The Coulson Group of Companies is expanding its aerial firefighting internationally, as the Alberni Valley company has teamed up in a strategic alliance with American private military contractor DynCorp International.
While the Hawaii Mars bomber is not part of the deal — and the future is still uncertain for that aircraft — the Coulson Group is excited about the opportunity to use their resources globally.
"It's incredibly important work, and we're pleased to be able to enhance our already superior services through this strategic alliance with a world-class partner in the Coulson Group," said Jim Myles, the senior vice president of DynAviation. The deal will allow the local company to continue providing jobs in the Valley.
"We have a large tank construction program going on in Port right now, so all our guys are busy," said Coulson Aircrane manager Britton Coulson.
"Most of our team is down in Sacramento getting ready, so we've just got a ton of stuff on the go."
DynCorp, Coulson said, is a multi-billion-dollar company that runs state department fleets in Afghanistan, Iraq and Cypress, as well as running the state firefighting service in California.
"When we were looking for a partner, we looked at them as a world leader for the support services they provide, and we're a world leader in firefighting aircraft, and so we got together," Coulson said. "There's a lot of value that we both can add to each other."
Coulson said he is unsure how it will affect operations with the company's U.S. Forest Service firefighting contract, which made use of the C-130Q Hercules aircraft for the first time last season, which ended in October. "We're still working into what it means for that," he said.
"We ended in the middle of October, and it was excellent. We had 100 per cent positive feedback."
This new deal will also make use of the C-130, and most likely others.
"It's for future firefighting efforts all around the world," Coulson said. "It could be everything from the C-130, or any of our aircraft."
Still, the Hawaii Mars water bomber, which had its contract with the provincial government eliminated, will not be used in the new agreement.
Coulson said there is nothing new to report on the future of that aircraft.
"There really isn't," he said. "We continue to work with B.C. Forest Service, but they're just really not co-operating or wanting to do anything."
