Port Alberni-based Coulson Aviation now has two of its aircraft in the wildfire fight in the province’s interior.
The company, which has most of its assets working in the western United States and internationally, has had a Sikorsky S-61 helicopter fighting fires in the Okanagan and eastern B.C. since early August and this week landed a large Chinook helicopter in Kelowna on its way back from fighting fires in Quebec.
Earlier this week, company president Wayne Coulson said he positioned the Chinook-47D in Kelowna at his own expense after seeing the “devastation” in West Kelowna, where night fires swept through, destroying homes..
“It is standing by ready to assist,” the company said. “The aircraft has been offered to the B.C. Wildfire Service at a discounted rate and we are waiting to hear back from the provincial government.”
In an update Wednesday, Coulson said the wildfire service has contracted the Chinook for a five-day period before it heads home for maintenance.
The Chinook has since been moved to Vernon Regional Airport and is awaiting deployment.
Coulson said he hasn’t had any long-term contracts in his home province since 2016 and believes the province has been overlooking the “tremendous capabilities” of the Chinook, which flies at night with pilots aided by night vision and can drop 3,000 gallons of water.
“We fly at night 60% of the time in California and we hit those fires,” said Coulson, noting three of the company’s Chinooks are based in the Los Angeles Basin.
“After 200 flights, we haven’t lost one structure there in three years.”
He said losses of buildings like those in West Kelowna “just don’t have to happen.”
The Chinook has three crew, including a flight engineer.
The Chinook will be added to the wildfire service’s fleet of eight heavy-duty helicopters, but it won’t last long, as scheduled maintenance is required after its deployment in Quebec.
Most of Coulson’s aircraft are currently under contract with the U.S. Forest Service and various U.S. counties fighting fires in Idaho, Texas and California.
Coulson’s Chinooks were also heavily used in Australia, Chile and Argentina earlier this year.
