboo and Kamloops regions.
Alberta and the Yukon have also provided aircraft to help the efforts.
The biggest blaze in the Kamloops region has been the 1,200-hectare Jade wildfire in the Yalakom Valley, near Lillooet.
A crew of about 125 firefighters, 20 pieces of heavy equipment and 10 helicopters were on scene Sunday constructing guards and battling the flames, which were only 15% contained.
An evacuation alert remained in place for the Yalakom Valley as well as for one property on the Bridge River Reserve.
Meanwhile, little growth was reported on the 130-hectares Mayson Lake wildfire, formerly known as the Bonaparte Lake fire, which continued to burn about 65 kilometres north of Kamloops.
An evacuation alert for Bonaparte Lake’s west side was rescinded Friday, however, an evacuation order remained in place for the lake’s east side, affecting an estimated 11 vacation properties.
The Cariboo fire region also had their hands full fighting several aggressive blazes, notably the Dog Creek fire about 80 kilometres south of Williams Lake, B.C. An evacuation order remained in effect Sunday for the 1,800-hectare blaze.
Dry conditions and high temperatures have fuelled the 3,000-hectare fire burning east of Alexis Creek, leading to an evacuation alert issued Sunday morning. An evacuation order remains in place for the 3,000-hectare fire south of Meldrum Creek.
Postmedia News
With files from Cassidy Oliver, Vancouver Province and Giuseppe Valiante, Postmedia News
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